Collide - Review
Oakland-based power trio Beats Antique has just released an album
that picks up where their debut record, "Tribal Derivations" stopped. "Collide"
accentuates the electro-acoustic feel to this band's sound, which blends exotic,
Middle Eastern scents and moves with highly-charged electronics, reminiscent
of recent dance dialects like dubstep and glitch-centered paraphernalia.
Beats Antique's core consists of Zoe Jakes, a belly dancer who takes her skills
a couple of steps further with the inclusion of classical Indian Kathak; David
Satori, who has toured the US in a bus converted to run on recycled vegetable
oil, and played with Femi Kuti, son of Nigerian afrobeat legend Fela Kuti; and
Tommy Chappel, whose musical reach touches everything from vaudeville rock
to abstract hip-hop.
"Collide" is an aptly-titled album that connects the missing dots between two
worlds that rarely go hand in glove. These 12 numbers, plus a remixed version
of "Roustabout", feature all the instrumentation that's fit to play: the feather-light
density comes courtesy of the accordion, the glockenspiel, the viola, the kalimba,
and the clarinet, among others.
All tracks derive from a common musical tree with so many branches that go as
far as to touch the scholastic tradition of some jazzy oldies while keeping a curious
ear to the North African Gnawa music, a mixture in its own right of afro-Arabic
religious rhythms, combining music and acrobatic dancing.
Obvious highlights include the untreated version of "Roustabout", a sickening,
demented, and maniacally fun track that has so many Halloween-like features
that film director Tim Burton would surely appreciate. But also "Slapdash Era",
which starts off with what sounds like a bell and a tick-tack clock, and releases
some menacing ambiance midway through the game. The remixed version of
"Roustabout" is credited to San Francisco-based Bassnectar, a band who Beats
Antique have certainly taken a few production cues.
And while "Borino" resembles Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra's take
on gypsy music, "Scratch Tail" evolves from a breakbeat signature only to succumb
to the Middle Eastern traditions and develop a crush on contemporary electronics.
Quite frankly, it would have been easier to name the sparse ground this record
doesn't cover, but now it's too late.
~ Helder Gomes
BEATS ANTIQUE, an oakland based group featuring ZOE JAKES, DAVID SATORI, AND SIDECAR TOMMY, have stumbled down the rabbit hole and emerged anew on the other side. COLLIDE is a product of that absurd adventure, forging a curious alliance between middle eastern traditions and potent west coast circus, underground hip hop, breakbeat brass band, downtempo, glitch and dubstep. BEATS ANTIQUE'S second album has brought the paradox of electro-acoustic music into the future.
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I was kinda sad when you guys came to Denver cause it was my birthday, and your crazy fans drove me away before I even got to see you perform. I'm sure it was amazing, though. :)
A pleasure to hear your tunes. We hope to visit you in Oakland some day - anywhere that gave birth to the Black Panthers and you chaps must be worth a look.
Till then - big kisses from us all here in London Town.
Loved your deep jungle show on the big I! The gnarly drum n bass mixed with Zoe's hypnotic pop-lock bellydance made for one incredible show! cant wait till the mbira track is on cd. May you be blessed on your psychedellic journeys
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