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Celebrating its tenth anniversary with its tenth studio release, the Bay Area’s wildly innovative performance dynamo Beats Antique emerges from the studio with a brand new album and stage show to mark the milestone. With legendary sets at some of the most iconic venues and festivals around the world and collaborations with superstars from Les Claypool to Bassnectar, the next chapter in the trio’s story takes them back to a mysterious world.
When multi-instrumentalists David Satori and Tommy Cappel and choreographer Zoe Jakes dove into development of the new Beats Antique era, the concept of Shadowbox emerged. Driven by the infinite wonders of the deceptively simple design, the narrative of shadows and light, of darkness and contrast, of reality and surreality propelled the music and vision into new territory.
Capturing the heart of the Beats Antique sound means skirting that divide between the electric and the acoustic. Balkan melodies strung over crashing cymbals and marching band horn lines run smack into contemporary electronic grooves. It might be the drums and brass or the sweeping psychedelic strings that will take you for a ride down the rails of a steampunk circus. It’s chaos and cacophony on a very tight leash.
All three members shared production duties to harness the sound they first stumbled upon a decade ago: far east meets wild west. Bringing in sarod master Alam Khan (son of Ali Akbar Khan), Jakes was able to take her study of Indian classical dance from the stage to the studio. Russian singer Tatiana Kalmykova resurrected an ancient folk language to evoke a haunting fairy tale that feels at home in the shadows. Beats Antique also recruited rising stars of brass house TOO MANY ZOOZ for the horn-fueled funk and punk central to their sound.
As always, Tommy Cappel focused his efforts on the beats and bass production, while David Satori assembled an armory of stringed, plucked, and bowed instruments from far-flung lands to adorn the low-end foundation. All samples were created live in the studio—a hallmark of the lush warmth of a Beats Antique record.
The Shadowbox stage show will be teased at Red Rocks and Electric Forest before its full unveiling this fall. Taking the theme of shadow play and expanding the concept forward and backward in time, the core members dove deep, influenced by ancient practices of Indonesian shadow puppetry, falling into the world of wayang kulit, the eons-long tradition of storytelling where epic tales unfold into the wee hours of the morning.
Enormous lanterns adorn the stage, casting light upon a maze of curtains where playful new characters dance and fight and rejoice and mourn. Beats Antique is breaking the boundaries of conventional wisdom. Why can’t an electronic music performance encompass a range of emotion?
This isn’t a nuclear-powered laser light show from the ever-intensifying optical arms race of the EDM industry. This is one of the earliest methods of storytelling brought from the past into the present. “The digital is there to enhance the analog,” notes Jakes. “We’re here to tell a story,” Satori adds.
Bringing an album from the shadows of the studio to the brightly lit stage is what Beats Antique does best. These are storytellers for a digital age — equipped with the newest technology and ancient traditions. This is where the Beats meet the Antique.
Encore
This was one of the best live shows i've ever seen...if you love exotic music, creativity, fine musicianship and/or gorgeous belly dancers, see this group.
their beats are felt deep inside me body. zoe is an incredible performer, and the guys are riduculously talented musicians
Beats Antique was likely the best show I have seen all this AND last year. Visually and musically mind-blowing, and the supporting acts were incredible as well .
I've been a big fan of their music for awhile but seeing them perform live took it to the next level. The energy they put into their performance is palpable in the crowd and Zoe Jakes stole the show with her beautiful choreography and endless costume changes.
Great venue, Beats Antique always puts on a Great show, 10x Better live than on their albums, BTW the new Albums rocks guys! Better live because you can feel the drum beats, dance your ass of tribal style and of course to see the lovely Ms Zoe dance is always a treat. Basically if you like the old world, and you like to dance, Beats antique will turn the clock back the the B.C. era to get done like mankind should.
Tommy, Zoe, and David are amazing, creative, quirky people who make unique music and certainly know how to entertain a crowd. Nobody does it like Beats Antique!
The opening act was surprisingly compelling and had great stage presence for a woman, her fantastic voice, a drum, guitar and a mix machine living in a suitcase. We will be keeping an ear out for her music in the future. Beats Antique came on strong and kept going for the rest of the night. The stage show makes up for some similar sounding songs, but as everything is instrumental and has a good dance beat, they can start blending together while sounding different every time.
Though we were disappointing to have to tough it out through 3 DJ's with nothing going on on the stage, during their hour long sets, (like a light show, or a slide show behind them or a dancer or two...) Just the first DJ would have been enough of a warm up, he was actually really good. ONCE Beats Antique started we were riveted! WONDERFUL acoustics adding to their back music, FANTASTIC dancing! It was exceptional, and the low prices of their CD's helped me to round out my complete collection! I was tempted to give a great rating due to the hours of havbing to listen to DJ's BUT Beats Antique is so amazing I could not. Advice don't have so many DJ's. Consider a solo musician for say 6 songs, and get a picture show or a dancer up there with the DJ. HAVE Beats Antique Back to LA!
Beats Antique at Club Nokia was amazing! People were very laid back and cool. Zoe and her lady friend were great entertainment.
This was the first concert Beats Antique has given in their hometown. This concert was recorded for posterity. The crowd was insane. They played for over two hours, most of their new stuff and old favorites. They had amazing dance numbers with a troupe of belly dancers, including a pregnant dancer. great energy. awesome experience.
Pregnant belly dancer? Hot. Educational and sensational. Hands in the air ladies and gentlemen.
The music is only half of the show... coolest thing I've seen in a while. They got the crowd so hyped, there was a BONFIRE in the middle of the street after it ended!!!!
What a show!!! I was able to see them up close and thoroughly enjoyed the dancer/ athletes. Loved the acoustics in a great venue like the Fox
Friday night the usual suspects were gathering steam and momentum outside the Fox. No rush to get in- the warm ups were thin, unsophisticated single track electronica- no depth, no layers, no surprises, no juice. MC was uninspiring-irritating the crowd as a mix burners in their finery filed in. No club kids-yay! Everyone was seriiously down for the music! After the usual cruise around, where self conscious fabulous chicks in perfect playa cutouts, looking to be noticed by top hatted, tall skinny guys in shades and dusters took place-actually does it ever NOT take place-Beats hit the stage and they hit it just right! Zoey gets hotter with each concert- this was my 5th with them and her performances get more complex, more symbolic, more layered, and more exciting with each costume change! Her girls are equally hot, however one of the dancers- the blond beauty with the most perfect body of them all- was obviously not dialed into the routine. She was often out of sinc with the others and self conscious about her place and dance steps. When the reveal came-in each number she was sloppy, often showing her hands when they should have been hidden- making a spoiler out of the Tantric reveal. Meaning-this is a Tantric band if there ever was one- they are all about the mystery, the arousal and the reveal-ending each number on the up note- never on the down beat-they don't drop!! This blond hottie was the evening's tragedy for me because this band needs its performances to be calibrated perfectly so that we-the audience- are swept up in the rapture and ecstatic consciousness shift that their music is all about. She kept drawing attention to the fact that that this was a performance-by her her mistakes- preventing me from fully merging with the experience. I want the Tantric Reveal- when SHE is revealed-the Divine feminine in the unified field of Ah Ha- behind fans, feathers, drapery and illusion-because in true Tantra the layers must be peeled back- taking all the time necessary to do so. The moment is never as presented, always there is the truth behind the veil and I want to be surprised and swept up and taken there- a dancer who is out of step in any way invades what this process of illusion, surrender, penetration and reveal is actually about. My favorite number was when 3 dancers came out-making it look like it was Zoey alone, sitting on a throne-only to have the throne revealed as two other dancers! Zoey remained in the middle of this mythology in her goddess silver finery with antlers on her head- i wanted that dance to go on for at least another hour-sexy and dynamic- the divine and powerful feminine -like a true Amazon-dancing under the patronage of the goddess Diana-goddess of the hunt-embodied by Zoey and her maidens. Well kids- thats my take on it anyway! The band's beats continue to be layered, nuanced and their foundation is always supported by that cool cool cool middle eastern flow that they keep coming back to cover me over and over again. They brought out a top line up of guest artists-beats me if i know or remember who they were- but suffice it to say that each artist gave a unique and authentic performance of themselves-adding surprise, joy and excellent energy throughout the night. These guest artists added additional overlays to an already perfectly nuanced beat. The truth-for me-is that fabulous flavor they bring- of I HAVE to move to this and surrender to it- I HAVE to be ravished by it over and over and over, even as there are other experiences of jazz, dub, brass and string-always the foundation is the percussive and relentless penetration of the drums-here's the Tantra-I can relax-trusting that i will be taken care of-that always I will be saturated and permeated by exactly what i need and so-blondie, hottie not withstanding- and she will eventually catch up-This night was a true Rave in the best sense- where it was all perfect and perfectly shared in the unified field of musical, visual, vibrational Tantra! I LOVED it!!!!!
Maybe it was because they were recording for a live album and filming for a DVD, but this was an amazing show, really over the top. I couldn't believe the size of this production, really well executed. Beats Antique sounds so much better in person than their recorded stuff. Such a big sound that has to be heard to be believed. See them if you ever get the chance, you won't be disappointed.
The show was SICK! Excellent music, great people, good times. The after party in the middle of Telegraph Ave. was a huge highlight!
The Beats antique show was good, but the order of songs created a disconnect. Meaning one song would be upbeat and danceable, then the next slow, then repeat. It felt like there wasn't build up of momentum, just wishy washy fast and slow. The Belly dancing was pretty good, but the choreography & stage execution was a little amateur. The ending Hip Hop booty shaking somewhat cheapened the artistic level of the overall show because it was like a sloppy talent show bit. The artistic talent seen in their music videos was not carried over to the live show, (i.e. background art or moving pieces aside from the belly dancers props). My critique might be harsh, but I still really enjoyed the show, I just felt it could be greatly improved to match the mystical antiquity of their music.
After seeing Beats Antique step up and fill the void left by Bassnectar's absence at Burning Man last year, I fell in love with this group. Even the simple dj set by these folks is a blast, although this full band performance at the Fox was nothing short of spectacular. So much thought went into this show and it was clear they were having just much fun as the crowd, What a great show. I can't wait until I can see them again. <3
The show opened up with an eclectic combination of two bands working together: Inspector Gadget (pronounced gah-jay) & the Llyod Family Players. Inspector Gadget is an all-brass and horn band and the Lloyd Family Players are an all-drum band. And together they played a mish-mash of songs varying from Dixieland to Flamenco. These two bands working together created a delightful and bouncy atmosphere that got the audience up and dancing. The second act was a duo whose name escapes me, mostly because the performance was anything but memorable. The gentleman DJed with a variety of instruments beyond his turntables and samples, and the lady played the cello. All the while, a series of images were played on a screen at the base of his turntables. At first the combination of these two styles was hauntingly beautiful. But his playing dominated the performance, slowly pushing her further and further into the background. And by the end of the act, she disappeared from the stage leaving him to play techno music in a "been-there, done-that" finale that left the whole thing feeling very flat. But fortunately, the main attraction was up next, and Beats Antique saved the day! Sidecar Tommy stuck to his drum-kit this time, a departure from past events where has played a myriad of instruments. This is not a complaint, though because Tommy's layered drumbeats are truly infectious. But Dave Satori seems to have picked up the slack, grabbing instruments and playing them all with striking mastery, though his most beautiful melodies come out when he picks up the violin. But the main attraction is always the amazing body-manipulations of belly-dancer/drummer/co-songwriter Zoe Jakes. This year, her students were given the chance to shine as well, each getting an opportunity to perform in pairs or in the solo spotlight. But when Zoe takes the stage, her charisma is so over-powering that all eyes are always drawn to her. One of her dancers in particular shocked the audience. She was brought out hidden by a large white veil. A bright spotlight backlit her while she danced. During the song's crescendo, the veil was dropped revealing that she is eight months pregnant. For me, however, the show-stopping number of this year's show was also the show-stopping number of last-year's show. "Revival," in which Zoe is wearing a headdress of antlers and is attached to two fellow dancers by delicate gold chains. The two dancers hold giant feather-fans while Zoe performs a beautiful dance that evokes gentle beauty, sinister surprise, and erotic temptation. Throughout the show, the dance performances varied from simple, elegant solo-dances to little story-vignettes. All of this culminated in a dazzling drum-performance with Zoe and five of her dancers pounding away at stand-up drums in a synchronization that was more dance than instrumentation. If you missed this show, you did not necessarily miss out. It was recorded for their first live CD/DVD. Shows like this are a brief "one amazing moment in time" event.
Beats Antique put on a show I will never forget! The whole stage and set up was beautiful and elaborate. The dancers were electric and the atmosphere was so wild and fun!
