Beats Antique: Live in SLC @ The Depot || Show Review/Remix Link

Oakland, California’s Beats Antique take world and modern dance music to a different plane. This is a somewhat trite thing to say when it’s been said so many times before, but this time it’s real. I’ve written about Beats Antique before, but seeing them do a full set in the proper environ was not something I was thinking would ever happen in SLC. Thankfully, they made it to The Depot and knocked it up and out. Most bands recreate their recorded sounds live and nobody gets too worked up about it. Beats Antique has a visual element that makes their performances distinctly different, though.

There’s a reason a dancer formed the group. Zoe Jakes had the idea for Beats Antique a few years ago and collected some talented multi-instrumentalists to help fulfill that vision. “Vision” is a precise term in this case: the staging of the dance numbers and the encore are all carefully orchestrated by Jakes and her two backup dancers. Their routines—featuring three dancers connected by ropes, old-school hollywood bellydance dresses, and feathered fans which hide and reveal Jakes—are the part of the Beats Antique experience that can’t be recorded or explained. Patchouli in the air and clear evidence of steampunk and burner influences abound at every Beats Antique show I’ve been to, and that is part of the experience as well.

Seeing (and smelling) a crowd so electrified and wildly dancing is a pleasing thing when many of the concerts I attend in this town are full of people too-cool to sway or shake. Not the case at a Beats Antique show. Thankfully not the case when Angela Brown is around, either. She found a few of her bellydance-inclined friends to watch the concert with, and being around them to see and hear their interpretations of the styles Jakes and her crew bring was enlightening.

Jakes at SXSW 2011

Proppers must be doled out to the two guys in the group who bring up the rear in Beats Antique—literally. The other members of Beats Antique, David Satori (a main composer) and Tommy "Sidecar" Cappel (drummer), hang out on opposite backends of the stage while Jakes dances. They tour with a horn player, too, and he was manning a verified baritone sax and what I believe to be a soprano sax—both really stunning instruments to watch and hear. Satori plays a synth, violin, drums and what might possibly be an electric bouzouki at different times. Main percussionist Cappel and Satori traded off at points in the performance which makes it a little more interesting than watching them play alone. Sometimes Jakes isn’t on stage during songs, whether she’s changing or letting her other dancers take the stage, and those moments feel empty. This is why Beats Antique needs to be seen not just heard.

Last, and not least, the group’s encore was stunning. The last songs they played had elements of synchronized dancing/drumming by the ladies, plastic animal masks on everyone, and the live version of a Glitch Mob remix of “We Swarm” from Glitch Mob’s Drink The Sea Vol. 2 remix album the groups just released—which made that encore one of the best things I’ve ever fucking seen. 

We Swarm (Beats Antique Remix) by The Glitch Mob

Enjoy the dubstep, bellydance, world, tribal, electronic hybrid of Beats Antique live whenever you can—you’re welcome in advance.

Original Online Location: http://www.slugmag.com/exclusive/2762/Beats-Antique-The-Depot.html

[photo by Katie Panzer]

Graywhale is one of the most successful music stores to ever open in Utah—with seven locations ranging from Ogden to Orem. Currently headed by Jon Tueller, Dustin Hansen and Daryl Shieving, the company has been selling new and used CDs and records since 1986. They, like other small music stores, continue to invest in the media that most big-box chains like Walmart and Best Buy are phasing out.

Recently, Graywhale launched a new online digital download store, FatFin.com. Hansen, a store director and merchandiser, and Tueller, the marketing director, started working for the company in 2002 and 1997, respectively. They moved from store managerial positions to eventually buying the business, as did buyer and warehouse manager Shieving. Tueller was studying marketing at Utah State when he entered the Graywhale picture and has since filled that position with marketing initiatives with local radio—recently adding KRCL DJ picks in their stores—to his list of ventures.

Local business has to support local music, symbiotically, with hard copies of releases. Graywhale contributes by buying music outright instead of consigning from bigger bands in the area like Loom and Fictionist. “People come to us with music all the time. Just bring it to us and we’ll buy it,” Tueller says of the established groups out there. Graywhale also does consignment for up-and-coming local groups.

Initially, Graywhale struggled retaining its own platform in the dark days when MP3s first attacked local music shops. Then Graywhale found a time-tested business tool for uncertain times: diversification. The retailer encouraged people to bring in other kinds of media to trade in for store credit or cash. Tueller’s rough estimates now put music at 50-percent of their inventory with 35-percent movies and 15-percent video games. Used vs. new stats vary, but the stores are guaranteed to have something you’re looking for and are aiming to boost their ease of use in that department with a new product/store locator on their website. FatFin.com now has whole albums or individual songs, for sale in digital form as well. This type of business model and community support of Record Store Day (RSD) is the new dawn for small music retailers and will save the business if enough community members vote with their wallet.

The aforementioned Record Store Day was started in 2008 by The Music Monitor Network (MMN).  The MMN is a collection of nationwide independent retailers that Tueller chaired in 2010, and a network fully able to take advantage of joining together to make a difference. RSD has successfully managed to stir up interest in buying local, which is perfect for a retailer like Graywhale. “Supporting local business has always been an important thing to the community here. We wouldn’t be who we are without it,” Tueller says.

RSD falls on the third Saturday of every April, happening April 16 this year, and encourages feet back into local record shops by offering limited edition releases of old and new records. Records from past artists include Beach House, Built to Spill and Charlotte Gainsbourg. This year’s releases look equally solid with vinyl releases from The Flaming Lips, The Black Angels, The Kills and Deerhoof, among many others. It’s also going to be RSD Ambassador Ozzy Osbourne’s debut. Yes, Ozzy Osbourne is the official RSD rep this year, an inaugural position that, according to Record Store Day co-founder Michael Kurtz, allows an individual to “claim the mantle of greatness … on the world’s only holiday devoted to music.”

There are rumors that Tueller has plans to commemorate Ozzy’s presence in a limited-run tee like he designs every year for RSD. This is just a rumor, but I hope it’s true. I’m collecting Record Store Graywhale t-shirts for my grandchildren.

In addition to limited edition vinyl, Graywhale has seen the writing on the audiophile wall and is amping up its regular vinyl inventory. As Hansen told SLUG, “I just did a gigantic vinyl order yesterday. We’re going to have easy beginner turntables and some midgrade tables, too.”

Get to any Graywhale location along the Wasatch Front at 8 a.m. for RSD. Graywhale locations will feature exclusive releases and in-stores from nearby bands. Check out the shelves for super-deep discounts on all their merch. Your local Graywhale isn‘t going anywhere and neither is the spirit of local music they’ve fostered for almost three decades.

Loving the @beatsantique remix RT @theglitchmob "Drink The Sea" The Remixes 2 http://cl.ly/4bPl

I enjoyed Drink The Sea more than almost anything in recent memory and both of the Mob's remix releases have been boss. Currently digging the shit out of the Beats Antique "We Swarm" mix.

I can't wait to see Beats Antique in Austin. It will be the closest I get to Glitch Mob probably.

http://cl.ly/4bPl  <---Mob remixes link

The State Room Soars|| #SLC Profile in @SLUGmag ||by JP

[Photo: John Carlisle]

Darin Piccoli and Chris Mautz moved to Utah in the late ‘90s and both quickly fell into the roles of local concert promoters, booking for events like the Red Butte and Snowbird concert series as well as the Utah Arts Festival. Both were “avid concert-goers” when they moved to Utah and turned their growing expertise into a physical reality with The State Room’s grand opening on April 1, 2009.

SLUG: Tell us about your first experience with SLUG Magazine.
Piccoli: I remember when I first moved here, finding the magazine immediately opened me up to the wide array of local music. It opened my eyes to the music scene in this town. I was impressed—almost overwhelmed—by the magazine.
Mautz: I went to the old Coffee Garden on 9th and 9th. I picked up SLUG and was kinda scared. It was completely out of my comfort zone. I was a young kid from back East and that was not necessarily my scene. What I was amazed by was the sheer amount of content. I was like, “Holy shit, where is all this coming from?” number one, and “Who are these people reading it?” I was very impressed and also intimidated, because it really was so foreign to me in a lot of ways. I had some friends growing up who were into the punk scene and it was easy for me to say, “Ah, that’s just a punk magazine,” and it’s really not. It took me a while to get over that fear and to find a great connection to it. I think it provides such an amazing service to the community.

SLUG: How have you seen the magazine change since then?
Piccoli: Older, wiser, like all of us. It’s getting buffed around the edges in a good way. It’s more diverse. They still have those [punk] articles and that feel to it. I think Chris could still pick up a magazine and be frightened by it. It’s not getting softer or anything like that. It seems to be honing in on what it’s there for.

SLUG: Why do you think SLUG has continued to be relevant in Utah for the last 22 years?
Mautz: It has all the things that its original intentions were, and it has continued to do it in a way that allows readers to connect to it and respect it, which is a pretty cool thing for 22 years. I hope The State Room can stay as close to its original intention and yet evolve and shift in ways that are really natural and not forced. Anything that I can be a part of and sustain and do that, I would be proud of.

SLUG: Tell us about the most memorable SLUG event that you’ve attended.
Mautz: I went to [the first year of] Craft Lake City and I had some friends who were exhibitors or vendors. I thought it was really cool. It made me less fearful of SLUG that they were into arts and crafts. It felt like a really nice thing SLUG was able to do and put together.

SLUG: How has SLUG affected your life?
Mautz: Moving from Boston, I had nothing to expect in Salt Lake. It’s been 13 years now and I’ve been impressed by the depth of Salt Lake City, and SLUG is a beacon on that path. To me, it’s been a part of my ability to build a career here. It’s been a supporter of live music and recorded music and music in general in Salt Lake. In some ways, it has made Salt Lake City a real place on the music map. It’s been a trusted source for a lot of members of our community.
Piccoli: I put an ad in with SLUG in Thanksgiving of ’99! I moved here from Durango, Colorado. Did a couple of shows at the Ritz bowling alley, but the first show I [promoted in SLUG] was Digital Underground at Bricks. That was my first personal experience with it. Since then I’ve kinda grown up with it. Ball is back in your court, dude.

Mautz: Wow, pulling that fucking Ritz out of his ass. Seriously? I did not see that coming. Fucking guy.
Piccoli: Obviously you can tell it’s passionate for both of us. We’re all doing our part, we feel. And hopefully down the road, it pays off for everybody. SLUG’s been doing it for 22 years. If we’re here in 11 years, I’ll be pretty stoked. If we have the same vision and direction—it’s going to be pretty sweet.

DJ Knucklz: Dirty Music To Shake Your Ass To || SLUG Localized February

[Photo: Katie Panzer]

SLUG Magazine celebrates 22 years at this month’s Localized music showcase! Join the SLUG Mag crew as we celebrate over two decades of Utah subculture on Friday, February 18 at the Urban Lounge! We’ve handpicked a stellar, local line-up just for you!  We’ll see the blues influenced rock of Max Pain and the Groovies,  metal rockers Speitre and the sickest guy in town on the ones and twos, DJ Knucklz. $6 gets you in.

It’s not unusual to find DJ Knucklz behind the tables on any given night of the week. The Salt Lake City based DJ holds residencies in Salt Lake City and in Park City and often plays snowboarding competition after-parties. When he’s not rocking crowds of skiers and snowboarders, he’s often teaching kids in afterschool skateboard and music producing programs. After 13 years of DJing, Knucklz has risen to prominence as one of SLC’s most venerable turntablists and as an internationally recognized producer.

Knucklz grew up breakdancing and skateboarding in Baltimore, but after 20 years on the east coast he decided to travel west to the mountains. He landed in Vail, Colorado. Vail was home for three seasons as he raced mountain bikes and eventually fell in love with snowboarding. Before ending up in Utah, Knucklz spent time on a Hawaiian fishing boat and also living in Tahoe. Knucklz had a brush with pro snowboarding along the way, perfectly setting him up for networking the crowd that loves him best. “I was semi-pro—I wanted to be pro, but I was too lazy to do photo shoots and filming and stuff. I just wanted to ride,” Knucklz says. After time in Tahoe he realized, “The snow was way better [in SLC] and [it’s] cheaper to live [here],” he says. The move to Salt Lake City in the late ‘90s coincided with the start of DJing for Knucklz. Maybe it was the strange new locale or the art of DJing itself, but Knucklz remembers a struggle at first as he tried to master the art of the beatmatch. He steadily improved and his connections have made him a regular party fixture ever since, playing during competitions and after parties in the action sport circles of the Rocky and Wasatch ranges.

A founder of KRCL’s (90.9 FM) longest-running hip hop show, Friday Night Fallout, Knucklz also got into writing, briefly contributing to SLUG a few years back. “I met a lot of artists I’d interview, so I’d have those hookups. So I was like ‘Why don‘t we get these interviews in SLUG?’” Knucklz has taken his knowledge of the music world gained as a radio DJ, writer and producer to younger generations, teaching an after school Garage Band production course at Bryant Junior High as well as skateboarding classes. He used to work with the Youth City Arts program until the programs were cut, which he has a problem with: “Our mayor sucks,” Knucklz says. “He cancelled all the Youth City programming and all the teachers lost their jobs and all the kids lost their programming last summer. He waited ‘til he was in there for a while then he decided to cut the funding.”

Knucklz is well-versed at being multi-faceted, and as club DJ technology has evolved he has embraced it. He’s got advice for the up-and-comers flaccidly fucking their CD-J and MP3 tables in basements, thinking what Knucklz and the cadre of OG DJs in town do is “easy.” Knucklz disagrees: “They don’t have the background that Brisk [One] or [DJ] Juggy or me have. We’ve been doing it for a long time,” he says. When asked where he fits into the SLC DJ mix, as a producer or club DJ, he says, “I get a different crowd [than Juggy or Brisk]. I get more the ski snowboard side of things, and the gangsters and I get along very well. I do a lot of ski and snowboard comp after parties, mainly here and in Colorado.”

As a producer Knucklz has collaborated on Technine snowboard videos and in Absinthe films and has literally been recognized internationally for his work in the video world. “I’ve been able to go to Munich for the Sports Ispo trade show. That was amazing. It was kind of weird—there was this poster I was signing for people. I was blown away. I didn’t know people would know who I was. You live here then you go over there and it’s like, ‘really?’”

To celebrate 22 years of Salt Lake Underground, SLUG Magazine invited Knucklz to play our anniversary party, and he’s coming out with some bangers. “I love playing Baltimore Breaks—it’ll be good for the SLUG party. It’s faster at like 125-135 bpm, with a lot of hip hop lyrics—repetitive—but fun to dance to,” Knucklz says. He’s known for having a wide variety of genres to pull from but all of it will be “nasty, dirty music that makes you shake your ass. I’m not into playing music for people to hold up the wall,” Knucklz says.

As far as getting where he is today, Knucklz gives shout-outs to the resorts that have taken care of him and Neff and Rockwell. “And a shout-out to my girl Anjelica for putting up with me,” Knucklz says. Like other transplants to Small Lake City, he seems to have finally found a home here, and we’re glad to have him around to play killer fucking beats for us.  

When he’s not playing for comps or parties for us, check out Knucklz at the Canyon Inn on Thursdays at the base of Big Cottonwood and the Sidecar in Park City on Saturdays.

 

-JP.011

Burn seagulls on a beach in the rain. http://j.mp/naturesnd

This is actually much more relaxing than my title implied. I listen to this sort of stuff when I'm trying to sleep, minus the fire, the seagulls, and the rain. http://j.mp/naturesnd 

Warm Ghost's "...Wormhole..." http://vimeo.com/18797856 Killer track+killer visuals. NSFW

This is a nicely chill track merged with really interesting visuals. From their 2.15.11 release, "Uncut Diamond" EP (which I'm reviewing right now for SLUGmag's March011 issue).

Little Dragon
Urban Lounge
1.29.011

I’ve caught the smallest Dragon three times now and every time I’m reminded how Sweden has not only one of the best reputations in the world but also some of the best music.

Lead singer and percussionist Yukimi Nagano is as precious as ever, still donning her alluring veil and dancing about in a bizarre music-fog of awesome. She even busted out some crystal gongs this time that defy description. I hope to get a better look next time at one she was playing when they tour for their upcoming album (more on that below). She’s one of the best female performers that still channels percussion live. The other guys in the group do a good job of not being as cute as her. I’d be fine with a backing track and just Nagano on stage, but I digress.

Their “Blinking Pigs” track was the first I ever heard from this group and is still one of my favorites (from their second album, Machine Dreams) but not for long. SLC’s Urban Lounge was privy to something I didn’t catch last time I saw them at Coachella in 2010—new music from their upcoming third album.

From the sound of these new tracks we’re in for some seriously good shit. The crowd recognized it, too, and (surprisingly enough) shut the fuck up for the majority of the show—a rare treat at a venue most often used for socializing. The upcoming 2011 album, Ritual Union, is one of the most hyped in the genre of world music and will not disappoint.

In the meantime, check out some old-school puppetry and appropriately bizarre imagery from their latest video for “Little Step”.

Vietnam Redux

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Vietnam Redux Reading Guide

by Walter Cronkite (notes from JP)

 

The following excerpt is from Walter Cronkite’s 1996 autobiography, “A Reporter’s Life”. Some questions to ask while reading it:

Has TV changed for the worse or better in cataloguing war?

Are people desensitized to war footage when they see it on TV or are they more affected by it than those watching the Vietnam struggle?

Has the mainstream media utterly failed the public who supposedly own the airwaves used to broadcast?

 

Pages 264-265 from “A Reporter’s Life”:

 

“The Vietnam War left us another legacy from which we still seek escape. A generation of officers later, there still lurks in the Pentagon the belief that the media lost the war. We could have won, they insist, if the press had not shown those pictures of naked, napalmed Vietnamese girls fleeing our bombing, of prisoners being shot in the head, of burning hooches, of wounded GIs. Television brought the war into our living rooms at home and destroyed our will to fight, their theory goes.

 

It was put succinctly by a Marine major writing in Military Review, the official journal of the U.S. Army. The underlining and italics are his:

 

‘The power and impact of television was the deciding factor in turning American public opinion from one of supporting the U.S. defense of South Vietnam to one of opposing it. More than any other factor, it was the television camera that brought home the reality of war that shocked the nation and broke its will.

 

What we need, contrary to the wide-open and unrestricted policies of Vietnam, is not freedom of press, but freedom from the press, more specifically, freedom from the television camera and its interference.

 

In the next war, the television cameras must stay home! ’

 

Wait a minute, a little voice says, isn’t there something called the First Amendment that might be affected by this? No problem for the major: ‘Much is made of the ‘public’s right to know.’ This is not a legal right, but is a concept invented by the news media to ensure their access, not the public’s, to newsworthy events.’

 

A quote from the brave new world order as viewed through tinted military goggles.

 

Our TV cameras did record some—not all, but some—of the misery that the war brought to Vietnam. As I recall, we also reported some other disillusioning things about that war, things the major didn’t see fit to recall in his article:

 

A corrupt, incompetent unpopular government that we were committed to support.

 

An allied army that often preferred not to fight.

 

A resourceful, dedicated enemy, resolved to struggle on regardless of casualties.

 

And the thoroughly reported lies and mistakes of our own leaders, whose political survival depended on making a war look good even as it turned bad.”

 

—Walter Cronkite

 

I have not forgotten Vietnam.

 

I have not forgotten Afghanistan.

 

I have not forgotten Iraq.

 

Is it too late to undo the systemic apathy in the children of the Boomers, and their children, too? Is it too late to dream of #peace…

 

 

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

 

—Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás

 

#peace

 

@hashtagpeace on twitter

hashtagpeace.tumblr.com

 

Slamdanced 2011: Indie Cinema Lives!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

fog.lights.snow.streets.winter

For more fog and lights/pavement snow angels visit my flickr.

Things I Found On The Ground Vol VI.

Thank You! (leaf)

Twittergate 2011: Wherein Bristol Palin And I Get In A "Tiff"

Bristol Palin's Twitter feed was hacked today. The reality-show TV "star" daughter of former Republican VP Sarah Palin didn't have a solid password, it seems. The hacker asked at one point "WHO WANTS BRISTOL TO FOLLOW THEM???" of the then following-less account. I sent a request and the avatar that had taken over the account—a Sarah Palin face-painted in Joker—approved.

In the meantime the hacker revealed the nature of several of the Direct Messages (DMs) that Bristol had in her inbox and it was quite a joyous series of revelations. DMs divulging things about her thoughts (vacuous), her speaking engagement fees ($30,000! atrocious but not uncommon for someone so renown), and her most excellent thoughts about a book deal ($1.5 million).

I took the suggestion the hacker made and DM'd Palin's account myself. For those unaware, to have permission from Twitter to DM someone you must have them follow you first. The account got up to about 174 following until it was recovered by the Palin camp and returned to "zero following". All was right in the world.

Then, I noticed that the DM I sent Palin had a reply to it and I'll include it here.* Though I meant to say "fall up" I think the sentiment was not lost on Palin who responded accordingly.

Her witty, well-versed and impeccably punctuated reply says it all. Unfortunately, my question was lost on one of the more simple-minded in the Palin lot and was answered with a question instead. One that didn't apply to me.

I can only wonder at the nuggets of gold the ghostwriter of her $1.5 million book will reveal in the tell-all. Perhaps it, at least, will be fully realized and not undercooked. I imagine it will contain opines on: how badly-timed pregnancies can turn into positive PR spin; how being a terrible dancer won't matter if you have an army of your mom's simpleton rednecks to vote for you; or how capitalizing letters can make you look less like an imbecile when someone insults you via the internet.

—JP

 

 

*DM Text

@JonPaxton

How does it feel to be such a lucky person based on no real talent of your own? Some people fall forward, indeed. Continued "success" in '11

@Bristol_Palin

idk, why don't u tell me?

Let's not forget the greatest #MLK tribute of our generation from @theentranceband, "MLK" Download for free: http://bit.ly/MLKmp3

Most bands don't give a shit about writing issue-based songs like they did in the 60s but The Entrance Band still does.

“What I’m trying to say in the song is don’t forget him, don’t forget his spirit, don’t forget how much he and the people who worked with him were willing to risk for things that we take for granted now, or that we may not even have yet," Guy Blakeslee (of the Entrance Band) told Vanity fair in a January 19, 2010 Blog about "M.L.K."

Follow this for the whole piece: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/01/free-mp3-mlk-by-the-entrance-b...

 

 

 

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." Dr #MartinLutherKing, Jr #peace

I can multi-post with tools like @posterous but I can't multi-delete if I make a gaffe, #dammit. #ModernTroubles

Note to Self: No more chorizo.egg.cheese #BreakfastBurritos from Albertos at 1 a.m. ever again if sleep is desired.

@TheGlitchMob #Remixes, yes!

http://t.opsp.in/P6eS Digging the sh!t outta the Pawn "Drive it like you stole it" remix you can stream for free. #killerbanger

Untitled

This is a test of @posterous. It is only a test. If it was a real emergency, I'd have tweeted it. #posterous #multiposting