Enjoy Some Genre-Bending by Beats Antique

Enjoy Some Genre-Bending by Beats Antique

PHOTO BY SEQUOIA EMMANUELLE

The hard-to-pin down fusion band mixes music, storytelling, and more.

So what is Beats Antique? Critics and scholars just can’t agree on how to place this genre-bending fusion band.

Sidecar Tommy, David Satori, and Zoe Jakes have been making music for 10 years. and they’re still yet to be pinned down to any one sound. Instead Beats Antique is an ear-tingling mélange of everything from modern jam beats and tribal music, afro-beat and hip-hop, synth-spiced electronica, and old-school acoustic. Live performances are typically as varied and baroque as the sound, featuring everything from interactive story-telling elements that draw in the crowd to accompanying performances by Indonesian shadow puppets.

The group’s live shows also incorporate Jakes’ background as a dancer, with Middle Eastern belly dance music sifted into the musical blend. The band’s newest album, Shadowbox, plays like a microcosm of the band’s varied career, a smorgasbord of everything from down-temp Middle Eastern rhythms to bombastic orchestral scores.

In June, the group premiered the first single of the new album, “Killer Bee,” featuring Lafa Taylor on Billboard.com to immediate excitement. Friday, April 12, 8p.m., $35, Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, TheFoxOakland.com.