One of the most highly anticipated shows of this year’s Decibel festival in Seattle awed a packed, sold-out crowd at the Motor Tavern last night. Beats Antique (performing for only the second time since their most recent release Blind Threshold) headlined the ‘Art of Rhythm’ showcase featuring an ensemble of experimental West Coast electronic music.

Phutureprimitive set the scene with his brand of melodious transient techno to a quickly filling venue. His persistent tempos were more laced with melodies than overridden by them; often running in a resolution or hook pattern. Mid-pitch swells created a bridge between the heavy verve of his bass line and the light, playful harmonies.

Next to grace the stage was Emancipator, a highly talented outfit featuring a conglomeration of warm, rich resonances and carefully held melancholy. The sentiment in the music was very apparent, yet not an overbearing presence on the live stage. A sense of finality was present in each of his songs – an intuition of the closure in a finale and the grandeur which it connotes. The often classical, sometimes Celtic, violin swum deftly around a surge of jazzy, speakeasy saxophone or rich bluesy trumpet.

When Beats Antique opened their set a sensation of anticipation that had been growing within the crowd let itself loose with a gigantic roar. The tight, adroit drumming of Cappel struck the feet of the dance floor’s compact mob, while Satori’s swift fiddle work swept and echoed around the Motor Tavern. Jakes initially bore a marching bass drum, yet progressed to the switchboard and eventually to the center stage in dance.

The three-piece Beats Antique formed in 2007, incorporating a stylized form of house techno with Middle Eastern harmonies and timbre. The beats act as a formative element in the manifestation of their melodies; they adopt and foster the riding symphonies. In turn, the melodies themselves have a tendency to be percussion-centric; playing in and around the backbeat to production a self-sufficient sense of rhythm. It is the communicative relationship between the facets of their work that constructs such taut congruency.

Since their inception three LPs and two EPs have surfaced out of the multi-cultural brainchild that is Beats Antique. The relentless onslaught of productions is only matched by the hypnotic blend of unyielding vigor and compelling musicianship of their live shows.

The visual persona of the band was captivating, from the verve of the members to the costumes adorned at certain parts of the set. Jakes’ occasional snarls and laughs as the music hit a climactic point set her up as a vital, dominant presence on the stage. Once a helm of deer horns was equipped on her head and a display of her intense belly-dancing occupied the stage it was quite obvious that Beats Antique were not just musicians, they were performers. Their final encore included an entourage of masked contributors including an air-humping giraffe, a confused looking toad and a trumpet playing horse. Like all good bedtime animal stories the giraffe and a deer began vivaciously making out mid-song. It’s not everyday that you get to see that.

Phutureprimative will be performing seven times from October 1 to October 15 in four states. For more information check here. Emancipator will be touring the country extensively over the month of October, most immediately in Georgia. More can be seen here. Beats Antique similarly have a packed schedule in the coming month, performing seven days in a row during the middle section of it. To view a complete schedule check here.