By: Anna Roth

Beats Antique plays NYE tonight at Seattle’s Paramount Theater.

Beats Antique has made a business out of genre-bending and blending. They’re experts at it. In the
five years since their beginnings, the group has created a sound entirely their own and immediately
recognizable. Even their live shows are signature: a fantastic blend of performance art, concert, and
interpretive dance that audiences are regularly stunned by.

In spite of their eye-popping performances and what can only be described as groove-centric sound,
Beats Antique hasn’t delved much into music videos. But with the release of Contraption Vol. II,
they wanted a music video for ‘Skeleton Key’ and fortunately for fans, they found a perfect match in
animator Basia Goszczynska. (link to website – http://www.mystopmotion.com/about.html)

It only makes sense that the music video for ‘Skeleton Key’ would be animated – a sound like Beats
Antique needs to be accompanied by an eerie visual experience that stop-motion is perfect for,
and Goszczynska delivers. The characters in ‘Skeleton Key’ look like a cross between gremlins and
crustaceans, and that’s about what they are. Goszczynska uses primarily found materials for her
animation, and viewers can see hands made of lobster claws, eyes that appear to be shells, and faces of
animal bone. The two creatures huddle around a mechanism through which they see various short clips
of vintage film, including some undersea footage (Gosczcynska has a background working in a marine
biology laboratory), and about thirty seconds of two monkeys bashing on a drum and a violin, possibly a
sly reference to band members Sidecar Tommy and David Satori.

The video captures the essence of a Beats Antique work in that there is no real ending or resolution. As
with their music, it’s about the experience of seeing what the artist has conceived. ‘Skeleton Key’ is one
of the strongest tracks from Contraption Vol. II and the visual layer makes the piece even better. With
her animation, Basia Goszczynska has created a fantastic visual experience that allows Beats Antique to
add music videos to their list of artistic mediums conquered. I can’t wait to see what they do next.