New Beat Connection: The Soundtrack to August Day-Drinking
By Sam Chapman
Here’s a fun fact about Seattle electro-pop quartet Beat Connection and me: in high school, my best friend’s house was across the street from the house of their now-drummer. We referred to him as “Hot Katz.”
Here’s another fun fact about Beat Connection and me: their latest LP, Product 3, was one of my favorite releases of 2015. From their earliest releases, Beat Connection have demonstrated a real talent for crafting songs that straddle the thin line between hazy electronica and full-blown pop confection, but Product 3 is easily their sleekest, most focused piece of work to date.
“For The Record,” released on Friday in conjunction with their new tour, promises that there is plenty more where Product 3 came from. The song opens with a skittering drum machine underneath a chorus of delicate “ooh ahs” and smolders before blooming into the throbbing deep-house chorus, accented by synthesized bass rumblings.
It’s a shimmery late-summer dance track that sees the guys retaining many of the sonic elements that worked so well before, but infusing them with a new rhythmic immediacy. I don’t recall ever hearing anything from these guys that had this kind of emphasis on percussion, and the result is a much greater sense of momentum. I’d be shocked if this didn’t end up sound tracking everyone’s August day-drinking exploits.
Tour Dates:
8.17 – Washington DC – DC9 Nightclub – All Ages*
8.18 – Philadelphia – Boot & Saddle – 21+*
8.19 – Boston – Great Scott – 21+*
8.20 – Brooklyn – Baby’s All Right – 18+*
8.22 – Seattle – Showbox – All Ages
8.25 – Minneapolis – First Avenue & 7th St Entry – 18+
8.27 – Chicago – Beat Kitchen – 17+
* With Kodak to Graph