Before I became known for my opinions in the world of bass music, I loved to listen to more worldly influenced electronic music from the likes of Beats Antique, CloZee, Desert Dwellers, EOTO, Sugarpill, Pega5u5, and the like. Even now that my focus is primarily on heavier styles, I still enjoy these artists and their work. So it’s my pleasure to premiere the new single “Bhangra Saanj” from The String Cheese Incident and Beats Antique.
The two groups have worked closely together, often appearing at the same festivals, for years — and fans have rightfully wished for a collaboration between the two. Michael Kang of SCI says, “For a few years now, I would run into David and Tommy at some random festival and the conversation would always end up with us expressing a desire to get together to produce a track.”
Eventually, the two groups got in the studio to jam and came out with this beautiful piece of art. The West African, Middle Eastern and Eastern European musical influences are clear as day, with the delicate string work and melodies. 
“The percussion part is me playing the Punjabi Dhol drums along with Middle Eastern doumbek and other percussion textures while Tommy doubles the accents on snare drum,” says SCI’s Jason Hahn. “Then I took the track to the SCI guys back in our Colorado studio to zero in on their parts. It’s a really different flavor of a song and the Beats guys have developed their own signature style to play off of.”
When you have two producers in the studio, it’s hard to really get a clear picture of who did what, when there are so many hands working on engineering, arrangement, production, synthesis, and so on. But when you have a group of people jamming together in a studio on their own instruments, all of that ambiguity fades away. And in that way, it feels that much more authentic.
Sidecar Tommy of Beats Antique says, “We had the unique opportunity to collaborate with SCI – one of the hardest working independent touring bands in my lifetime! This track has become a mainstay in our live sets and can’t wait to unleash it!”
At last, fans can listen to “Bhangra Saanj” from The String Cheese Incident and Beats Antique below.
