Punky Fresh at Beta

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• Passion Pit
• Lollapalooza
• Music Festivals

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It's not just a brand-new year, but a whole new decade, so why not kick it off with something fresh? Chicago's Punky Fresh is so recently arrived on the scene that not only doesn't the act have an album out yet, but it still has that new-producer smell. The two members claim to be brothers and go by the names =p! (pronounced like the letter "p") and d, and first made a splash with a remix of Passion Pit's "The Reeling" that landed them a spot at Lollapalooza 2009. They trade in genre-busting, expectation-defying juxtapositions of sound and style that fit the name Punky Fresh. On a track like "Wild Leek," they can proffer the kind of old-school trance that used to be the mainstay of the Superstition label, garnished with a twist of today's electro house. Then, on a track like "HTHRS RVNG," they'll go and remind you of the weird cut-and-pasted-samples and day-glo synth aesthetic of the proto-rave scene. And just when you think you've got them pegged as retro-revivalists, they turn around and mash up Far with M.I.A. in a completely of-the-moment-sounding mix. So forget the categories and go hear them with open ears on Friday, January 8, at Beta.