Betawave X - The GETAWAY


     It's at the end of the infamous Summer of Virgo; the monsoons  -exhausted of their reservoir- have seemingly cooled the heated relations between shopkeepers and landlords.  Trade routes have been relatively cleared of extortionist mobs and petty two-bit hustlers.  While not exactly having been guaranteed 100% safe passage, the duo of Le Pontiac and Kidlat!, together as  Betawave X, decide it is time to finally embark on their long-anticipated coast-to-coast Anthro-Kinetics study tour.

     The ICS-commissioned Anthro-Kinetics Research Society have sponsored Betawave X to take on this cross-cultural immersion tour to gather more data on human rhythmic patterns and behavioral wave-generation, always in light of their on-going studies in Internal Circuitry.  

     J. Le Pontiac Gonzales reports, "Our research will be tackling such inquiries as what propels; what steers human dynamics beyond the usual notions of need and survival".   S. Kidlat! Ocampo adds, "...from great mass migrations to the blinking of one's eye, we want to find out what moves us".


     As an auxiliary companion piece to the Urban Metro-magnetics leg of their tour, Betawave X gathered their first research findings together and composed "The Getaway Mix": an auditory field guide through inner-inner city dynamics, replete with field recordings, journal entries, and street-level artifacts.

     Limited to only 13 copies, The Getaway Mix was printed onto stereo cassette tapes for distribution.  While a copy of the tape was couriered off to ICS headquarters, the rest of the copies were generally gifted back to neighbourhood leaders, township elders, and local street vendors they meet along their journey.  These tapes have long since been out of print.

     Flashback to 2011, it's the annual Harvest Moon Intramural Swapmeet; celebrated local cultural purveyor, M. "Caezar" Cobarrubia, chances upon a rare find:  an obscure yet intriguing cassette recording entitled The Getaway Mix.  His curiosity is soon rewarded as the tape is played on a portable hi-fi and allowed to unravel its ribbons of rhythms and sounds from a distant but familiar space.

     Further listening compels M. Cobarrubia to investigate more about The Getaway project in hopes of re-releasing the long-lost recording and allowing a whole new generation of listeners a second chance to partake of it. Efforts were made to trace the origins of the tape through a series of serpentine leads (false and otherwise), eventually finding its way back to ICS and Betawave X.

     An on-going correspondence between Cobarrubia and Betawave X culminates in an agreement to make use of Cobarrubia's internetwork presence to disseminate The Getaway Mix via Really-Dope, a modern day online gallery which Cobarrubia co-founded and co-curates.  The Getaway Mix is currently being translated in digital format and will soon resurface to see the neon lights of a second birth.  Watch this space!

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