AntiQuark

AntiQuark creates a sui generis anatomy of music which is nurtured by continuous inspiration.

It was Ant Dakini who founded AntiQuark in April of 2001. From its inception, the group was performing in both Europe and America. It was her furnace, her go-forth, her seed of creation. Electronic was the way. There were other veins (Ant was the founder-guitarist of the all-girl punk band, HEX, before she moved to the U.S. from Italy) but this time her music stemmed strictly from an electro-embryo. Ant went far with AntiQuark and its first two vocalists. They recorded 4 albums, toured the two continents sharing the stage with Pigface, Orgy, Le Tigre, Bettina Koster (formerly of Malaria!) and Godhead.

Sergio O joined AntiQuark in 2007. It happened almost as intended coincidence. He was moving back from Los Angeles. He had been singing for a progressive rock/metal band, Divine Right of Kings, and had recorded vocal-tracks in English and Spanish for every song on the album, but things didn’t work out. Sergio O was looking for his next thing and was open to anything. He answered two music-ads. The first was from a Deep Purple tribute band. The second was from Ant Dakini seeking a new singer for AntiQuark.

Ant had just returned with AntiQuark from the latest European tour where they performed in front of 2,000 people at Forte Prenestino, Rome. Another great tour…and another singer simply not working out.

Ant and Sergio met. Songs were re-written then re-recorded and impending tour commitments in Europe re-fulfilled with Sergio O now the new vocalist of AntiQuark. Ant Dakini and Sergio O performed together for the first time at ‘Gießerstraße 16’ music festival in Leipzig, Germany, and after a dozen shows ended that tour in Naples and Salerno, Italy. Back in America, they performed along the West Coast of the U.S. including a show at San Diego Pride, San Diego MTV Tr3s and Art Around Adams festivals, Ladyfest Las Vegas, and concerts in Baja California (Mexico). In California, they shared the stage with Red Flag, The Last Dance, Hanin Elias (formerly of Atari Teenage Riot) and Ejector.
AntiQuark music is a hi-energy combination; an electro-technowave core twisted with avant-garde and classic-rock elements. Live performances are explosive utilizing hypnotic video-elements, conceptual lighting and performance-art dancers.

Bands they are compared to include: Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Skinny Puppy, Daft Punk, Nine Inch Nails, Tears For Fears, VNV Nation, Fischerspooner, New Order, sometimes The Knife and even Dead Can Dance. Genre-labels are therefore familiar: Electro, Synth-Pop, Dance, Techno, Industrial, Experimental, Electronic-Rock, Synth-Rock, Goth, New Wave.

AntiQuark released the album, SkyDancer, in 2009 which featured six songs including ‘The Man from Mars’ and ‘Shameless’ plus remixes by European and American producers: Marc Urselli, Giulio Maddaloni, The Tleilaxu Music Machine, and The Moscow Coup Attempt. That same year they also recorded their own version of ‘Nothing To Do With The Dog’ (originally a hit-song by Krisma, a popular Italian synthpop band) for a tribute CD titled ‘CHybernation’.

AntiQuark’s latest album, ‘Riches to Rags’, features ‘El Bus’, ‘Medavog’ and remixes by Southern California artists Red Flag, Electrovot, Phantom Power, Don Bleezy, and European producers Steve Morell, Giulio Maddaloni, and The Traumahead Society.

What people say about AntiQuark:
“I think it’s industrial and original. It sounds almost retro ’80s with a new-age influence. I liked it a lot, actually. I’d like to know more about the artist and where they’re from. I would say they’re similar to Rob Zombie, Nine Inch Nails, maybe Tool… I think they’re a little bit ahead of their time, so I think they might have some difficulty getting enough mainstream [exposure].” –Rick Tiland (The San Diego Reader)

“Their music is hard to pin into just one category. It is an independent departure from mainstream, with roots to many techno and other forms of music world-wide but mainly European, specifically the large electronic movement in England and Germany. Each song experiments with different sounds ranging from Tahitian tribal drums providing a strong beat to Italian military chants spliced into a dance track, giving the music a sense of diversity and ingenuity.” –Nesreen (Musician Spotlight)

“The other day, someone turned me onto a relatively new band, AntiQuark, and their new CD, Sky Dancer, out now on Hungry Eye Records. AntiQuark is threaded by electronica, rock, pop and a kind of new-new wave style. Their first single, if you want to call it that, “Man From Mars” has a techno-club, dance beat behind a sensible pop melody. The Atmospheric ethereality, notwithstanding, AntiQuark are a combo of pop music players nonpareil.” –Kent Manthie (Reviewer Magazine)