Laptop musicians create eclectic rocktronica

Alethea Eichhorn, UW psychology graduate, began following her heart more than a year and a half ago when she gave up her job as a commercial researcher and invested her energy into music.

Her eclectic approach to making music has brought music lovers of varied genres to the same shows week after week. Using the moniker Butterfly Beats, Eichhorn is one of the few females in the burgeoning laptop DJ scene in Seattle. She also performs the rhythm section of Beehive, a collaboration with UW psychology graduate David Miller.

By drawing upon a wide range of influences from DJ Shadow and Jimi Hendrix to Bjork and Aretha Franklin, Eichhorn seeks to fuse rock 'n' roll and electronica into what could be defined as rocktronica.

Beehive's last performance July 2 at Chop Suey brought together people for different reasons. Some came for the pulsing beats that Eichhorn produced through her dual laptop setup, while others came for Miller's echoing slide-guitar riffs.

Eichhorn's laptops and keyboard setup sat back-to-back with Miller's slide guitar, giving the audience a profile view, which Eichhorn said allows those at the show to better understand that she is not just pressing play, but composing on the spot.

This scene was not common a few years ago when the laptop DJ scene began. At first the only people in clubs hosting laptop DJs were the performers and the club's employees. Now, competitions called laptop battles are held regularly at places like Chop Suey to larger and more responsive crowds.

"I think when you have events like the laptop battles [that] bring in more people who're doing the same thing and the mass amounts of advertising that [the clubs] do to get people's attention," Eichhorn said, "eventually, like any other musical movement . . . it eventually branches out and grows and other people get interested."

Beehive is doing its part to bring more people into the fold of laptop music. The group is constantly playing shows at different venues where it capitalizes on the crowd's sense of melody and the desire to dance. Prior to Chop Suey, Beehive played at the University Street Fair and, during the past two years, has played all over Western Washington.

Eichhorn and Miller agreed that the most difficult aspect of composing eclectic music is finding the happy medium between electronica and rock. Making people dance is their central focus in creating music. Though people view dance music as more electronica or rave-oriented, their compositions maintain the integrity of both styles.

"People forget that rock 'n' roll used to be dance music," Miller said.

With this mentality in mind, Beehive creates music that is not defined by a single genre. The song is the focus instead of fitting into a genre or label, which Eichhorn and Miller agree limits many artists.

Beehive is taking time off from playing shows to record an album until July 17 when it will perform at The Henry Art gallery at 7 p.m.