Starkey – Fidelio

But wait! There is a point to this disjointed bass-related musing and here it is – Starkey’s got a new album out (Ear Drums and Black Holes, Planet Mu, April 19, 2010) and he’s absolutely fckng NAILED it. He calls the music he makes “Street Bass” but “Space Bass” might be more appropriate as he is taking low-end rumblings into another galaxy. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Starkey shares his chosen moniker with “a global supplier of technologically advanced hearing products that assist with hearing loss”. Too many nights with your head in the bins listening to this and you’ll need them.

Unlike a lot of the dark, minimal dubstep out there, the Philadelphia-based wunderkid is blending his gnarly space bass emissions with gorgeous, warm synths – check Fidelio. It starts off sounding like the incidental music from 2001: A Space Odyssey , before Starkey drops the bass along with a terse, military beat. Then, mid-flow, it breaks off into a melodic interlude that Boards of Canada would be proud of. Elsewhere on Ear Drums… are collaborations with grime artist P-Money and the Texan MC Cerebral Vortex that aren’t a million miles away from the prototype booty bass of the 2 Live Crew. And we’ve come full circle…

Joe C
Content kindly supplied from Joe C’s amazing The White Noise Revisited blog. To download the track in full, check out the website in all it’s splendour here + read further musical educations…

• Pre-order Ear Drums and Black Holes from Boomkat
• Starkey website
• Starkey at Planet Mu
• Starkey MySpace