Symbiosis 43 – Starkey

Starkey hits us with a pure slab of street bass to kick off the new site! Thanks to Overlap for hosting the show for the last 2 years. You can check out past episodes there. Thanks to everyone for your support and bear with me as I add new features/content to the site.

Starkey’s new album, Ear Drums And Black Holes, is out on 19th April on Planet Mu. You can still grab the singles Ok Luv and Stars.

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Download the mp3.

A lot has happened since your last mix for Symbiosis (January 2008) – your first album came out on Planet Mu to widespread acclaim, you have been touring constantly, and we’re about to hear your follow up album in April. What has been the highlight of the last 2 years?

Wow… it’s hard to think of just one thing. There’s been a lot of special things that have happened…. like the Mary Anne Hobbs “Generation Bass” radio show. That was such a fun time… so much energy in that studio. That may be the highlight…. but there’s others as well. Like playing Glade last summer was pretty special as well. I played on a stage with a bunch of friends, so it was just a day long party. Also, Bristol last year at Crazylegs was a highlight show as well. It was me, Raffertie and Dexplicit. The crowd had a lot of energy that night.

How was it working with Durrty Goodz on the Gutter Music vocal?

To be honest I really didn’t work with him. I sent over the tune with just one instruction…. that I’d like to keep the title, “Gutter Music”. So basically telling him that I’d like him to work that into the lyric somehow. What he did with the track was amazing… that’s all him.

You also have Anneka on your new single ‘Stars’ and Japanese vocalist Kiki Hitomi on ‘New Cities’. Do you enjoy working with vocals on your tracks? Do you go into creating a track for the vocalist or do you decide as the drafts are starting to be mixed down?

I love vocals. I mean… from the Street Bass Anthems mixtapes to now my new album… vocals are really important to me in music. For the tracks with vocals, yeah, I definitely know when a track could use vocals. Some songs are purely instrumental and would never work with a vocal… you can try all you want but it just doesn’t work. Then some songs cry out for vocals. Like “Club Games” on the new album is totally stripped back and really open for vocals. Same with “Murderous Words”. It doesn’t mean that those tracks don’t work as instrumentals, it’s just that a proper vocal can take it to the next level. But then there’s tracks like “Pleasure Points” for instance, that are so busy and dense that a vocal just doesn’t work.

“Ear Drums And Black Holes” is out on 19th April. Tell us about the creation of the record – how long did it take, were there any new tools used or approaches on this album?

Well it was written from scratch with the intention of writing “an album”, unlike “Ephemeral Exhibits” which was pretty much pieced together of tunes I had been working on at the time and over the past year or so. I started writing this album immediately after I delivered “Exhibits” in between lots of remixes. Regarding new tools…… I moved my studio to a different location which always changes things a bit. Your environment causes you to hear things differently and can inspire creativity in a different way. Other than that, not much has changed. I got a few new soft synths… but it was made on the same computer and that.

Do you see a theme to the album?

There are a lot of themes… some of which will be apparent to most people I think, and others which are really just for me. My music definitely revolves a bit around this sci-fi theme. This kind of other world, space travel meets urban apocalypse thing. At least that’s what it is in my head.

What has been the best live show you have played in recent times?

There’s not one favorite event like I said before. But, Bristol is always fun… the crowd is always receptive. Playing Room 1 in Fabric was fun as well. 10 Days off Festival in Belgium was really cool as well, it was me and Benga.

Tell us about how the Mary Anne Hobbs ‘create a track in 2 hours’ challenge came about.

She just hit me up in October, I believe, of last year… and presented the show idea to me. I was immediately interested…. although a bit nervous about the concept. However, I think it was a really fun experience. It wasn’t really about the final track… cuz the final track is never gonna get the proper treatment a real song gets. It was about the process and the actual show itself. The song we ended up making turned out surprisingly alright.

Are you still producing MOVES tracks?

Who said that I was MOVES!!! ??? haha. MOVES!!! is back in Starkville, but he’s been pretty quiet lately, that’s all I can say.

What’s happening with your labels, Seclusiasis & Slit Jockey, right now?

Oh man…. lots. 2010 has been a great year already and it’s set to be our biggest year yet. We’re really picking up the labels. We already released Street Bass Anthems Vol. 4. We’re releasing BD1982′s debut full-length on CD/Digital. We’ve got some music coming from DNAEBEATS and NastyNasty, Halp (this guy from Rotterdam that will blow people’s mind), Kastle (B Rich’s new project), plus loads of other things. Then on the Slit Jockey side of things we just dropped a Sduk / Numan split 12″, the digital with some sick remixes is dropping next month. We’re also gonna release some music from 8Bitch, Kaiser and more… it’s such a good time for music.

What music/tracks/producers are you into right now?

All the people I just mentioned….. plus a ton more. Too many to mention.

Tell us about your plans following the release of “Ear Drums And Black Holes”.

Just more music really. Gonna try to keep progressing my sound and taking it to the next level. I also want to work with more mc’s and vocalists…. and keep bringing the lyrics into things. This Summer I’ll be doing a lot of shows in support of the album as well. Just gonna keep it moving.

Symbiosis Episode 43 – Starkey

“Yo Symbiosis Australian Down Under Massive!!!! This mix is a nice snapshot of where my head is at right now. I just finished up my 2nd album for Planet Mu (out april 12th), called “Ear Drums and Black Holes”, so you’ll hear a few things from that. Plus the normal assortment of things I’m feeling at present, as well as future things to come from Seclusiasis, Slit Jockey and our extended family.

I guess that’s about it. Hope you’re feeling the music.”

starkey-music.com
myspace.com/starkey
twitter.com/starkbotbeats/
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Starkey

Tracklist

01 – Soap & Skin “Sleep” (pias)
02 – Starkey “Murderous Words (XI remix)” (dub)
03 – Starkey “Rain City” (rwina)
04 – Sub Focus “Could This Be Real (Joker remix)” (ram)
05 – Ginuwine “Pony (Debruit remix)” (dub)
06 – Distal “Android Tourism” (dub)
07 – Starkey “Knob Twiddler” (planet mu)
08 – Young Money “New Shit” (cash money)
09 – The Earlies “Breaking Point (Eprom remix)” (dub)
10 – Starkey “Capsule” (planet mu)
11 – Swindle “Airmiles” (dub)
12 – Terror Danjah “Bipolar” (butterz)
13 – Starkey “Fourth Dimension” (planet mu)
14 – Mr. Rogers “Birdbox (Starkey remix)” (innerflight)
15 – Gorilla Zoe “Lost (Starkey remix)” (adult swim/bad boy south)
16 – Starkey “Pressure” (planet mu)
17 – Starkey ft. Badness “OK Luv” (planet mu)
18 – Kuedo “Starfox” (planet mu)
19 – NastyNasty “Crushes” (dub)
20 – Gemmy “A Nite on da Wonk (Gemzy touch)” (dub)
21 – Starkey “Neck Snap” (planet mu)

Download the mp3.