Ephemeral Exhibits, Starkey
A fertile cross-pollination between UK bass music and more traditional, American street electro styles is in evidence on Starkey's latest album for Planet Mu, EPHEMERAL EXHIBITS. Augmenting something of New York's Drop The Lime and Trouble & Bass crew's new House-y approach with the unmistakable low-end wobble, melancholy vocal processing and jaunty synth worship of so many recent 'Ol Blighty exports, this young Philadelphia artist - real name Paul Geissinger - offers a way forward for both style camps, each of which by themselves face inevitable cul-de-sacs; if only on account of the glut of straight-up tracks out there.
Starting out with a pair of large, twitchy floor bangers - the first of which, 'Gutter Music', has become synonymous with Starkey as a descriptive term, somewhat misleadingly - Gessinger pulls out 'Miracles', the first of a beautiful string of slower, surprising numbers including 'Escape' and 'Marsh' whose gentle keytone clusters, deep sub throbs and distant FX lay bare the influence of English laptop dub most directly. It's here and for the most part that Starkey offers a way forward for Generation Bass, displaying wide emotive range on top of an expert grasp of much-hyped 'West Coast Rocks' and 'Wonky' production palettes.
Release: Album
To Cure: An empty dancefloor
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