STARKEY
Photo by David Tilchin
Interview by Ric Baker
Listening to Ephemeral Exhibits, one gets the feeling that Philadelphia-based producer/ badman Starkey has spent a lot of time in dark places, on other planets (that groove). This is an actual artist long play, Starkey has produced, and Planet Mu has released, a true album of new underground urban music (you hear the term “street bass” mentioned), drawing from so many dark places musically it would be difficult to catalog (short list: trip hop, grime, hip hop, dubstep, techno, and on….). Every track relates in a meaningful, thought-provoking way while still maintaining an unique character. It is substantive in its concept and execution, and maintains an amazingly high level of sonic quality that is only matched by Starkey’s musical prowess.
Ephemeral Exhibits stands out because Starkey has paid as much attention to his melodies and themes as he has to his drums and bass. All too often in the world of underground music, melodies are over-looked or under-used. Starkey hasn’t made that mistake. Instead, his melodies are vital not only to the expressive statement that the tune is making, but also to the rhythmic nature of the composition. Case in point is the epic sci-fi banger and album opener “Gutter Music”. What goes on in the higher frequencies of this tune melodically, and how the bass and drums support those statements, is what makes this track so exciting. The synth/vocal driven track “Dark Alley” is another example of excellent interplay of melody and rhythm between the anguished vocals, the lead synth lines and the breakbeat-derived drum patterns. The track comes together as an intense, soulful declaration. The indelible influence Trip Hop has had on Starkey can best be heard on “Time Traveler”. This introspective cloud of sound develops into a darkly colorful half-step journey well worth a listen. Tracks like “Pressure” bring a street-bass dancefloor vibe, while the extremely thoughtful and beautiful “Miracles” round out the selection of tracks with its dark and emotive passion.
Starkey’s Ephemeral Exhibits, which is now available from Planet Mu Records, is track for track one of the most interesting and exciting full length releases of 2008. The album works on a variety of different levels, in a variety of contexts from abstract listening sessions to serious DJ club sets. This music is so thought-provoking one could write volumes about it, but as always, the real story is in the music itself.
Consider it highly recommended.
So when did you start producing as Starkey?
When the vocalists from Aunt Jessica were moving out of Philly, in 2004. I originally produced as Aunt Jessica… but then we became a group. Aunt Jessica was more downtempo, trip hop, breakbeat influenced stuff. The first Starkey productions had a more street edge, I was into grime back then.
Is that what you were originally interested in, trip hop?
Yeah, still my favorite era of music… like the first four Tricky records, Portishead, Alpha, love the dark stuff.
So how would you define the term street bass?
(laughs) Love that! I should consult dev79 before I answer this question (laughs). Basically… street bass came about because dev79 thought of it as a term that sounded cool and I was like… ‘man… we need to use this, let’s throw a party and just put STREET BASS really big on the flyer’ (laughs). Basically… we did something sort of like that, then the Street Bass anthems mixtape idea came up. Really… Philly didn’t have its defining sound. Yeah, there’s Philly party music, but no one really knows about that. We thought of street bass as defining what we did: bass heavy music with a street attitude, lots of vocals or vocal elements, a hiphop mentality to things.
How do you think the city of Philadelphia has affected your sound?
Hip hop. It is the music of the city. It influences so much from culture to how people talk. It is the dance music of Philly too, but I don’t necessarily feel as though I connect with the hiphop going on in this city. Some of it is cool… Philly is also responsible for much of the soul/r&b sound that is out today, but not too many people realize that. The Philly sound from the 60s/70s and on has really defined what was called neo-soul.
Do you think Philadelphia has been overshadowed by it’s proximity to New York?
Yes and no. Within Philly… there’s a lot of attitude, a lot of competition. We always say: “if you can do well in Philly, you can do well”. There’s not a lot of mid-size venues and they pay dj’s pretty terribly, so there’s a lot of competition. The funny thing is, I don’t get into that too much. I’m kind of an outsider cause I don’t really care about having a regular club night in Philly anymore. I’d rather fly out to SF/LA or Europe… wherever, to play to new crowds.
I noticed some international bookings in the near future, how do you think the European crowds differ from North American crowds?
Electronic music is definitely bigger in Europe as a whole, so it’s a different experience. It usually involves bigger crowds too. I like playing in Europe… some of the best shows I’ve ever played have been there. Dublin was great, Elevate Festival this year in Graz was great.
How was performing on Mary Anne Hobbs’ show?
Oh, that was pretty amazing. We were in the bowels of the Maida Vale Studios for the BBC. That’s not where her show is broadcast from… but the recording studio is where the BBC symphony orchestra, the peel sessions, etc… are/were recorded. So much history, it’s seriously a maze. The studio takes up a whole city block and we’re like a few stories underground. An orchestra was in another studio while we were there. There’s so many live spaces and they have the best gear in the world, like every room has a ssl console or neve. It was such an honor man, can’t explain it. And to be asked to do it by Vex’d just
was a great experience. Meeting Mary Anne was great too, I’ve been listening to her show forever, since I got serious about electronic music.
I noticed a lot of movies listed as influences, especially scifi, how would you describe that influence?
I’m kind of obsessed with sci-fi movies… particularly 60s and 70s. The look, the sound design. I want to go to outer space. I’m all about Virgin Galactic. I want people to buy my albums so I can make enough money to book a flight (laughs)! Just kidding, but really that would be an amazing day.
Where would you place Ephemeral exhibits in the scope of your personal career and development as a musician?
It’s like a snapshot of where I was for the last two years. Most of the tunes are under a year old though lots are from early 2008 and this summer, but “Marsh” is from the end of 2006 I think, and “Bang Bang”.
How did the decision come about to do a full length artist record?
Well… I’ve been sending Mike from Planet Mu music for a couple years now. This summer I sent him a new tune I had just finished, which was “Striking Distance”, and he actually wrote back…. “we should do a 12” soon”. It was like one sentence. I was like YES! (laughs) And then I sent him a bunch of new tunes, basically everything I was working on and some stuff I had just finished, then some older stuff, so we started talking… and he was like, ‘I think we should do a double 12” there’s a lot of good stuff here’, then it became a CD EP and 12”, then an album and 2×12”, then album and 3×12”. There were only a few songs we didnt put on there that I had actually sent him, but he did a really good job at figuring out the track order for the cd. I think it flows really well and feels like an album.
You’re classically trained, right? What instruments have you played?
Yeah. I’ve been playing piano since I was like five years old, then took on the clarinet, oboe, and sax in school, then got into bass in middle school. I took bass and piano lessons for years. If you have the cd version of my album… I thanked a bunch of my music teachers in it.
Nice! Do you still play?
Nah… I’m not a performer really. I always hated learning to play other people’s music. I just wanted to write my own stuff, improvise and such.
How do you think your understanding of classical music has influenced your underground music?
Definitely. I play a lot of synths in my music and my hands gravitate to certain chords on the piano. For anyone who plays piano… they have their favorite keys and positions that just feel good. It’s hard to explain, so I tend to write in certain keys. It’s not a conscious thing. I always wonder what my music would sound like if I didn’t know any theory.
Do you feel constrained at all by your knowledge of theory?
I wish I could wake up one day and not know any theory and just write music all day long, then the next day go back to normal life and listen to what I made (laughs).
How do you think it would be different? Any guesses?
I think that it would be cool…. hmm maybe I would do more writing in midi and less playing.
Who are you listening to these days?
Lots of stuff: Raffertie, Zomby, Joker, Vex’d, BD1982, Drop the Lime, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, DZ, T-pain, Kanye, Kotchy, R Kelly, Sigur Ros, JME, Ghetto, Durrty Goodz.
