Hailing
from the other side of the world and keying into a geographically-specific
culture and musical discipline that’s at least 3000 miles away from your base isn’t
easy, but it’s something that Philadelphia based producer Starkey made look
easy. Since he burst onto the scene and released his album Ear Drums and
Black Holes on Planet Mu (the follow up to 2008's Ephemeral Exhibits), he’s been tipped as one of the most talented
producers in the world. Capable of making cinematic, epic and definitive music
that rose above the worlds of genre, Starkey is a global and worldly producer
in the truest sense of the word.
He’s
just released the second part of his Space Traitor EP series, seeing the
producer taking his disjointed, stratospheric grime and dubstep to the next
level by experimenting with different tones and styles (probably one of the
reasons why he’s been over in the UK producing beats for a number of
undisclosed stars and musicians). DT was chuffed to bits to be able to meet the
impressionable force that is PJ Geissinger, AKA Starkbot, AKA Starkey - fittingly, over the internet - about his views on music production, taking
your time over your sound and keeping original and fresh even when the trends dictate
otherwise.
How did you fall
into the sound of the UK in the first place?
“I lived in London 2001 and went to school there” he
says. “I was listening to some of the vocal garage and was starting to listen
to
So Solid Crew’s album while I
lived there” he looks back. “It was also the time of all that Streets stuff too,
and I thought ‘what the hell is this?’...I bought both versions of the album
and was blown away by the freshness.
The
Streets at that time were still in that garage thing, but it introduced me."
“At home no one knew who
The Streets were, so in the US,
it was still very underground. I was intrigued by it and finally got into the
grime things, like Roll Deep’s ‘Pirate Sessions’ was totally blown away by what
I heard! I took that ethic and tried to blend with my love of
epic, post rock music and weird electronica."
What mostly
influenced you before you discovered the UK underground?I was very eclectic and love jazz and gospel music. I
also play instruments and all that stuff. But for me, around the time, I was in
to Super Furry Animals, Spiritualized and I loved my trip hop scene and the Bristol
scene like Tricky and Massive Attack. But Tricky, especially – those first
three albums, while I was growing up, and hearing that music and Bjork got me
into electronica. Of course it just progressed to Aphex Twin and stuff from
there.”
“I had an internship and I was mostly working with
bands. What we were playing and I was producing and learning engineering so
that really sealed the electronica path for me.”
When you went back
to the US after college, what were other musicians and friends in Philly
saying? How did they find this sound?“At first I kept it well to myself and no one really knew
about it; it was also when vinyl and CD was really prevalent. I just started
becoming Starkey around that time, and I was making breakbeat-esque stuff. In
fact, the guy who did the narration around Space Traitor One and Two, he was in
a band with me. Around the time was when I met this local crew, and he had a
studio where people would come and chill, make music, MC and party. We held this
night called ‘
The Philadelphia Laptop’
Battle, a DJ competition with laptops and controllers and stuff. We met each
other and then we started realising we liked the same music – '“you like grime”'. I thought I was the only person in
Philadelphia who knew what it was at the time!".
“So we started a party and we placed a giant order (because
it was hard to get in the states) and tried to download and buy as much white
label and music as possible. So we started playing grime and mixing it with
hip-hop and stuff, to try and spread it out a bit. It was called Get In, and
people actually came out and checked it out. We introduced a lot of people to
the sound by mixing it up.”
You had limited
resources and were mixing and stretching the music to spread it out and keep it
fresh for people. That kind of thing is now happening with the UK bass scene
and it’s wide open in terms of genre and mixing styles. Could you have ever
seen this coming?
“I loved the sound way back then. All the early Jammer
and Kano stuff. That’s my favourite music. For me personally, I couldn’t understand
why ANYONE wouldn’t like this; to me it’s the future. It’s cool to see it all
spread, because today you can get whatever you want, at any time. I play a lot
of shows and there’ll be a local DJ who plays a very, very similar set to
someone they may have never met but lives in a different country. We have
access to loads of music – but way back when I first started we just didn’t have
it there. Even MP3’s, you couldn’t trust it. It would be a 92 bit rate and it
would have some terrible encoding system on it – you just couldn’t play it. We
had to rely on spending loads of money on shipping and stuff. Now you just type
into Google – it just didn’t exist, even 8 years ago.”
Do you think
people don’t spend too much time being anal in their productions of music
considering how easy it has become to make?No I don’t think they spend enough time. I don’t want to
rise above or anything, but I think there’s a huge problem with quality control.
Don’t get me wrong – there is amazing music out there. But with so many
stations, and internet stations, and bedroom DJ’s and producer DJ’s and all
this shit. There’s people out there who rush to finish a track for that night
and that’s one of the worst things you can do; give people music that’s not
100%.”
“There needs to be more time spent creating and making
stuff that can stand the test of time. I’ve done it myself, I’ve even been on Radio One and built a beat live on air. For the latest EP I gave in 14 different
versions, until I felt comfortable with it. I would call that process the final
mix-down, for me. I still don’t think they’re perfect and I could still make something
better, but crafting something with longevity and making it a quality product
is essential.”
Would you say this
ethic and theory behind your production is paramount to your sound and image of
reaching beyond into the unknown? There seems to be quite a space-led concept
behind your work...“If I grew up selling drugs and I was a rapper then I
think I would rap about it. For me, science fiction and technology, and what
the world would be like in a post-apocalyptic sense would be the theme I usually
follow as that’s what has always inspired me. But I’m just trying to be an original artist.
I’m just making music for myself first and foremost, but you need to do
something special to share that creativity. I’m just happy that people seem to
share my enthusiasm as well. Most of my tracks are actually songs then straight
beats, so I can take the listener on a journey.”
How does the new
Space Traitor series see you develop from your last work such as ‘Ear Drums and Black Holes’ and other
previous works?“I think the Space Traitor is the most challenging thing
I’ve made.
Street Rockers is a hard-ass grime track, I wanted to keep it me but
production wise, it’s a little bit busier than usual grime records which were
very hollow sounding. I did the opening beats for the record, and I started
playing more with Melodies. Then I sent the track over to
Charli (XCX) and she
just delivered a bunch of different vocals over and we created a song that
sounded like a complete unit with everything you crave from a song. I just
think the new release as a whole feels complete, and gives many different views
of the different sounds I like to produce from the tough to the more melodic.”
Finally aside from
performing at Lovebox really soon,
what else have you got coming up until the end of the year?“There’s some remixes that are coming out for various
things. I did something with a San Fran-based MC for a
Fright Night
compilation, which is Salvo’s label which is coming out in autumn. I think I’m
doing an EP (not official yet) for a new label, so I can’t give too much away.
I’m actually working on it at the moment, it’s a work in progress. Watch out
for a Space Traitor Volume 3, maybe, but I’m also trying to make a new
Moves! (a more dancefloor-led alter-ego) record
which is so hard as I've been so entrenched in Starkey stuff. It’s definitely a work in progress and won’t be before 2012
realistically.”
Space Traitor Vol. 2 is out now through Civil Music.
Stay tuned to www.starkey-music.com/ for all developments.