Orbits

A 13 track dubstep album (55m 12s) — released November 26th 2012 on Civil Music

Starkey's 3rd studio album Orbits album out 26th Nov includes Command single, out 12th Nov

Orbits is the latest thrilling installment in Starkey's 'street bass' odyssey. The Philly producer draws on grime, hip-hop, electro, bass music and beyond to blast off with his most accomplished and fully realized album yet. Starkey's intricately crafted, sci-fi inspired tracks escape the intro-drop-breakdown-drop formula of most dance music thanks to a more expansive, ambitious approach.

Epic opener Renegade Starship paves the way for the heavy-hitting Command, which, along with remixes by Plastician, Drums Of Death and others, will be released as a lead single. The album continues to straddle straight club tracks (see The Shuttle, Dystopia) and more ambient offerings (Crashing Sphere, Synchronize) throughout.

Huge drums, Southern rap style high hats and Vangelis-like fizzing synths are deployed to dramatic effect, and the energy and aggression of grime pervade the record. Starkey - real name Paul Geissinger, and PJ to friends - has carved out a unique space in electronic music. His explorations in the unnamed airspace between grime and dubstep have earned respect from both camps, despite them being predominately British pursuits and Starkey being an American outsider whose music isn't solely confined to either genre.

Starkey released his debut album 2008's 'Ephemeral Exhibits' and this sophomore, 2010's 'Ear Drums and Black Holes', on the Planet Mu Label. Both received critical acclaim and showcased his unique take on Grime and Bass music. He subsequently released the 'Space Traitor' series (Vol.1 & Vol.2) on Civil Music and his genre spanning 'Open the Pod Bay Doors EP' on Ninja Tune. Starkey's music brims with big synths and bigger drums. Hard-edged hip-hop and scything bass mix, at times, mix with almost classical compositions and element, but it's Grime that remains at the forefront of his sound, ever more so on 'Orbits'

Since his last album Starkey has been doing production work for Tinie Tempah and Foreign Beggars, worked with Kosheen's Sian Evans, collaborated with Pop princess Charli XCX on single 'Lost in Space' and released several collaborations with one time Roll Deep member Trim. Album track and lead single 'Command' also gets the Trim treatment appearing as "Light Years" featuring on the MC's collaboration release with Roachee, "The Nangesst EP" which is out now. P Money, Badness, Durrty Goodz, Kozzie and Merky Ace have also manned the mics for Starkey on releases for 'No Hats No Hoods' & 'Keysound' amongst others. These collabs sit in his extensive catalog of releases which also includes wax for Werk Discs, Lo Dubs, Rwina and more.

Oribits is released by Civil Music on 26th Nov on 2×12" vinyl, CD and digital download and features UV gloss spot artwork by Pete Hawkes.

Really interesting package, you guys are right on it these days. Hats off!! - Eddie Temple Morris XFM

REVIEW (8.0!!) - When Starkey released Ear Drums and Black Holes back in April 2010, it was still kind of risky for a North American artist to put their weight behind the idea of a dubstep hybrid that incorporated Dirty South production and Auto-Tune vocals alongside more traditional grime and 2-step influences. It just wasn't as risky as it might have been a couple years before: there was already a thick, smothering atmosphere building in the air that made Starkey's eclectic approach seem like a cerebral sort of outlier when it dropped. Two months later, Sonny Moore posted his electro-dabbler alter ego's debut EP My Name Is Skrillex to MySpace, and by the end of the year the parameters for what constituted a Stateside take on dubstep had drastically shifted to a monolithic wave of WUB WUB SICK DROPZ. When this stuff started filling arenas, the mainstream media decided the development was worth kicking a decade's worth of history to the curb for, and a nuanced, creatively diverse, long-evolving genre was reduced almost overnight into one-dimensional meme fodder by rockist blogs and YouTube joke-mongers. It's enough to turn musical progressives into gate-slamming reactionaries. To his credit, Starkey's own reaction to all this seems to be more of a brief side eye before getting back to the business of refining his own thing. Ear Drums and Black Holes was entertaining if somewhat uneven, not necessarily quality-wise but in outlook-- a bunch of ideas too good for the singles-plus-filler designation, but with a sprawl that pulled focus away from a real pivotal stylistic center. His new one, Orbits, manages to draw all his influences together into something more consistent, an actual streamlined signature sound that makes perfect sense given the records that preceded it. Like his 2008 Planet Mu debut album Ephemeral Exhibits and most of the singles and EPs that led up to it, he's made this album a one-man operation without collaborative efforts or vocal guest spots. So its idiosyncracies and surprises are all his, and there's a more direct route to getting a grasp on what he's been going for all this time, even if there's still no shortage of cross-genre leaps and well-timed mood swings. It helps that dubstep is only part of his music's DNA-- enough that it fits under a liberal definition of the genre, but not so much that he's tied down to its preconceived notions. Much of Orbits owes its sound to an engagement with longstanding influences; this is an artist who sounds the way he does because, as a DJ, he knows his way around what makes the foundational likes of Terror Danjah or Plastician tick and translates that through his own filters. But there are also multiple stabs at working with trap and footwork rhythms, whether they're straight-up or salvaged for parts-- largely the latter, twisted out of shape in cuts like the jostling space-Luger overload of - Pitchfork Pitchfork

Right up my street. Loving the bass!!! - T Williams DJ

Wickedness from Starkey once again!!! Command is my pick of the package! - Swindle DJ

Starkey just keeps getting better and better. Command gets my full support, ace record! - AC Slater DJ

Nice. So good to hear a brain and a heart at work, making music. This album will soundtrack my wintery pavement pounding, all screwface and good knitwear - Fake Blood DJ

HUGE album! starkey is such a master! x - Brodinski DJ

Hype!! - LV DJ

Another massively impressive forward thinking release from Starkey. The man is a beast. Love it. - Foreign Beggars DJ

Starkey smashed it! - Mumdance DJ

  • Kudos happily ship all items worldwide.
  • Shipping costs and delivery times are available here.
  • UK items are sent tracked as standard at no extra cost.
  • We aim to dispatch orders placed before 2pm on the same day.
  • We are unable to ship orders on weekends or Bank Holidays.
  • If you purchase a pre-order item amongst an order of in-stock releases, we will typically hold your order until all items are in ready to send.
  • Although we use all reasonable means to ensure that your order is delivered within a specified time, we cannot accept any responsibility for late deliveries due to circumstances outside of our control. We will do our best to inform you of any unexpected delay.