Description:	CD on Planet Mu
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Dubstep / Bass Music
	Label:	Planet Mu
	Price:	£10.29
	Availability:	Dispatched within 2-5 days (on average).

4
...according to our Brett on 15 April 2010.

He's a funny one this guy. He does the odd thing that I think is amazing but generally he doesn't leave a particularly strong impression with me, as on this new one. Yeah, it's got some pretty rude Gameboy G-funk moments, some cool broken hip-hop times and some flashes where giant beats seem to be stomping a path of destruction through a Japanese city circa 2312 but for the most part it's not doing masses for me, although it's obviously of good quality. With the high proportion of vocal tracks it's almost like he's consciously going for the mass appeal, showing his range and all that, but I'm too many of the tunes here are particularly memorable.. Bit of a shame really as he's undoubtedly got the skills.

Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.

Sound clips for Ear Drums & Black Holes by Starkey: on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Planet Mu, ZIQ259CD, £10.29.

What their label says...

* Blessed with skills for musical arrangement that film score composers would be red faced with jealousy about, and a knack of knowing how to make impressively musical, bass-heavy music that works in a club and on the headphones, Starkey’s back with his second album for Planet Mu, 'Ear Drums And Black Holes' which takes an incredibly open-ended vision of dubstep and runs with it.

* Known as something of a genre cross-pollinator, he’s released DJ mixes and tracks on his own Seclusiasis label under the ad-hoc genre title ‘Street Bass’. While that description effortlessly covers some of the tracks here, such as ‘Murderous Words’ feat. Texan MC Cerebral Vortex and the R'n'G style ‘Club Games’ (again featuring Vortex, this time with Buddy Leezle on the mic), or the heartfelt ‘Numb’ feat UK Grime MC P-Money, this album only starts from that point, offering up to a whole dimension of new possibilities
.
* Check Anneka’s delightful pop of ‘Stars’ or ‘New Cities’ featuring Japanese vocalist Kiki Hitomi which sounds like Yellow Magic Orchestra fast forwarded into the contemporary world and Starkey’s own gorgeous vocodered journey into the cosmos ‘Alienstyles’.

* But all these tracks would be nothing if they didn’t hang together beautifully with some of the most epic robo-funk you’re likely to hear, from the melodic to the monstrous, these pieces are almost prog-like in their approach to dubstep, wide screen and weightless, until that bass drops.

* Then there’s 'Capsule' with it’s driving bass enveloped by precise melodic chords, or the gorgeous boom-bap intergalactic ride of ‘ Neck Snap’ with it’s retroactive echoes of electro-funk, or the twisted synth darkside grimace of 'Fourth Dimension' that combines 8-bit computer game clarity with weird fairground bass and rave breakbeats. These tracks seem to meld together a cosmic synth feel alike to a less overwrought Tangerine Dream with a feel for 'in the pocket' funkiness and incredible compositional skills.

* TRACKLIST:
3LP:A: MURDEROUS WORDS (FT. CEREBRAL VORTEX) , CAPSULE B: 11TH HOUR NUMB (FT. P-MONEY) STARS (FT. ANNEKA) C: SPACECRAFT , NECK SNAP D: FOURTH DIMENSION CLUB GAMES (FT. CEREBRAL VORTEX & BUDDY LEEZLE) E: ALIENSTYLES NEW CITIES (FT. KIKI HITOMI) F: PLEASURE POINTS ,FIDELIO

*CD: 01 OK LUV 02 MURDEROUS WORDS (FT. CEREBRAL VORTEX) 03 11TH HOUR 04 NUMB (FT. P-MONEY) 05 STARS (FT. ANNEKA) 06 MULTIDIAL 07 SPACECRAFT 08 NECK SNAP 09 FOURTH DIMENSION 10 CLUB GAMES (FT. CEREBRAL VORTEX & BUDDY LEEZLE) 11 ALIENSTYLES 12 CAPSULE 13NEW CITIES (FT. KIKI HITOMI) 14 PLEASURE POINTS 15 FIDELIO