BASSIC 2 Years Old, Starkey Much Older

This could not have come at a better time. Over the last two years, Boston has slowly become one of the premier places for next level Dubstep/wonky/aqua crunk/ funky et al. artists to play in the US.  For that, we can all thank a certain group of individuals that run BASSIC, the monthly Dub fusion night at the Goodlife. These cats which include Damien Silva, C-Dubs, and Pandai'a have been on a deadly streak of bringing in everyone from Kode 9 to Martyn to Caspa and The Bug to Boston. Personally, I've lived in this fine city for 5 + years now and I've never seen the level of excitement for this music as I've seen just in the last 6 months, so thanks for Bassic for making this possible.

I wouldn't expect this crew to take their birthday lightly and tomorrow, Wednesday June 24th, BASSIC are commemorating their second year life by bringing in one of the best new producers and top notch talent STARKEY for a night that of literal insanity.

Philly's own Starkey is far and away one of the US's up and coming producers right now with his scary amount of high quality remixes and his own mind bending productions on hip hop/street crunk/wonky. Starkey's latest output Ephemeral Exhibits was released at the very end of 2008 on Planet Mu.  He also runs the Stilt Jockey label with Dev79 and Carnicero.

For me, what really separates Starkey apart from other similar sounding artists is his effective usage of melody and harmony complimenting the dark and grimey crunk riddims. Ephemeral Exhibits is full of bangers equally as satisfying on the floor as they are on with a pair of headphones on, exposing new layers of sound that sometimes get lost on big systems.  See Flylo.

Oh and throw on Starkbass the next time you've got some people over. Party approved.

Here are some choice cuts from his catalogue:

Gutter Music off of Ephemeral Exhibits (2008)

This is one of the best bangers of 2009. The instrumental on its own is a conglomeration of the best elements from crunk/hip hop/grime/dubstep but when you have one of BOW's finest Durrty Goodz on the mic this tune is straight unstoppable. Starkey put on some magic gloves when he made this beat.

Miracles off of Ephemeral Exhibits (2008)

Miracles shows off Starkeys versatility as a producer with its soulful slowed down rhythm and a beautifully pitched up vocal that I could listen to for days. This is definitely a highlight of the album. You could listen to this walking in the rain or coming down at 4 am still rehashing the night.

Pacheko - Bi-polar Bear (Starkey Remix)

Bi-polar Bear is a seriously dubbed out re-work of Venezuelan artist Pacheko's debut single. A great song for the end of the night push, slowly morphing from a slow rolling dubstep anthem to a 4x4 bassline/garage rhythm. Serious transmissions from the darkside.

Starkey will also be at Camp Bisco on July 16 which is also starting Fly Lo, Martyn and Dub War. I for one can't wait to see the mindfuck that Starkey will be delivering that night to thousands of kids out of their gourds. We will be there from Thurs on, so feel free to hit us up for some well deserved partying.

Big ups again to BASSIC for doing what they do.  Feel free to bring any or all of these artists to Boston in year 3 of Bassic ha.  Fly Lo, Falty Dl, Joker, Gemmy