Darkstar (band)
| Darkstar | |
|---|---|
| Origin | England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Electronic, post-dubstep |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels |
Warp Hyperdub 2010 Records |
| Members | James Young Aiden Whalley |
Darkstar are an electronic music duo. Since 2007, they have released music on Hyperdub, Warp and 2010 Records.
James Young & Aiden Whalley began making music together in London in 2007(?), releasing their first compositions "Dead 2 Me" & "Break" under the name Darkstar on their own label - 2010 Records.
This release was followed later the same year by "Lilyliver/Out of Touch" and "Memories (Remix)/Sayter" a split single with London producer Zomby, issued on the MG77 label.
London musician and Hyperdub label head Kode9 released "Need You/Squeeze My Lime" in 2008. The "Round Ours" EP was also released in 2008 on Clandestine Cultivations.
Over the course of these releases Darkstar steadily developed a unique sound that drew sonically from grime, dubstep, electro and synth-pop - culminating in 2009 with the release of the single "Aidy's Girl Is A Computer" via Hyperdub. It was named by The Guardian as "one of the singles of the year" and in the top 100 tracks of 2009 by Pitchfork Media. It was featured on the 5: Five Years of Hyperdub compilation and in Jamie xx's mix for Paris clothing and accessory retailer Colette.
After discarding an album's worth of recordings and enlisting James Buttery as a vocalist, Darkstar recorded a full-length album that largely eschewed dance music in favor of a unique blend of melancholy electronic pop and ambient experimentation. The album, North, was released by Hyperdub on 18 October 2010. Despite being a marked departure from their earlier 12" releases it was met with wide acclaim. FACT called it "an incredibly fragile, engaging and emotionally driven record. North is an impressive debut and one of the most unique albums you’re likely to hear in 2010" and the BBC declared it "a downbeat record that reclaims dubstep's original dark energy and experimental imperative".
After considerable international touring on the back of North, Whalley, Young and Buttery decamped to a house in rural Yorkshire to begin writing and recording their next album, to be released on Warp. Buttery was now involved in the writing and recording process as an official member of Darkstar. Whalley said in an interview with online magazine Dummy in August 2012 "This album’s more different though because we’ve kind of exhausted that idea, and those melodies that were on ‘North’ and the ones before, as soon as we came up with ideas that reminded us of that we had to move away from it and come up with something that was a new challenge. Get away from the old melodies and the melancholy sentiment."
Darkstar recorded News From Nowhere with producer Richard Formby in Leeds, giving them access to Formby's vintage analogue synthesizers and classic tape machines. The album is named after William Morris' classic book whose subject matter combined utopian socialism and science fiction.
...
Wikipedia