By: Heather Hodder
It's safe to say that here at The Untz we like featuring artists who not only produce fresh new bass tracks, but also mind warping remixes with global influences. Aliens and pyramids, live drumming, random animal noises, and digeridoos—that’s our jam in a nutshell. If you're intrigued by at least one of these, then you need to listen to David Starfire's brand-spanking new EP, Future Self, out today on Gravitas Recordings.
Starfire has been praised by BBC Radio and Billboard as a pioneer of the Global Bass genre. His influences come from the Middle East, India, Australia, Africa, and futuristic sounds we haven’t even heard yet. Starfire recently performed at Dancefestopia, but has performed at Coachella, Burning Man, Lightning in a Bottle and others. Starfire has collaborated and performed with CloZee, Desert Dwellers, and ill.Gates. This New Years, David Starfire will be supporting and performing at a Beats Antique NYE 2020. Currently, Starfire is on his Future Self Tour, with stops in California, North Carolina and Oregon.
Backtracking to Future Self, the cover art, by digital artist beeple, really captures the cinematic soundscape Starfire is trying to create via music into something tangible. The cover portrays an alien civilization cityscape or perhaps architecture here on earth in the distant future. The cover to me questions the past , present, and future, which is exactly what Future Self does, with three remixes (by Zebbler Encanti Experience, Dissolv, and SOOHAN), and three collaborations with drastically different global voices, including Bulgarian and Mumbai-based vocalists, master oud player Jef Stott, and Australian world-renown didgeridoo player Ganga Giri (who both bring Starfire's original track "Osho" to life.)
Did we say the bass gets loud? It builds up and gets loud. One piece reminds me of (in a good way) Bollywood meets uptempo aliens. It’s cinematic music brought to the dance floor. Being somewhere you can move is probably optimal, but you can listen to the whole EP on your way to a show or even driving to work as I've done. When sitting in traffic, I can think of just how long it takes to learn the didgeridoo, so the traffic for however long seems miniscule in comparison.
Future Self by David StarfireMaybe I'm not that zen but listening to this is a way better use of my energy than honking. Listening to Future Self has expanded my expectations of what can mix with danceable bass beats and what Global Bass is and can be. For example, I would never expect a reoccurring beat pattern with a "cockadoodle doo" sound clip from a farmhouse rooster to work into jungle dubstep, but it does work indeed, without being cheezy. Listen for this on “Primal (Zebbler Encanti Experience Remix).”
Fun fact: Starfire has performed private parties for LucasFilm (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.) so they know he's fire. On another cool note Starfire has a humanitarian side: on his last compilation EP, 100% of the proceeds went to funding an after-school music program.
Honestly, this would be great pre-gaming music, for whatever the occasion, to get amped, cross-culturally. Just as we see visually in big blockbuster films, the soundscapes Starfire creates are pretty epic too. So, no, this is not bedtime music unless you like to rock out before snoozing.