Darkstar - North
- Written by Paul Stephen Gettings
The motile, glitched-out 2step of ‘Aidy’s Girl Is a Computer’ was almost inescapable in 2009, with DJs seemingly dropping it every single night in clubs across the country. Its inclusion on Hyperdub’s Hyperdub 5 compilation cemented duo Darkstar’s place as one of the label’s most eminent acts, and as a benchmark for the future of bass music that Kode9 and his cohorts are trying to foster.
The increased interest that dubstep has attracted since the middle of the last decade has left the progressive credentials of the genre in jeopardy, with aggressive, wobble-filled ‘brostep’ and alloyed Drum and Bass hybrids dominating club nights and spilling over into almost every other scene. No matter what sort of music a club night claims to be playing, be it Cheese, Metal, or RnB, chances are you’ll hear a bit of wobble before the evening is done.
In this homogenised environment, it’s little wonder that the more experimental, progressively-minded participants of the scene have started to mutate their music into a new, unknown virus. And as always Hyperdub are leading the charge. If you’ve heard Darkstar, or more specifically ‘Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer’ before, you may be surprised by North.
It’s evident even from the opening bars of ‘In The Way’ which side of the divide they’ve positioned themselves. Liquid, jazzy synths give way to a dramatic, widescreen ballad that unveils the duo’s new secret weapon; vocalist James Buttery, whose elegiac, stuttering voice transforms nine of the tracks here into something much closer to traditional pop songs than anything the duo put out on their own. His inclusion is a welcome one, but the near-constant glitching of his vocal tracks does start to grate after a while - seeming like a pointless obstacle to enjoying his soulful, high-registered tones.
Buttery’s presence does not mark the LP’s only step forward however, with a diverse palate of sounds being touched upon, from the minimal wave re-invention of The Human League’s ‘Gold’ to the downcast, contemplative guitars of ‘Deadness’ and the almost Knife-like bounce of ‘Under One Roof’. The inclusion of ‘Aidy’s Girl Is a Computer’ might seem an unusual decision given the forward step Darkstar have taken here. As mentioned before, it’s the only track on the record where Buttery does not appear; indeed, the track is entirely instrumental aside from a few robotic utterances, buried deep in the mix. Also its uptempo vibe seems like it might jar with the general mood of the album, but as it turns out that’s hardly the case. In the context of the album, ‘Aidy’s...’ reveals to us its more sensitive side... did those delicate synth-washes always sound this heartbreaking?
The downtempo mood of this record is simply nothing like anything Hyperdub have released before. North is an accomplished, cinematic performance that promises great things for both the band and bass music as a whole. I, for one, can’t wait to find out where things go from here.