Philadelphia’s Starkey will release his sophomore album, Ear Drums and Black Holes for Planet Mu this April.
This much we already knew. What we now have is the sleeve art [above] and the tracklist.
Last year’s ‘OK Luv’ single opens the album, but in instrumental form, which given the fact that vocalist Badness – who originally featured on the single – has since caused some low-level controversy with some badly spelled comments about the Haiti earthquake, probably isn’t a bad move.
Forthcoming Planet Mu single ‘Stars’, with Aneeka, appears on the record. A twilight vocal epic that recalls Bjork before it does grime, it’s been a favourite on the FACT stereo for a while now. Japanese vocalist Kiki Hitomi also features, on the similarly lovely ‘New Cities’.
Of course, there’s also plenty of the trademark cyber-crunk that Starkey made his name on, full of dramatic key changes and wild bursts of colour. You can stream ‘Stars’ below; full tracklist follows.
Tracklisting:
01. OK Luv
02. Murderous Words (feat. Vortex)
03. 11th Hour
04. Numb (feat. P-Money)
05. Stars (feat. Anneka)
06. Multidial
07. Spacecraft
08. Neck Snap
09. Fourth Dimension
10. Club Games (feat. Vortex & Leezle)
11. Alienstyles
12. Capsule
13. New Cities (feat. Kiki Hitomi)
14. Pleasure Points
15. Fidelio