Last night, full details of Darkstar’s debut album, North emerged.
A ten-track album that sees the duo joined by new vocalist James Buttery, we’ve played it three times in the FACT office today and it’s bloody great. As you might expect.
Two interviews have been posted on the Hyperdub blog today, both conducted by label boss Kode9. The first is with Darkstar’s James Young. In it, he reveals that the group have spent the last couple of years “learning how to write things we’d like to write”, and that they found themselves at a crossroads after single ‘Aidy’s Girl is a Computer’, stuck between “carrying on in that vein and making some great tunes” and “going the way we did and developing in a different way. In the long run I think the way we went will be the more fruitful.”
Young also claims that they “worked James [Buttery] pretty hard, we would have over 100 takes on every line because we needed to make sure it’d fit with our vision of the song … We’re in a place where we will probably lean towards a more natural take and recording on our next group of tracks, it started completely synthetic and it’s getting more human.”
You can read the whole interview, which reveals the meaning of the title North and more here. In other Darkstar news, the single release of their Human League cover, ‘Gold’, features a remix by brilliant Dial-signed producer John Roberts. That will come out after singles by King Midas Sound (‘Lost’, on 7”), DVA (‘Step 2 Funk’ and a vocal version of ‘Natty’, featuring Fatima), LV (‘Boomslang’, featuring Okmalumkoolkat) and Ikonika (featuring remixes by Funkineven and mystery juker J.O.H.)
Hyperdub have also revealed that Terror Danjah’s album will be released in November, and is called Undeniable. As with Darkstar, Kode9 has conducted an interview with Terror Danjah , where the grime pioneer reveals that almost half the album is vocal, with D Double E, The Ragga Twins, Bruza, Lauren Mason and more featuring, and much more.
And the last bit of Hyperdub news for now, Darkstar’s live show is finally operational. You can check them at the following dates:
4 Sep – Netherlands Amsterdam Bimhuis
25 Sep – UK London Eat your own Ears / Bugged Out @ XOYO
8 Oct – UK Manchester Bugged Out @ Sankeys
5 Nov – Italy Turin Club to Club X @ Teatro Carignano
11 Dec – Netherlands The Hague State X New Forms @ Paard Van Troje
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