I’m delighted to be writing about Philly’s Starkey (Paul Geissinger) again after all these years. He was one of the early members of the legendary Trouble & Bass crew–with whom Palms Out collaborated on parties several times and who co-released our second record, by my dear late friend Ben (Math Head, Passions, Goitia Deitz, Vivian Alive). That connection is where I first learned Starkey’s name, and though he didn’t remain connected to that crew for very long, I continued to follow him closely. He was prolific in those days: as a key participant in the fledgling US heavy bass scene; one of grime’s foremost representatives stateside; and as label head for Seclusiasis together with former Palms Out contributor Dev79. I’m sure he’s been similarly active in the years since, but I’ll admit I lost track of him at some point, so it felt great to hear the first notes of this brilliant opener from his recent Vacuum State EP, which came out last year on the outstanding androids dungeon radio label out of Denver. That this song is right up my alley is no surprise, given it’s a meticulously crafted, bassy breakbeat workout, but the whole record is exceptionally varied and should not be missed. The man has always had range. Grab the EP on bandcamp, or find it for streaming wherever you do that sort of thing.

Starkey – “Cannons” (mp3)

Keeping things pretty stylistically consistent tonight, next up is a great Bmore cut from LA’s Frythm (Matthew Pena). This is distinctly dancefloor fodder, pairing rave stabs with Bmore’s classic staggered kick drum pattern and liberal reliance on the Think break (no Sing Sing though, which I always felt was the more quintessential Bmore break choice). It all goes to show that Bmore club never had to be a passing fad (we certainly pushed the sound as hard as we could back in the day); it’s a fundamentally infectious formula. I’m glad there are talents like Pena who continue to push it via faithful reference and recontextualization alike. This is out now for streaming and on bandcamp, though Pena was generous enough to let me share with you the mp3 here as well.

Frythm – “Chuco Bounce” (mp3)

Last up tonight is this refreshingly optimistic bit of juke from Phoenix duo Jigwave (Rob The Heart & Young Dad–both excellent pseudonyms). Effortlessly bouncy and crisp, the song is over almost as soon as it gets started (people love their 2min songs these days), but it gets a lot done in that short time, with one effective changeup after another. Most of what these guys have put out thus far is much more straightforward house music. It’s all solid stuff, but I hope they consider doing more stuff in this vein. We need more modern juke in the world that cuts through like this. No bandcamp for this, I’m afraid–only streaming–but Jigwave kindly let me post the mp3 here too.

Jigwave – “Wish (YTTAB)” (mp3)