STARKILLERS' TOP TRACK THIS MONTH

After DJ, producer and dance music tastemaker, Starkillers chose his top 5 game changers for 2014, we asked him to follow up with a new curation for his favourite track of the month. February sees Starkillers select Tom Staar's 'Rocket' as tune taking flight into new sound stratospheres. Here’s why:

"My roots in house music date back to 1994. I am far from a purist, but once in a blue moon I have a bout with nostalgia, especially when I hear a particular tune. A tune so distinct it instantly takes me back to the good old days of house.  Real house music should invoke a groove and emotion. When I say real house music, I am talking about a time, when a dj would rock the decks, with just the vinyl he could lug around in his heavy crate. He would be playing to a crowd in a dark room, on a set of technic 1200’s, with a mixer and some speakers. A tune from that era told a story in and of its self. The artist understood feelings, progression, and undertones. Today, there are a few artists that can still create that vibe in a record. They understand the feeling that goes into a record and they are not really interested in creating the biggest reaction, by producing the biggest drop possible.

A couple years back I stumbled across artist/producer Tom Staar. I understand he has been around for a while, but it was then, that I realized who he was as a producer. This guy takes some serious chances with his records and doesn’t hold a shred of doing what he wants back. Recently, I came upon Tom’s tune 'Rocket'. I have slipped it into a few of my recent sets and realized that it’s one of those tunes that creates a feel good moment in my set. A moment that feels like the crowd forgets about me as the dj. A moment when the crowd turns to one another, truly feels the vibe and starts to dance their asses off.

The nasty synth line that drives this record is devastating on the dance floor, but doesn’t take away from the absolute groove the drums provide. Jumping up and down proves nearly impossible due to the break, which doesn’t do a crazy, incoherent build which then slams into another overzealous drop; it gradually builds back to the nasty 303 synth and releases into a...Shake. Your. Ass. Swing. Rocket’s simplicity, is what makes the energy so big. As a producer, you can always add a million elements to a record to give it that crazy trap or dub step style drop, but you’ll never find the emotion and feel, that is delivered in Rocket. At least, not for another blue moon. 'Rocket', is that record that takes me back to what house music really is about...feeling and groove.