starkid

starkid passed away late last week after being hit by a truck on a highway near houston. i found out friday. i used to talk to him online, send him music, he gave me feedback, etc. that kind of thing. he was very funny online — he came into #proghouse as “jeyjeydig” and said totally wacky stuff. he was a brilliant producer, and a tribute remix disc is coming out on release records very soon.
he had a track on nick warren’s latest global underground, as well as a few other tracks on vinyl.. not bad for an 18 year old.
it is a strange age we live in. one where you can get to know someone without ever meeting them, one where the loss of their presence is felt without ever knowing what the person looked like or talked like.
it feels strange.
the following is a slightly modified bio of him, musically:
Starkid was Adam Spears.
Starkid hails from Nacogdoches, Texas. A small town in Texas most famous for its high consumption of beer and for being “where the space shuttle fell down at”. The music making began early in life with a natural attraction to Casio’s and mandolins. An accidental software download led him into the seedy world of hardcore electronic music production. A dire love for pretty sounds pushed him to the warmer side of things, the club influence coming from people like James Holden, Gwill Morris, and Sander Kleinenberg.
“Melodies are so important to me, I mean like, really important.” This attitude has kept him at the forefront of a genre drowned in congas. His music extends beyond club music, well beyond club music infact. He’s recently formed a fun band with his best friend and Steve Vai wannabe Zach Jones, and a crazy girl with a million dreams Evelyn Malinowski. They have formed a space-age emo-core group named Babylumalautaroonie and the Jerry Lewis Bone-A-Thons feat. Athena. Taking influence from a wide range of artists including Tortoise, Modest Mouse, 2-Pac, The Blood Brothers and Dream Theater, their sound was a mish-mash of crazy noise and precise musical calculation. “It’s like what happens if you were to like, you know, take a bunch of little kids and give them Fenders and force them to learn music theory, but also give them tons of pixie sticks and coffee. Thats sort of what we sound like.”
The electronic side of his production focuses on “wussed-out” pretty music, either in the downtempo or housey vein. His past work has been featured by both big dj’s and small, and on radio stations such as Proton Radio. His collaborations have included remixes for undiscovered gems like E-sin, and full on collaborations with full-time cigarette smoker Danny Moore. Their alias “Jey and Jordan” was a combination of their online monikers and personality’s which are far more attractive than their real life counterparts. A mutual love for beef jerky and Donnie Darko led them to come up with a few tracks and plans for even more down the line.
Not yet a man, no longer a child, like Britney Spears, Starkid continues to develop in musical style. Though their music and appearance may be different, they share the same last name and often times the same fashion choices. They also share a love of fun, which Starkid stressed was the most important thing ever.
“Girls just wanna have fun, but so do I, is that so wrong?”
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R.I.P. starkid.