1. Lovely Hypnotize 03:10
2. Many Midnights 03:07
3. Moan Her Lease Her 03:04
4. Ho-ney 03:54
5. Ho-ney ( Clean Version ) 03:54
6. On My Bed ft. Joy Postell, Mia Loving, Rachel2G 03:23

GASS slinks out after dark again with it’s second release by Blaqstarr. The Baltimore club innovator has been around for a minute and the experience and confidence of this young music industry veteran shows across 5 accomplished and distinctive tracks on his Moan her, Lease her EP.

The EP opens with Lovely Hypnotise. A single piano note sounds before beats, strings and yearning vocals enter, swinging hard. Veering from lane to lane taking hip hop, indie, folk and adding neon stripes while shifting through club gears for a fast moving dynamic soul sound. Many Midnights drives deeper into the night, keeping an acoustic guitar strum, kitted out with a percussive momentum and a hooky sing along melody while conjuring more deeply the after hours, otherworldly, nightlight mood.

The title track Moan her, Lease her marks a transition to the second half of the record. Vicious handclaps signal change and the acoustic elements disintegrate to reform as darker, more insistent and trapped out sound vibrations. Vocal samples chopped, looped like the club and leading from the first soulful vocal half of the EP to the darker hash funk and death rap of Ho­ney which, because it’s dirty, comes in a ’Clean Version’ favouring the big soul vocal.

Closing out the record is On My Bed feat. Joy Postal, Mia Loving and Rachel2G. A loopy, at first dusty sounding drill, charmed into form by echo and repeated vocals before a spoken word lyrics turns it into a time travelling electro bump that brings the guitar strum back but rides out in a minor symphony of sounds. Over the edge, into the distance and onto infinity, gone.

With the sensous and instinctive nature of the music it makes perfect sense that the audio release is accompanied by an Erotic Coloring Book by Baltimore Illustrator Jimmy Malone.

GASS is a London based label and collective that provides a platform for new music and art, influenced by evolving technology and underground dance culture. It is led and curated by international DJ Mamiko Motto.

Blaqstarr first came to prominence in the city of Baltimore where as a 16 year old he scored his first of many city wide club hits. He went on to kick start Diplo’s Ma Decent label with its first release, his ‘Supastarr ’EP, got sampled by Lil Wayne, worked with Common and most recently worked with Skrillex on the latest M.I.A release.

For the back seat where the freaks meet

Fergus Murphy

released August 25, 2016

Moan Her Lease Her 

Blaqstarr - On My Bed (ft. Joy Postell, Mia Loving, Rachel2G)- GASSD002

GASS is inspired by evolving technology and underground dance culture, led and curated by Mamiko Motto.
Art direction by Eric Hu. 

For Demos please mail hello@mamikomotto.com