A recent inductee of Green Label Sound, Star Slinger (Darren Williams) has made great strides since starting his remix project just over a year and a half ago. The UK producer has a slew of rework cred under his belt, including mixes of Broken Social Scene, Childish Gambino, Washed Out, and Toro Y Moi. Soul and hip hop are his musical mainstays – the latter clearly influencing his first official single, “Dumbin” (ft. Reggie B). We recently caught up with Star Slinger to talk about how far he’s come since 2010, the extent to which social media has fostered his love of collaboration, and the direction he’s taking his sound on his follow-up to Volume 1. You can currently catch Star Slinger on his extensive trek through North America.
Donald Glover is a big Star Slinger fan. Tell us how you two got in contact.
Somebody told me he was posting my stuff on his blog and he put up “Like I Do” and said it was pretty dope. He DMed me on twitter and it went from there really. He asked if I wanted to remix “Freaks and Geeks” or another track and I was like yeah cool.
Do you see yourself working with him in the future?
I have some beats in mind for him on the new album. And he said that I could use some of his vocals so that’s great. He’s really busy right now so he can’t just hop in the studio whenever but he sent me a few a capellas I can use.
You must scour record shops constantly in search of samples. What are some of your favourite music shops in Manchester?
There’s a little soul shop, it used to be a bit bigger, called Beatin Rhythm. It’s beating without a ‘g’ because they were trying to be cool in the 70s or whenever it opened. It’s a northern soul kind of place so it’s mainly soul and a little bit of doo-wop. It’s a really cool place to search for obscure stuff.
How do you keep each remix you so fresh and fun? I wasn’t at all expecting a dance hall remix of Toro Y Moi’s “New Beat”
That’s probably why I did it. The original has a lot of soul anyway and I thought it’d be cheesy to make a Dilla-style beat.
Fans can expect more original production, less samples, and more obscure samples.
Do you think you would ever incorporate foreign samples?
Yeah totally. There are buskers in Manchester, like street performers. There was one with an African instrument and I asked for a CD the other day. I took it home and chopped it up. So I’m actually making something now with African singing and kala instruments.
How is your follow up to Volume I going? Can fans expect to hear the Star Slinger they’re accustomed to or are there new influences?
People have been hearing remixes with less samples and just a cappaelas on top of beats I’ve made. So fans can expect more original production, less samples, and more obscure samples.
Would you ever consider incorporating live vocals?
No, not personally. My new single has a vocalist on it, Reggie B, who’s from Kansas. I really liked his track with Onra called “High Hopes” and I hit him up and got him to sing on the record. And there’s a bunch of other people who have reached out and want to record with me. I’m doing a track with Roses Gabor, she was on the SBTRKT track “Pharoahs” and also Miguel who I’m a really big fan of.
So the social media environment really helps nurture collaboration.
Totally. I mean its crazy if someone follows you on twitter. There’s usually a reason behind it. If they’re pretty famous it’s like wow, that’s pretty amazing. Why else would they follow me? I don’t know, they usually end up asking for beats or something.
I was really surprised to hear you were collaborating with a young Canadian producer named Emay. How did that come about?
He’s one of the first guys I reached out to when I started Star Slinger in April 2010. We were chatting and he was the first one to tell me about blogging and stuff like that.
I’ve noticed your sites are pretty personal and fans can tell you’re the one posting content.
I like to control all of that. No matter how big I get, I always want to do that.
My listening habits do lean more towards U.S. stuff. I really like southern hip hop.
You’re also starting your North American tour at the end of the month! How are you feeling about it? Excited to explore any particular cities?
There’s a lot of cool stuff happening in Brooklyn, I can’t let on too much about it but I’m looking forward to Brooklyn a lot. I’m really looking forward to everything, like New Orleans, Canada as well.
What bands have you been listening to as of late? Anyone you’re dying to remix?
I really like Fatima, she’s a soul singer from London. I’d love to work with her. I’ve hit her up a few times but I haven’t gotten a response so maybe I’m not cool enough for her haha.
I hear you enjoy a lot of art-house cinema. What’s the last film you saw, that might not be on everyone’s radar.
It was a Chilean film called The Maid. Enter the Void was also massive for me, I was blown away. I was still working at an art-house theatre when I started Star Slinger, just watching movies and getting paid for it basically.
You’ve mentioned that the UK hip hop scene isn’t really your thing. What do you think your local scene is lacking? Do you plan on relocating to the states one day?
I probably wouldn’t go that far but my listening habits do lean more towards U.S. stuff. I really like southern hip hop, mainly the production. The subject matter of UK hip hop is just…I don’t know. I really liked Dizziee Rascal’s early stuff – he executed it really well. But a lot of new emcees are really boring and they sound far too British to sound cool.
Do you listen to Tinie Tempah?
Oh I hate him.
Haha he’s pretty full of it for a 20 year old kid.
Yeah the thing is, he’s got really good flow but every song’s production sounds the same. So I’m hating on the production more than anything but good on him for breaking mainstream.
So no plans to move out of the UK then?
Well my girlfriend is in Slovenia. It’s crazy there are actually a lot of producers with girlfriends from Slovenia haha I don’t know why. I’m probably going to spend a year there. But I’m always traveling so it doesn’t feel like I’m living in any one place.
