PREMIERE | Daytona Starsky, "Mr. Action"
Introducing Daytona Starsky; press photo courtesy of the artist.
The cinematic, dystopian sounds of progressive futurism hit different in the contemporary world of today. Life in the 2020s feels like a bizarre amalgam of life intimating the prophetic arts of cautionary yarn spun tales to the realization of Nostradamus-esque predictions made manifest. The post-apocalypse feels almost normalized, like the this is fine meme depicting the Gunshow dog engulfed in flames whilst sipping on a cup of joe as the events of the day burn wildly out of control. To cope with the confusion, we employ mechanizations of personification and imagination that projects a greater narrative of meaning behind a madness that often feels beyond the threshold of comprehension. The mechanisms of widespread mayhem, misinformation and division feel almost like the hand of comic book villain more conniving than some all powerful and omnipotent antagonist ripped from the graphic novel universes or the backwards internet postulations of crazed conspiracy theories by armchair incels and net banging trolls that really should know better. When our lives and surroundings feel consumed by chaos, it is important to proceed with a mode of mental clarity, compassion, a sense of calm and collected reason in order to rise to the occasion to better understand an inverted paradigm. And while a strong grip on reality is always advised, our creative sides contend with the adversity in the Hegelian conflicts of heroes & villains like a Brian Wilson fever dream springing to life in the wasteland of late capitalism’s fourth act of fragile might and unrelenting menace.
Cue Daytona Starsky, bringing the tense and freeway speeding debut of the electric armored knight riding debut of “Mr. Action”. The breakout Brooklyn by way of the Netherlands artist encapsulates the imbalances and madness of our reality with a fictitious figure, a new Action Jackson for a new era, an embodiment of a phantom antagonist styled like a cyber punk novel villain. Starsky orchestrates a theme track for the one and only “Mr. Action”, the harbinger of absolute bedlam materialized like a ransomware virus anthropomorphized like a ghost made flesh exiting the cogs in the digital machine and entering the world we know. “Action” rumbles, grumbles and tumbles like the engine of a getaway car recklessly making its way through the narrow and densely populated traffic of NYC streets of Gotham with the mischievous malevolence of a DC comics bad guy. Daytona Starsky directs a musical thriller for the modern age, delving into the battles between sense and nonsense like a gritty rhythm guitar guided metro space opera. “Action” is an example of tomorrow’s cinema fare inspired by the electro technocratic riffs and dramas of today’s tectonic plate shifts.
Daytona Starsky provided some privy insights on the new track and upcoming full-length:
The song “Mr. Action” sums up into one track what my upcoming album will sound like. It's kind of an unexpected pop song on a rock centric beat with a driving bass-line, a catchy hook and a guitar solo. To me it feels futuristic yet very 2000s. Over the pandemic I was listening back to a lot of the music that I was listening to as a teenager and it sparked this energy in me that I honestly forgot I even had. That along with the fact that I was reading Orwell's 1984 and all the chaos in the world at the time, inspired me to write songs about a sort of dystopian future with this Wizard of Oz-like character who is pulling the strings behind a curtain and creating all this chaos. I think Mr. Action was just a product of me trying to cope with these crazy times and the sonic quality of the song itself led me to shape my upcoming album around it. My friend once described my music as pop-rock marinated in hip-hop and I think that is exactly what Mr. Action is and what the rest of the album will be like as well.
[“Mr. Action”] is a futuristic pop-rock song recalling the style of music that I grew up with in the early 2000's. It has a driving energy and is very hypnotic. The song is about a sort of Wizard Of Oz-like character who is there to deceive you from the truths of reality and to prevent you from knowing what or who is behind the curtain. The last few years have been very eventful in many ways and we are all trying to find meaning and reasons for these times, even though the answers are often nuanced and leave you with more questions and uncertainty. Sometimes I wish it was as easy as a person behind the curtain who is pulling all the strings, because that would be more comforting than chaos. And so I created this character called “Mr. Action” to personify the answer to all of this and to encapsulate the chaos into a person who is orchestrating mass confusion.
Daytona Starsky also remixed “Allons Y” from fellow NYC talent JAN3T. Buoyant bounces of liquid persuasive qualities are introduced that rocks the original with the subtle approach of lightly applied electro components and econo measures of tight minimalism. Starsky presents their remix of JAN3T's "Allons Y" with the following introduction:
“Allons Y” is a dope track with a present punk vibe to it. It feels like it's the voice of the youth trying to shake the older generation out of their ways and telling them to accept that they're going to take the world in a new direction. JAN3T really captured an interesting sonic quality that was centered around a distorted bass and drum line with catchy pop-like elements to it. I thought it would be fun to take the idea of the voice of the youth but throw it out into a futuristic pop setting whilst keeping the original identity of the song intact. JAN3T is super talented and his energy shines through on the production and performance, very excited for what's to come from him.
Daytona Starsky’s “Mr. Action” is out now everywhere via Super Fine Audio.