Deep bass grooves, funky percussion, bluesy guitars and the primal sounds of didgeridoos and other ethnic instruments... Mike Starling blends his affinity for American roots and jazz with his love of travel and world beat rhythms and instrumentation to create edgy, earthy new world grooves.
Street musicians in Sydney, Australia, for instance, gave Mike his first exposure to the didgeridoo, and he immediately sought to incorporate this ancient Aboriginal wind instrument into his music. Tracks from the resulting album, DIDJERIBLUE, VOL. 1, have been featured on soundtracks on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, the Travel Channel, A&E, MTV, Biography, VH1 and many more. “Makes me wanna wear my moose pelvic headdress and power dance spring equinox mountain chants beside the Matanuska Glacier,” said one Alaskan reviewer.
GUITAR MOODS followed with a suite of 12 new cinematic six-string ensemble pieces inspired by Starling's travels in Ireland, Latin America and America's own Great River Road. "Quite a new world for instrumental guitar subtlety," wrote Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum in his review for the Shepherd Express.
Mike lists Ry Cooder, Herbie Hancock, Bill Frisell and the Wild Kingdom TV theme as a few of his main influences. He got his musical start in the Mississippi River college town of La Crosse, Wisconsin, playing bass in groups like Buzz Butler, the Mall Weirdos and the Joe Price Blues Band. As he focused more on songwriting, he switched to guitar to front his own bands including Bean Hoy and the Sons of Distortion (both available on CD Baby).
He's also worked as a producer, session player and contributing songwriter on several other artist's projects. Photos from Mike's travels have been published in two books (Blue & White, Live Without Dead Time) and he's currently at work on "Loop Life," a new multimedia project incorporating photography, video, music and social media. Follow at twitter.com/looplifechi
Keep up with his latest journeys in sight and sound at mikestarling.com.
Read more...