Originally from the UK and now based in Belgium, artist Rob Gibbon makes his own style of avant-garde music under the Wild Star alias. With a penchant for creating ‘weird’ music that pushes the boundaries of sonic exploration, he shares, “so-called ‘weird’ artists have been consistently instrumental in redefining what our perception of popular music is. From the Grateful Dead to the Sex Pistols and Spiral Tribe, it takes courage to be experimental. But weird is not a synonym for bad. If it were, generation-defining sounds like Acid Rock, Punk and Rave would not have captured the public imagination in the way that they did, and continue to do. But I make this music because I enjoy it.”
Taking influence from Australian artist Danny Barwick as well as inspiration from the likes of Chet Baker, King Krule, Björk, Carl Craig, Pharoah Sanders and Fela Kuti, he blurs the edges of genres to deliver a highly original sonic offering of experimental electronic music.
Unveiling his sound last year, he dropped his debut record with the eleven-track album Hot Nights which he followed up with the EP Sweet Love. Now he brings us his sophomore LP with nXTC, a fourteen-track odyssey that showcases Wild Star’s breathtaking creativity and the sheer depth of his artistic vision.
Fusing elements of jazz and funk with modern electronica, the result of Wild Star’s second full-length effort is a mesmeric album that twists and turns in wholly unexpected ways. Comprising eleven tracks with vocals and three instrumental compositions, from start to finish, on nXTC Wild Star journeys through distant musical realms on a kaleidoscopic voyage that serves to confirm his talent as an artist.
Commenting on the album, he shares “I wanted to explore across established genre boundaries and dare to find a new path with nXTC. I was inspired by the Australian artist Danny Barwick to really be adventurous; as much with the arrangement as with my voice and the lyrics.”
Listen to nXTC below
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