Ahead of his highly-anticipated debut album out this Friday, Body Meat, the musical project of Chris Taylor, shares a final advance offering in the form of new single ‘Crystalize‘. His debut album Starchris, is out this Friday via Partisan Records. Evidenced with Taylor’s early previews of the album via advance singles ‘North Side‘, ‘High Beams‘ and ‘Focus‘, his debut is an explosive hero’s journey unfolding in real time, inspired by the world-building found in role-playing video games. ‘Crystalize’ marks an electronic odyssey for Taylor to “find the furthest reaches of [his] production ability,” as the track’s morphing composition mirrors his own musical evolution that plays out over the course of his debut album.
Starchris is music in frantic motion, reaching for imaginative new ideas and striving toward a place that feels even more surprising and refreshing. ‘Crystalize’ is at the heart of that hero’s journey, illustrating a transformative moment for his protagonist through a pummelling and beautiful track that washes over the listener like a cascading wall of digitised noise and intricately layered vocals.
Since creating the moniker in 2016, Taylor’s releases as Body Meat have functioned like distinct musical sandboxes with different dimensions and house rules established for each one. Taking inspiration from early stints in Denver art-rock bands, Taylor’s music as Body Meat is rooted in piecing together the debris in the aftermath of unpredictable genre clashes and making sense of them. His singular blend of trap production and Ethiopian funk music on his two previously released EPs, Truck Music (2019) and Year of the Orc (2021), existed in a plane all of their own, with Pitchfork describing the latter as “chaotic, overwhelming stuff, which is part of the point.”
The excitement around the album’s singles has already earned Body Meat champions in the likes of The Line of Best Fit, The Evening Standard, Kerrang!, i-D, CRACK, Notion, Wonderland, 1883 Magazine and DMY among many more.
Pre-save/order Starchris, listen to ‘Crystalize’ above and stay tuned for more from Body Meat coming soon.
Photo credit: Daniel Brennan