Startree, the Brooklyn label that spent the 2010s championing a loose, homegrown strain of dance music, relaunches today with Core Discord, a four-track EP from North Satellite—the new alias of Eugene Tambourine, a producer who has been quietly threading his way through the New York underground for years. It’s a debut in name only: the sound is fully formed, and it arrives carrying a seal of approval from Bandcamp Daily, whose July electronic roundup pegged it as “woozy Brooklyn Balearic”. That phrase turns out to be remarkably accurate.
Woozy is the operative word. These four tracks drift rather than drive, their four-to-the-floor beats softened by swung percussion, warped synth chords and a warmth that feels like sunlight on vinyl. There’s a loose, lo-fi finish throughout—tape hiss, gentle distortion, melodies that wobble at the edges—but the looseness is clearly deliberate. Mixed by Darshan Jesrani, one half of Metro Area, and mastered by Josh Bonati, the EP possesses the kind of low-end clarity and top-end sheen that only a proper house pedigree affords, lifting every track well above bedroom doodling.
Opener Evil sets the tone: a dusty kick, a chiming, off-kilter melody and a bassline that lolls beneath the surface like it’s in no hurry whatsoever. Transcendentalmental leans further into the haze, its chords stretched and smeared across five slow-burning minutes. Fighting:Luchando is the most direct thing here, its bilingual title nodding to the label’s melting-pot city—tight percussion and a vocal hook that nags pleasantly. Closer Core Dischord (spelled “Core Discord” on Bandcamp) is the most Balearic of the four, all warm pads and closing-time glow.
As a relaunch statement, Core Discord is a quiet triumph. It isn’t pushing any envelopes—plenty of records already live in this lane—but the taste is impeccable, the production pedigree audible in every bar, and the whole thing hangs together as a perfect, hazy hour of post-house. Startree is back, and it has picked a fine record to return with.
