More than a week after it was scheduled to embark on its final mission, the Space Shuttle Endeavour remains silent on its launch pad, grounded due to increasingly perplexing complications with the shuttle’s power supply. The new prospective date is May 16th, and Endeavour and her crew are going to need all the space-karma points they can get. Assuming space-karma is really a thing, New York chiptune rock ensemble Starscream ’s new full-length packs enough of it to help Endeavour escape the gravity well and then some.The Gameboy/percussion duo has written spacefaring anthems worthy of their own NASA TV specials before, but Future, Towards The Edge Of Forever is so grand in scale it begs to be the accompaniment for something truly momentous, like the bittersweet penultimate launch of the United States’ shuttle program.The group has really taken it up on this one, calling in guitarist Nathan Ritholz and Peelander Z bassist Kotaro Tsukada to fill the sonic spaces untouched by frontman Damon Hardjowirogo’s heavily-textured Game Boy and Commodore64 instrumentals, and accented by powerful and driving percussion from drummer George Stroud. Stirring themes of exploration like “Outer and Onward,” “Moonrunner” and “Drift” radiate in tremendous awe of distant unknowns, while “Galeforce” and the modestly titled “Space” burn with an intense and frantic defiance of earthly imprisonment.With politicians and pundits bickering over budgets, corporations monopolizing and our drive for doing science slowly regressing back to the feudal age, it doesn’t seem fair that our human race must be reduced to merely sitting and dreaming of the unknown possibilities that lie beyond our planet. But if this can be the soundtrack to those dreams, I’d say we’re in good shape to survive the next decade or so until humanity once again looks to the stars.Don’t miss Starscream’s performance on the last night of Blip Festival later this month. You can pick up the album now on Bandcamp, or limited edition 2x vinyl.
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