Astral Records is an ongoing series of handmade, playable records that explores Black diasporic musical histories through experimental sound, collage, and astrology. Each record is based on an astrology chart generated from a significant date connected to an album or song in my vinyl collection.
I collage and digitally manipulate album imagery, then etch astrological charts onto vinyl sheets mounted onto blank records.
When played on a turntable, these textured surfaces produce locked loops and surface noise that become the source material for new compositions.
I sample, process, and arrange these recordings using a mix of modulators, field recordings, experimental tones, and sourced audio to create layered electronic sound works.
Through this process, historical recordings are transformed into new sonic environments that move between archive and speculation.
This series forms part of my broader exploration of Black musical productions, using astrology as both a methodological tool and an analytical framework to reflect on their cultural and historical resonances.
By bringing the historical significance of music into relation with celestial movements, I explore sound as a way of navigating identity, memory, and possibility. Drawing from Afrofuturist thinking, the work considers how listening can become a space for healing and dreaming.
The rest of the records in the series shown below I have yet to create samples or compositions for.
Charlie Star 