Kingdom ft. Shyvonne - Mind Reader

i'm with tracer on hearing the acres of space in this, i've never really felt it's too cluttered - i think he's quite judicious with how much he lets in of any particular sound - like how there are elements of bassline, inc the 4x4 beat, but the 4x4 beat also ties it into big-room techno. and shyvonne's such a huge presence that she dominates proceedings quite effectively anyway.

ridic to call it blog house - i can see the fidget aspects leaning it in that direction but it doesn't quite make it there, still feels more or less just old rave and garage. he's actually decried the ubiquity of blog house in an article or two.

...and trance synths are so needed to counter that shit in this day and age, i can even admit that as an adamant "blah blah blah trance sucks" househead. i'm actually excited about him getting exposure now as i want to see what if anything he'll do around those in respect to reggaeton - it hasn't really come up much as the typical audience for his music doesn't care much he's also big into old 90's/early 2k mixtapes from the likes of djs blass, playero, nelson, etc, i.e. before reggaeton became known for being melodramatic autotuned pop this and that. hoping he gets to it soon actually considering time's dwindling down before the bloggy types take that up, if they don't get to mambo or traditional merengue first.

late last year jd twitch (stirmonster of this bailiwick) did an entire set of CUMBIA for tim sweeney's radio show!! it was awesome! but failed to ignite a worldwide blog-driven cumbia craze afaik

cumbia / "digital" cumbia or whatever is _absolutely_ what everyone is doing now, which is why i say there's not much time left for the rest of the larger latin genres viable to dance music to be hit

haha seriously?? man

into the cfcf remix which pulls it back a bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND64f2XYQrw

Yeah maybe it's more Basement Jaxx than blog house - something about the unnecessary flourishes on each beat. That said, its not a criticism at all, I really like peak era Basement Jaxx and I really like this.

(I didn't mean blog house as pejorative either really - thinking of this more as a possible route back for the sort of kitchen sink maximalism I've mostly associated with terrible dance music over the past few years)

But yeah this is all about Shyvonne's vocal. Are there any UK funky diva tracks, In The Morning aside, with this sort of snap to the vocals?

less jaxx more something like this 4 me but ymmv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YynWeLqTFAE&feature=related

interview today in vman

interview in fact is really great, also this quote has me excited: "I guess “Mind Reader” and “You” have this intense, emotional side, whereas the new stuff almost sounds more spiritual, shamanistic club music."

ha just realised its by the lex

pitchfork last wednesday

ok, apparently the interviews aren't stopping. in fact mag friday.

AND DUMMY this is getting kind of funny.

"Are these the symbols I see you wearing in pictures? Do they have any specific meaning?

Yeah, people always asked me to defend that at school, because there always was this occult, spiritual element to my visual work, but the whole point is that it’s inspired by sounds but there’s no spiritual thing it’s referencing. It’s my own spiritual language."

I bet being in this guys class was hell!

It seems perfect to me that the R&B names mentioned in his pitchfork interview are Teedra Moses, Jazmine Sullivan and (yes!) Yummy Bingham - perfect not only in the sense of "awesome taste" but it's not coincidental I think that the first two are the R&B divas from the perspective of uk funky. I like the sensibility it implies.

Also Ciara and Memoirs of a Perfect angel in the Fact/Dummy ones

They're great too obv but it's not quite the same thing IMO. Teedra/Jazmine/Yummy says something very specific I think.

No disrespect intended toward Ciara or Mariah (tho).

i thought we already learned from kode9 that the replicants were getting smarter.

makes me wonder if with those trancey synths, he could be trying to do to tricky/terius something similar to what speed garage did to todd edwards if that makes sense

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_l0hrecZVB21qzsllto1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1270728463&Signature=yQT4jxlXrjAj286gHAzUayUD%2FYE%3D

nsfw

?????

is he reading his mind... through his groin?

what's in that baggie on the table

is Teedra actually popular outside the US or something?

wkiw kingdom

is teedra actually popular IN the us?

btw everyone's heard the "mind reader" b-side "you" now? swv sample <3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW5s6XhO33U

is teedra actually popular IN the us?

― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, April 7, 2010 11:07 AM Bookmark

uh uh. her album peaked at #168 and she hasn't put a single above #87 on the r&b chart, let alone entered the hot 100. which is why it weirds me out that she seems to be a such touchstone for non-us r&b fans

irrespective of quality (although I've never really gotten into her)

she's a touchstone for a certain kind of r&b fan regardless of location i think (also, kingdom is american). when i saw her live last year, the (smallish) crowd were REALLY enthusiastic, singing along to not just the words but every little vocal nuance.

she was my first ever interview for a national publication back in 04!

ok, but I've never heard of her other than on the internetz, just sayin

new mixtape out at luckyme

omfg just getting round to that mix and he makes lumidee sound like an ACTUAL ANGEL

currently on his euro tour - live on rinse.fm (which just got their official radio license) with bok bok for the next hour and a half or so.

mind reader is a pretty cool song

they just finished up the video for mindreader, debuting july 8th at 8pm on mtv2

There's another new track, Pathfinder, that is doing the rounds and is also terrific. So ravey!

His remix of Black Box is probably my favourite though...

http://www.myspace.com/nightslugs

ep previewing

^^that ep's out this week and i love it - he wasn't wrong when he said he was doing dark, shamanistic stuff. love how deep and rich they sound, and the cassie.faith evans/beyoncé samples are done so well.

The new EP, first track aside is DULL. I'm not sure this sort of dark, bass-heavy direction is one he should be going in - especially as everyone else is doing it. When you can put out bangers as great as Mindreader and Pathfinder, why bother?

eh, i dig it. i really wasn't that into pathfinder get worn out on party/club-friendly bangers and re: "everyone else is doing it" in regard to the dark/bass-heaviness - everyone isn't doing it nearly this well.

these are prob my favourite two tracks off the that mystic ep - still can't get enough of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9seoXcXuTN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkL8hCaSqtQ

The breakdown at the end of "You" is probably my favorite moment in music all year (though I guess that came out in '09) and kicked off my infatuation with him. His remix of Rita Indiana is subliiime (not on Youtube yet but it's on his FACT mix and comes out next week).

Love this as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3dVXr6_20

Go see him DJ if you have the chance. It's a thrill hearing him connect the dots between his own sound and r&b, rap, etc.

heh i helped him id the producer on the orig unorthadox daughter. he didn't have too many ins for a clean edit so he ended up looping a lot of the outro.

a track that sort of came from nowhere on the ep and ended up being my favorite is "seven chirp"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLNKvP1pOWA

love it on it's own but there's also something about it that reminds me of scott hardkiss doing raincry as god within

How can you remix Unorthodox Daughter and remove No Lay? Philistine.

the woolford one just sits there and doesn't add anything except slightly tuffer beats

He doesn't add much to the first half but the second half is completely different! I'd say what Woolford brings is, if not an acid house sensibility then certainly a bleepier, techier vibe, that big ascending hook in the second half is what makes the track for me. Sensibly he doesn't mess with the original's bassline as well - the bass pads are what put me off the Mosca version (although I like the strings and the bird noises).

If we're talking Woolford then maybe his acidy sensibility comes out more on tunes like the second half of this absolute banger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnmsZaaSJrg

This is also marvellous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_pSv9Qh3U

rizzla (on kingdom's f2m label)'s free collab ep with blk.adonis is pretty on-point

http://soundcloud.com/rizzladj/bekiki-blk-adonis-rizzla-pnp

http://db.tt/yfTZIBgx (ep dl)

lol why is Talib Kweli on the Donaeo album

also lol: Donaeo's James Brown impression

Is Kweli the first US rapper to appear on an (I'm assuming) UK funky track? As a guest in his own right rather than remix form, I mean.

He strikes me as the worst possible rapper to put over funky but that's neither here nor there.

ha i didn't realise that was talib kweli, the promo version came without guest vocalist info (SO ANNOYING WHY CAN'T PEOPLE FIX UP)

new EP in a couple weeks with "stalker ha"/"let you no"/other stuff

http://soundcloud.com/blogtracks/kingdom-dreama-ep

mndr - cut me out (kingdom rmx)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAGICuVXwBk

New mix
http://www.thefader.com/2012/01/06/download-fade-to-minds-fader-mix/

lol he did the soundtrack to darkness ii!

http://agenda.complex.com/thedarknessii

haven't had a chance to listen to this yet but

http://soundcloud.com/fadetomind/fadefm-july27-2012-kingdom

http://soundcloud.com/fadetomind/fadefm-11-2-12

^^^^2.5 hour mix with mikeq, nguzus, total freedom. yeaaaaaaaaaaaah

(deej if he is reading this will prob be interested to hear it has "mirror dance" v near the beginning)

http://www.xlr8r.com/news/2012/12/kingdom-announces-compilation-fa

http://25.media.tumblr.com/bac7fd448c2c1cf1db6c7b8d9cd61538/tumblr_mkdvzr45XX1qa7dyho1_1280.jpg

https://soundcloud.com/kkingdomm/bank-head-feat-kelela

I guess this is maybe not the best existing thread for it, but here's an excellent interview with Rizzla about appropriation in dance music:

http://www.factmag.com/2013/04/08/get-to-know-it-and-you-wont-want-to-rip-it-off-fade-to-minds-rizzla-on-confronting-appropriation-and-humanizing-the-exotic/

love "bank head". the part where the vocals keep jumping up to those high notes kept reminding me of something, finally figured out that it's 'stillness is the move'.

(rizzla article is great too)

"Bank Head" is totally on slow burner status

it hasn't burned for me yet, felt a bit like a lesser "take me"

though this whole axis has been disappointing me for a year or more now so *shrug*

f2m/ns/qb camp's been hyping kelela for a bit, i haven't listened to other stuff she's done yet. she was opening on the solange tour, dunno if still.

but yeah this rules, he's been dropping it in his mixes for a while now and it's always stood out.