Night Slugs: Kingdom And His Whistle Stop Tour of the Internet

The Brooklyn based producer Kingdom helped define - or further blur the boundaries depending on how you look at it – the Night Slugs aural aesthetic. His first release for the label, the five track ‘That Mystic’ EP rode itself hard and over the bare bones of those hard hitting club ready rhythms Kingdom explored weird digital melodies and bass swells. On tracks like ‘Pang’ he shouted out his grime influence, using hard, ugly bass stabs to drive a sparse stuttering beat and on the title track he went all out tribal, rolling kick drums into a gallop before chirping out the kind of ritualistically simple lead line that gets stuck in your ear canal for weeks. But no matter what style of pattern Kingdom lays out, his glossy R&B influence seems to cut through; even if it’s just evident through a staccato melody or a driving hi-hat. It was his bold fusion of genres on his early mixtapes that alerted him to Bok Bok and his then fledgling Night Slugs club night – mixing up grime, crunk, US club music and house with Kingdom’s unique adaptations of R&B vocals. Since his contributions to the label he’s gone on to release music on Fools Gold with his fierce electro house single ‘Mind Reader’ and his latest ‘Take Me’ which features vocals from Naomi Allen, getting him a lot of public acclaim. All the while he’s displayed his own unique vision through a series of mixes for sites like XLR8R and Oki Ni’s mix series and on his own Fade To Mind label, on which he’s releasing Nguzunguzu’s ‘Timesup EP’ in a week or so’s time. With his appearance here in the first Night Slugs Room Two takeover this Friday imminent, Kingdom found the time to shoot us a vivid glimpse into his world in between tour stops with this rich, and random, look around the internet…. A California anthem…Kid Ink’s ‘Keep It Rollin.’ Skip to 00:48 and enjoy Electrik Red performing their track "Devotion" - w vocals by Naomi Allen. Here’s a banger from Lloyd's new album… Kelly Rowland performing ‘Motivation’ live at the BET awards. The hat is awkward but an on-pitch live vocal is so rare these days… Nguzunguzu flips Nicki's verse from ‘Best I Ever Had’ over the ‘Ice Rink Riddim’… Keyshia Cole & Monica performing their song ‘Trust’ on a rotating platform… An annoying clip but you can hear shards of an unfinished Rich Harrison production in the background. Shame this girl group / project has now been shelved indefinitely. Mariah Carey's hysterically repetitious banter on Home Shopping network, courtesy of Rich & his fourfour blog. My remix of Floetry's classic ‘Say Yes’… "That was very very random... and weird" - Nicki Minaj.