Born and raised in Massachusetts, Ezra Rubin – aka Kingdom – came of age on the New York club scene.
Having relocated to the Big Apple at 18 to study art at Parsons Scool of Design, it wasn’t long before he was DJing, throwing parties – including Club Vortex and ddarkk – and producing his own singularly, irresistibly banging tracks.
His signature anthem “Mind Reader” has been slaying dancefloors for nigh on 18 months now, and finally received an official release in February courtesy of Fool’s Gold Records. It’s one of those club tracks that feel instantly, electrifyingly special from the moment you hear it; despite the length of time it’s been knocking around, don’t be surprised if it goes much further. Maximalist but uncluttered, the cavernous echo reverberating around the track as important as its twisting, writhing worm of a bassline – and its astonishingly powerful diva vocal courtesy of Shyvonne, at once imperious and pleading. A long-time ally of London’s Night Slugs crew and remixer for Kid Sister, Nguzunguzu, Telepathe and L-Vis 1990, the Kingdom sound is an entirely distinctive but entirely necessary addition to the global bass sound.
“I’ve been learning everything with this first release…”
Tell me about your background.
“I grew up in Massachusetts, outside Boston and moved to NYC at 18 to study art at Parsons to study art. I started making my first tracks in 2003, and DJing about three years ago.”
‘Mind Reader’ is one of the biggest club tracks I’ve heard in an age, and such a perfect synthesis of aesthetics: the big-room techno vibe, the emotional R&B song, the cut-up garage vocals. Its drop is one of the most exciting I’ve ever heard, and it seriously goes off on the dancefloor. Tell me more about how it came to be, and your intentions when you were making it.
“It progressed over such a long period of time that it wasn’t really a case of intent => direct result; it grew slowly. When I started making it, that was when 4×4 and bassline was just coming out, when Dexplicit and T2 were getting big, so I was interested in those fast 4×4 drums and that big bassline; but then I started experimenting with triplet new jack swing snare drums, and I wanted drama in it too – moments where the beat would drop out and it’d get really spacey. Basically I wanted to make an R&B song that would also be a really hard club track – though when I made the instrumental I didn’t have the immediate intention of putting a vocal on it; that came about when I met Shyvonne, wondered what I should do with this amazing vocalist, and had this track ready for her.”
The Todd Edwards remix is also excellent, and quite a coup – how did that come about?
“Haha! I’ve been learning everything with this first release. I didn’t know how it all worked, and the label asked me who I wanted to remix it. I was like, oh, I just get to pick fantasy people? I honestly didn’t think it would happen: I just picked a name who I think is amazing, someone who is a legend to me.”
You once tweeted that your goal is to “make club tracks that danceably and abstractly express the nostalgic teen longing of a Mariah Carey song”. As manifestos go, that’s pretty unbeatable.
“It’s interesting that her latest album, Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel – produced entirely by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart – is one of her poorest-selling, because I think it’s possibly her best ever. The songs take repeat listens to sink in, but when they do sink in…I can be in a fine mood, or thinking about something entirely unrelated, regardless of whatever my emotional state is naturally that day – if I listen to those songs, I’m taken to the precise place the producers and writers intended me to be taken. And when I listen to some of those songs, there’s a really irresistible teenage vibe – she talks about skipping school, the way when you first fall in love with someone there’s that illogical longing – like, missing them even when you know you’re not supposed to be with that person. And there’s beautiful, subtle production that’s very full, and on repeat listen you find all these little details but it’s all very understated – and yeah, I want to make club music that can give that same sense.”
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