King Midas Sound

London-based King Midas Sound create a bleak, brooding hybrid of dub, lovers rock, and experimental ambient, with lyrics typically focusing on heartache, breakups, and severe isolation. The group originally started out as a collaboration between producer Kevin Martin (God, Techno Animal, the Bug) and distinctive vocalists Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi, releasing the 2009 full-length Waiting for You following a few singles and compilation tracks. The project drifted away from its more sound system-ready roots with Edition 1, a 2015 collaboration with Austrian experimental guitarist Fennesz, and the predominantly spoken word Solitude (without Hitomi) in 2019. King Midas Sound first surfaced in 2007 with a track on the Soul Jazz compilation Box of Dub. "Surround Me," an alluring and bleary dirge between dub and (heartbroken) lovers rock, set the tone for what followed. KMS linked with Kode9's Hyperdub label, where they made their proper debut in October 2008 with "Cool Out," a relatively rugged A-side backed by remixes (of tracks that had yet to be released) from Dabrye and Flying Lotus. Another 12", Dub Heavy: Hearts & Ghosts, came in June 2009, containing dub versions of tracks that -- once again -- had not been released in original form. The despondent "Meltdown" led off October 2009's 5 Years of Hyperdub compilation and previewed Waiting for You, King Midas Sound's debut album, released the following month. The set featured some of Martin's most adventurous and accessible production work, greatly enhanced by Robinson and Hitomi. Quieter on the release front, 2010 saw only a single for "Lost" backed by a "revoicing" of "Cool Out" from Pupajim, but the group put in time performance-wise, including a set at Sonar, where the material took on a more aggressive form. Respected contemporaries and inspirations such as Mala, Kuedo, D-Bridge, Cooly G, Hype Williams, and Green Gartside (Scritti Politti) were commissioned to contribute "reworkings" and additional revoicings for Without You, released the following November. The group switched to Ninja Tune, home of the Bug, for the 2013 single "Aroo," their heaviest and most melodic track. A series of collaborations ensued, beginning with Edition 1, a predominantly ambient set featuring Fennesz, released in 2015. Following several years of silence, King Midas Sound released the stark, soul-crushed Solitude, their first album without Hitomi, through the Cosmo Rhythmatic label on Valentine's Day of 2019.
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