Posts by Electric Kingdom

DJ Natural Nate is a true underground force to be reckoned with! Having decades of experience under his belt in the Electronic Music scene, whether it be as an enthusiastic partygoer, or a well seasoned DJ, to being a marvel of a producer with titles on labels such as prestigious Underground Music Xperience out of Netherlands, and of course, as one of the main founders of one of the most influential online entities of the past 10 years, The Lost Art, Natural Nate crosses many boundaries and pushes many limits as he seeks to grow and help grow through the power of music.

In this interview, DJ Natural Nate gets up close and personal as he talks about his past, his trials and tribulations, and ultimately, why this is a mission that transcends cliches, egos and financial gain. It is about one thing and one thing only: Keeping the real vibe alive! Let's get on with it shall we?

Santino Fernandez: Welcome Nate! We finally get to do this interview, it's been a long time in the making. Let's start at the very beginning of things. How did your path in music start? When did you get your first pair of turntables?

DJ Natural Nate: Let me first start off by saying it's more than an honor for you to take interest in my life. There are so many great producers and DJ's out there, that I cannot say how humbled I truly am to be someone you would want to interview. But this might not be the interview anyone expects. This will be a very up close and personal view on every question asked. I have never really looked at myself as a great DJ or producer to be honest, I still find myself learning every day, and feel like I will never master any of this.

I was extremely lucky to have had the chance to get into the underground scene back in 1991. My first show was not what anyone would have thought! I had a friend that asked me to go to a roller skating rink party. I had no clue what this meant or even what I was in for. I ended up going to this show in Denver, Colorado and I hated it! It was so new and...Read more!

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If by now you are fortunate enough to call yourself a well seasoned composer and producer, surely you remember a time when just trying to figure out the settings in your DAW seemed like an almost impossible task. Where do you start? Where does it end? Between buffering, latency, and even trying to navigate around your audio and MIDI connections, getting up and running smoothly in Cubase alone was a monumental task to say the least.

For someone like me who has been a recording artist for the last 20 years, I can tell you in all honesty, that I have probably spent easily a total of 5 of those years simply trying to learn my way around these Digital Audio Workstations, with most of my earlier sessions, or lack thereof I should say, always ending up with me basically banging my head against the computer screen as my inspiration quickly turned to horrible frustration.

But even after having mastered most of how these environments work, I have to admit that for many years I have been secretly lusting after a different way of doing things. While I have to say Cubase is an amazing program, and is a staple of many studios around the world for a good reason, there have been many innovations since, like Ableton and its quick workflow (which is what I was mostly after), and more hardware oriented approaches like with the powerful Akai MPC Live. Cubase for me allows me to produce and master a song as properly as you could possibly want, but somehow the workflow feels stagnant, at least for me, and there really is no way to speed up its workflow, as the structure of the program itself lends itself to a slower, more methodical way of doing things.

Enter Roland Zenbeats. Yeah I know, somehow the name suggests this is merely some app that will let me "make beats" on the go, but you soon find that to not be the case. This is a full DAW that combines the best of things like Cubase, Ableton, and some of the...Read more!


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For our next installment in the archive series, we welcome Kim Cosmik out of the UK, packing some serious heat in this new mix with tracks by ADJ, Stormfield, Plaid, Versalife, and much more!

As a resident of the iconic Dodo Club, as well as Xcero, not to mention her own productions as Kim Cosmik on labels like Crobot Muzik, Urban Distortions, and Touched Music to name a few, this veteran of the UK Electronic scene has made quite a name for herself over the years with unwavering dedication to the Electro sound and beyond.
Catch the magic of her skill on this brand new exclusive mix for Electric Kingdom!

Tracklisting:

1. Plaid – Maru
2. Karsten Pflum – Reichenburger electro
3. Stormfield and Nonima – Digiborrow
4. DL/MS – Yep
5. YLN12 – Earth without people
6. Covert 3 – Earthday
7. Versalife - Normal behaviour
8. FJAAK – Matte
9. Forward strategy group – At seminary
10. Metrist – Eliot Me Fi (Cadans remix)
11. Juno Lazermachine – Wormhole
12. Cassegrain – Plate 2
13. ADJ – Danger Management
14. Momentum – Anthony Parasole
15. Clark – Branding problem
16. ASC – Silent reign
17. Korben Nice – Plasma
18. 1NX! – NX1 08 22

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Luxus Varta has become one of the most sought after names in the Electro scene over the last few years. With releases on international labels such as TRUST, brokntoys, or Shipwrec to name a few, Emeric Di Paolo's refined yet elusive Electro project is easily one of the most refreshing to come in a long time. Dreamy, melancholic, and profound, his music transcends time and space in a way that leaves you spellbound, reflecting on some of your deeper and perhaps least understood feelings as you drift away into his mystifying and brooding atmospheres.

In this interview, we take some time to speak to this amazing French artist, who tells us about his early beginnings in music and life, his approach in studio, and how he came about meeting his most trusted ally, the one and only Paris The Black Fu of Detroit Grand Pubahs, with whom he shares a rather profound musical journey and passion with, as witnessed in the most recent works by their duo Techmarine Bottom Feeders. Let's begin!

Welcome Emeric! We really appreciate you taking the time for this interview, I absolutely love your music! Let's talk about where that all began for you...what was the catalyst for you starting your path in music? Who would be your main influences?

Thanks for your interest, it’s always a pleasure to talk about music! It was just a good feeling, music was the most suitable artform to satisfy my brain, and it came at the right moment: I’d been invited by a Punk-Rock band in the early 90’s to be the drum machine guy. Then a friend of mine bought a drum set and started playing with them. Unfortunately, he had a serious accident and was not able to play drums anymore, so he asked me to replace him. I became a musician by a cruel hazard!

At the beginning, I was really into Punk-Rock and hardcore stuff. The Dead Kennedys and Nomeansno were my favorite bands at this time, but the Pixies came to...Read more!


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Dynamix II has been at the forefront of Electro Bass music since the duo's debut back in '87. With heavily influential old school hits like "Feel The Bass" and "Just Give The DJ A Break", to later titles that once again redefined the Electro sound in the late '90's; perhaps most notably the single "Atomic Age/DJ's Go Berzerk", Dynamix II has inevitably been a pioneer for the music time and time again with no signs of slowing down.

Through so many changes in the music industry however, the duo's line-up itself has seen some changes as well that have affected the direction Dynamix II would take over the years. From the old school days of founding member David Noller working with Bass mastermind Lon Alonzo, to some of the more crucial periods with Claudio Barella aka Debonaire at Noller's side, later going on to recruit Scott Weiser of Jackal N Hyde fame, and finally, after some time of going at it alone, teaming up with none other than Todd Walker, the legendary Hyde, also of duo Jackal N Hyde, who undoubtedly brings a...Read more!

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Hot on the heels of some of its most sought after clones coming to fruition, such as the K-2 synthesizer (an MS-20 clone), Pro-1, and perhaps one of its most monumental choices, the RD-808 drum machine, Behringer has taken to social media to share a video for another very sought after beauty; and one of original design like its iconic Neutron synthesizer, the versatile Crave.

This single oscillator unit gets its sound from the infamous 3340 VCO found on the legendary Prophet 5 synthesizer, sculpted to perfection by a Moog ladder filter, and expanded upon by a versatile sequencer, and a...Read more!

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Our review of this stellar recording:

Microm Records, Spanish Electro imprint headed by none other than Negocious Man, has been on quite a streak lately, including some really nice vinyl titles like the recent "Alphanumeric", and last year's "N.E.G.O."; Negocious' first solo vinyl LP! Then there is also a new vinyl outing in the works by Negocious Man titled "Dreamscape", which is due out November 28th, so lots to look out for indeed.

This time offering a digital album by another one of Spain's hidden treasures, of which there are too many to name, electronic composer and producer N.A.M., who hails from Burgos, signs "Travel To Alpha Centauri" to Microm Records and what a beautiful record this is!
Starting off with the song "Atmosphere", already we can see what a well rounded musician we are dealing with here. Soothing soundscapes decorate the warm, punchy Electro beats that drive the engines, as clever programming takes the stage and sets sail for Alpha Centauri.

People fond of the more obscure and thoughtful side of Electro will find that aside from the title track, other songs like "Weightlessness", "When Silence Shine Dreams Take Shape", "Curvature", and "Back Home" are perfect to lay back, close your eyes, and envision a trip through outerspace as the majestic and dynamic synthwork and sequence programming envelopes all around you.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a little more tenacity and sonic audacity, then songs like "Rings of Saturn", "New Opportunity", "Spacial Communication, and "No Future" are sure shots to get you grooving. Sinister in some ways, but highly...Read more!


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It's been a long time since I had the chance to work on such an energizing interview that reminded me how writing about music, can be rewarding, how much you can always learn, and be grateful as well when you figure out there’s still someone who continues to keep alive the essential dogma. If you don't know what I mean, you can just turn back on some crucial points of 90's Underground Resistance.

Why did I almost forget the charm about music writing? Because I personally feel these are learning times for journalism. The reason why you do journalism now has dramatically changed, due to the increase of the business side against that visceral need that drives someone to start to write: spreading culture, diffusing messages, propagating views, only for the simple and genuine need to do it. And yes, you can of course say, this is already taken for granted. But isn't it true that journalism serves to understand our society better? Just like our music landscape.

It's something that seems to happen to the music scene too. Now more than ever, there’s a lot of people who report a kind of annihilation. People who complain, with an unconstructive attitude, about too many spotlights. But, there’s a different point of view here. Someone who was able to put a positive spin on things, see the bright side! This gives me hope. The hope to not sink in the quicksand of business, of the form without any content.

It’s precisely for people like Anwar and his work on Brokntoys Records, that we’ve not yet completely ruined our scene favouring the mainstream-game, or just letting what once used to be underground turn into a branded jukebox. Someone who has already seen the game’s rules and decided which side he wants to play on. That’s actually quite rare, isn’t it? Most people were saying it’d be mad to start an Electro-oriented label, while London was overrun by minimal and Tech-House sounds, and then, worked out to be one of the labels being closely watched by the Electro heads.

This interview deals with the picture of a London wrapped up in an incessant marketing machine as well as a refreshing point of view about the European contemporary scene: “If 18 year olds are exposed to Drexciya instead of some corporate mainstream garbage, well, what’s not to like? Of course, obscurity is alluring, but isn’t the whole point to put the spotlight on the unseen?”

Concerning the current situation, this is one of the most straight interviews I ever carried out. Thanks Bronktoys, who continue to leave and send messages in bottles for those who know.

Giulia Scrocchi: Welcome Anwar! London’s scene always makes me so enthusiastic. It is constantly in progress, thanks to its marked multiculturalism. Would you be able to tell me its changes over the years? In matter of music scenes, of course.

Anwar: Hmmm, every London story is incomplete, as the city is so vast you are irredeemably missing out all the time. So, my point of view is definitely skewed and limited by my own experience. I find the political and music scenes are inextricably linked. Commercially bulldozed by developers, the combination of speculation and media hysteria have created an overregulated and costly environment making it an uphill battle for small promoters to survive.

It's definitely second to none in terms of diversity and history, but there are not so positive common threads. The standards of living are often off-putting, and the city is a hyper accelerated hotspot constantly attracting and repelling creative types. Fresh and fickle, everything seems transient. As a punter, sometimes you feel like a criminal going through airport security, which it's hardly the ideal setting to enjoy music.

If you were to believe the incessant marketing machine, we have been living a golden age every year, but my reality has been more lacklustre. There are no doubt great parties, promoters and DJ's who worked really hard against the elements, generally just not in plain sight and by default on a state of flux.
Over the last 10 years there has also been a mass...Read more!

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Behringer BH 770 studio reference headphones © Behringer

Behringer has become a sort of household name these days. Whether you are just getting started as a musician, or a veteran of the scene, chances are Behringer is at the top of your list with so many grandiose releases as of late and many more in the works. Imagine, a fully faithful recreation of a synthesizer such as the ARP Odyssey, with features not available before, or perhaps a nearly-identical clone of the infamous TR-808 drum machine that is actually affordable and even more powerful than the original. And there is just so much that we could write about, released and planned, but it's really quite a lot. Behringer dare we say, has been on absolute fire lately! And there is no sign of slowing down.

Having always been a budget-friendly audio company in general, perhaps their next release wouldn't come as much of a surprise as the next inevitable announcement of some clone that will leave us completely baffled. Infusing the audio engineering market with some of that philanthropic Behringer love, the company next delivers a real gift not just for the seasoned studio pro, but for the many of us....Read more!


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It's time to take a quick look at 5 random vinyl picks out in the month of October we think you might like. Let's go!

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That is great!!! lovely looking program. Will have to check that out.

Alavux is a veteran of the new school Electro sound. A persistent force with consistent output on many of the great labels such as Bass Agenda, and Twilight 76. His music, defined by an adventurous, aggressive, abstract and always ingenious spirit that pushes forward into realms unknown with pure passion for music that exists on levels most of us can barely imagine.

By his side, and infused into basically every one of his productions, is his trusty MC-505. Roland's follow-up to their MC-303, the infamous machine that would launch their "Groovebox" series, and inspired a whole new generation of Ravers and synth enthusiasts alike to pursue a path in...Read more!

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Alan R. Pearlman, founder of the highly influential and innovative synthesizer company ARP Instruments, has died at age 93. His daughter Dina Pearlman, took to social media last Sunday to make the announcement, saying: "My father passed away today after a long illness. At 93, too weak to speak he still managed to play the piano this morning, later passing away peacefully in the afternoon. He was a great man and contributed much to the world of music you all know today".

Indeed the contributions of Alan Pearlman and his company have been far reaching, in many ways not unlike those of Bob Moog. Having worked on electronics since he was a child, Pearlman would go on to run a multimillion (a lot at the time) dollar company after designing amplifiers for NASA's Apollo and Gemini missions. It would not be long before he would found synth manufacturer ARP Instruments with...Read more.

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Released back in October of 2017, VCV Rack, which is an open-source virtual modular system, was warmly welcomed by the synthesizer enthusiast community and for a number of reasons. Just in time to weave itself into the momentum being gained by the rising popularity of modular synthesizers, VCV Rack offered users a completely free way to get into modular systems, and with plenty to offer from the start. But this was by no means just a tool for modular beginners, the reality is that this high-quality and great sounding program was designed as either a continuation of an existing hardware modular set up, or the beginning of it.

With continuously developed and released modules; some free, some for purchase, like Hora Music's Analog Drums, Scalar quantizer and scale tuner, or the Befaco and Audible Instruments collection for example (both authorized ports of actual Befaco and Mutable software), you can come up with some very powerful racks that can be routed into any DAW, using the recently added Rack Bridge plug in. A couple of very straightforward audio and MIDI modules within VCV Rack, make...Read more.


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Tony "Pretty Tony" Butler is a very mysterious producer. Working behind the scenes on productions that many people would perhaps be surprised that he was even involved in, he has helped lay the groundwork for the path that our music has taken over the years. From groups like Freestyle to Debbie Deb and her hit single "When I Hear Music", he has been the key component in some of Electro's hottest releases of the past.

Starting out as a local DJ in his hometown, Tony Butler quickly got inspired to turn it into a serious business. Working out deals with his high school activities coordinators and radio stations, he soon turned it into Florida's most successful mobile DJ group. Not long after, a couple of members from the American Football team "The Miami Dolphins", approached Tony along with a six franchise Burger King owner to help put together a skating rink which would go on to become one of the most lucrative in the southeastern United States.

All of this was all good for Tony, but his real passion was to make music...and music he made...oodles of it! All winding up classics that still to this day get as much airplay in many cases, as any other hit with major relevance to the direction Electro Funk and eventually the Electro Bass sounds have taken over the years.

Pretty Tony's first shot at becoming a successful producer was with a track written by the Mills Brothers Calvin and Carlton, called "Summer Delight". He would soon follow up with the debut of Freestyle Express, now known as Freestyle Evolution, which would bring about such classics as "it's Automatic" and Don't Stop The Rock!". Tony Butler also produced the Debbie Deb classics "When I hear Music" and "Lookout Weekend", and the hit songs by Trinere "All Night" and "I'll Be All You Ever Need". His own works as Pretty Tony can also be found in songs like "Computer Language", "Will We Ever Learn", and "Jam The Box".

Tony has also launched his label called "Countdown Music Group" as well as a new group called "Digital Footprint", and seems to have...Read more.


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Hello everyone!!! We are Electric Kingdom, an online magazine dedicated to the sounds of Electro music. Our team consists of people with a long history in the scene, like Chris Nexus 6 from New Flesh Records and Fundamental Bass Intelligence, Santino Fernandez (Morphogenetic, Ascension Electronique), Giulia Scrocchi of Soundwall Magazine and the iconic Italian Orbiter parties, and of course, Lukas Barfield of Global Funk Radio and his long-running Freebass Radio show.

You can check out our posts here from time to time, or visit us on the web at: http://www.electric-kingdom.net

Carl Finlow is a man that hardly needs an introduction. With a vast career that spans nearly 3 decades, with various projects such as Black Labs (with Daz Quayle and Kevin Walsh), Voice Stealer, IL.EK.TRO, Silicon Scally, and many others, the man is one of the single most iconic figures in the Electro scene...and he just keeps going!

Hot on the heels of his new vinyl release "Boolean" on Craigie Knowes label, as well as recent remixes for artists like Mr. Velcro Fastener and Mauro Nakimi, Carl Finlow recently announced a very interesting project that for him, may be the most important of his career thus far: the "MIDI Archeology" box set on Fundamental Records.

Comprised of 6 vinyl records, the project is the product of Finlow's recovery of many of his tunes from the 90's which were buried in old CD's and DVD's, reworked by the artist and remixed by many of your favorite names like ADJ, The Exaltics, Hardfloor, Radioactive Man, and many more. 4 of the vinyl records feature the artist's reworks of his music, while 2 more will feature all the remixes mentioned. But here is where you come in: There will actually be a 7th record included in this set as well, which will essentially be a 3rd remixes record that will be carefully picked by Carl Finlow himself, allowing any willing participant to submit their remix to Fundamental Records.

The idea behind the track selection goes a bit deeper still however, in that it methodically cancels out any potential for picking out certain artists over others, in favor of previous history or successes, by using an alphanumeric system in place of artist names and song titles (ie. a312An2389Xx.wav). Once chosen, the remixer can choose to use their artist name and song title of course, or leave it as is.

Deadline for this project is December 14th, so act fast if you would like to be part of this monumental endeavor. The only other rule is all remixes must be submitted as a WAV/AIFF, and must be under 5 minutes long.

You can find everything you need to get started, including Ableton Live 9 data, by going here.

If you'd like to get an idea of the musical concept behind the project, listen to this new mix by DVS NME introducing the music of MIDI Archaeology.

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Perttu Häkkinen, the legendary Finnish musician perhaps best known in the Electro scene for his works as Imatran Voima with Jaakko Kestilä, is also an artist with a fairly extensive solo music career dating back to the year 2000. Having appeared on labels such as Flogsta Danshall, Harmönia, and Losonofono Records as Randy Barracuda, with classics such as the singles "Rick James Is Dead", or "The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions", Häkkinen was also the recording engineer and performer behind many releases like Cae$ar's "Suck My Soul", or post-psychedelic rock band Itäväylä's "Itävalta" album.

If I remember correctly, it was Lauri Virtanen of the Ural 13 Diktators; another Finnish group with whom I became friends with at the end of the 90's, who suggested to me the duo Imatran Voima. At that time the internet was a very different world from the current one, Google was not so efficient and researching could take several hours. Saving the URL was practically mandatory, and finding records of micro-labels like Kostamus Records (imprint of Imatran Voima), which did not even exist the web, was really difficult. Kevin Lewandowski had not yet launched Discogs, and many fears and phobias reigned over e-commerce for possible scams perpetrated against unsuspecting buyers.

"Super Breakout", the debut EP of Imatran Voima, was perennially out of stock on Nuloop; the French web store from which I bought records by correspondence, and which made available just 30 seconds of the audio preview to...Read more

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