This is the long overdue New Kingdom thread

http://www.newkingdomcity.com/downloads.html

You're welcome.)

You damn well better. It's greatness.

(I will be posting random statements on this thread all day)

X-P

I loved 'Paradise Don't Come Cheap' - One of my favourite albums of the nineties, but never managed to get their 1st album

Thanks for the pointer to the site Ned, I've just donwnloaded a load of stuff for a listen, I look forward to hearing any new stuff they get round to releasing

but, i ask you where was all this love when they dropped words on the regular fries updated baggy noises?

even that was excellent ..

as is the solo Scotty Hard (aka Scott Harding) album upon which i am sure NE appeared ..

.. as i suspect Scotty has a lot to do with the overall fuggy sound that is so deep and fine

The first album was good but the second was some ill Chewbacca next level classic ish. Damn, that album was heavy.

They were always a little too bugged out for the average hip-hop head, not lyrical enough for the backpacker crowd and never really got promoted correctly to the people that would've dug them so they kinda fell into an awkward little niche, didn't they?

A shame really. Looking foward to hearing this.

Senser blew them away though....

fcuking quality gig through.

but the solo album is a lot more fun .. and Seb does indeed make an appearance :

http://www.wordsound.com/catalog/WSCD034.html

I was supposed to see them play at Maxwell's one night, with the Red Aunts. They didn't all make it. Sebastian was there, though, hanging out in the corner and looking pissed about not getting to play.

I once saw them on a bill with The Fun Lovin' Criminals and The Gza!!

That SF fog is fucking with your hearing.

(I didn't really mean "CRAP", just not very exciting)

I beg your pardon. I meant to say, 'that Berkeley-derived pot smoke and patchouli-based air pollution.'

Know one fine line!

http://somanyshrimp.com/2004/09/more-new-kingdomness.html

Upthread Freedom Phil sez "With all the advances in sonic ugliness that have been made by others since it came out, I hope whatever they're working on is totally monstrous" but I never heard them this way. Whereas other grimy, saturated and polluted hip hop groups sound like they're trying to he hard or grim in order to represent a dystopian present, New Kingdom always sounded warm and maternal to me, like a dusty blanket. Also unlike a lot of groups they could be compared to - Dalek or Cannibal Ox for ex. - they never seem leaden or hobblefooted when it comes to groove, there's always an inherent seventies bong-rock lope and catchiness to their music.

The Sasquatch Mix of Frontman begins with the break form American Band by Grand Funk Railroad and ends with the sitars and mellotron from Hole in my Shoe by Traffic. It's well worth hunting down.

The Unicorns Were Horses, Good Times and Cheap Thrills singles all come with mixes by The Underdog, now better known as Trevor Jackson of Playgroup and Output Recordings.

I like the way that both their LPs end with cosmic tracks; Lazy Smoke and Journey to the Sun. There isn't enough kosmische hip-hop.

(sniff, sniff) I wish Crazy Wizdom Masters would've come out as intended...

If they do get going again and tour make sure and see them - they were filthy heavy, if that makes any sense.

gonna go listen to both of the albums and try to wipe the inanity that is dj spooky's "drums of death" out of my memory.

seem to remember likng the remixes on their 12's more than originals -

Freakin' punk. But better late than never.

Anyone heard anymore about something new from these cats?

"Thinking bout pinatas
CASTLES IN THE SAND"

http://www.thedeciblog.com/index.php/2008/03/24/knuckle-up/

Scott Harding — aka Scotty Hard — is in bad shape. Last month, the veteran hip-hop producer was involved in a car accident that left him partially paralyzed. Harding’s friends and admirers have set up a fund called The Scotty Hard Trust to help offset his massive medical expenses and are accepting donations via Paypal.

he produced paradise don't come cheap, for anyone that didn't know.

And was in on some of the early Wu Tang stuff.

Bummer.

Damn. :-/

whoa.
i love Scotts productions.
his 'solo' album, kill dog-e is still within easy reach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zS24izhfRM

looks like they're fucking candyland up

i wish i had a reason to drive cross-country and listen to paradise don't come cheap and nothing but.

Make up an excuse!

found a copy of heavy load at the thrift store this morning! i stupidly sold mine years ago when i had a record store in philly. anyway, sounds just as great now as it did then. still probably prefer the all out sludge attack of paradise, but they are both so good.

had Heavy Load at some point in the 90s but sold it long ago... sometimes I wonder if it was better than I remember it

Wrote this cornball little blurb in Spin last year (in some special issue about great unknown bands of the past quarter century):

NEW KINGDOM

Warped psychedelic hip-hop muddied deep with soul, blues, metal, and dub, from two seemingly stoned-to-gills NYC hombres rapping about Mexico, Valhalla, Bruce Lee, Paul Bunyon, Mother Nature, Calico cats, unicorns, and trips to the sun. Their 1996 album Paradise Don’t Come Cheap feels no less captivating for containing not a single song that would suggest they cared about having a hit.

 Perhaps if they’d sold out, they could have been the next Cypress Hill.

Weirrrrd, I was just listening to New Kingdom about two hours ago.

fuckin love these dudes.

speaking of pothead rap, what happened to clouddead? i liked that last album i bought. 2004 or around there. six years...

do those guys just do solo stuff now?

never thought dalek would end up being the prolific group! seemed like i had to wait forever for their 2nd album and then they put out a record every couple of years after that.

speaking of pothead rap, what happened to clouddead? i liked that last album i bought. 2004 or around there. six years...

they split after their second album, the one that didn't collect together the EPs. they all do different stuff now, yoni has his own group, called why?. doseone was a pretty amazing mc too. there's clips on youtube of him and eminem battle-rhyming against each other BITD before either was known.

cLOUDDEAD were ace. they were no new kingdom tho. those dudes ruled all.

yeah, no, i like new kingdom a heap more too, but it just seemed like clouddead were going in an interesting direction a la dalek and there isn't a lot of that kind of stuff around that is any good. i can always use more of it.

hey scott did you ever check out Beans...his album Only is kinda cool weirdo/avant jazz hip hop stuff...has OG jazz dudes William Parker and Hamid Drake playing on it

am just now listening to these dudes for the first time and it's kinda blowin' my mind

That is the goal.

they RULED

glad I didn't have to bump this one too - soon, soon

Paradise Don't Come Cheap is awesome.

both albums are amazing, but paradise is the stronger of the two, yeah///

anyone ever track down the truck stop EPs?

or hear any nature boy jim kelly?

"Calico Cats" off the first one is really good, I can't remember too much of the rest of it, I will re-listen...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO6jDIFqGC0

For me Paradise Don't Come Cheap is one of the greatest albums of the 90's. I thought Clouddead were good, but disapointing in comparison. It was a shame they only made 2 albums because if they continued the progression they made between Heavy Load & PDCC, it would have been god.

"Mexico or Bust" video (as linked above) plus a promo film from the same time = brilliance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS3i2fOQ3iM

Awesome. Wish the video had been more trippy, collage-style like the promo film though!

One of my favourite bands. Wish I could find some live material by them. They were supposed to be a really wild, extremely loud psychedelic band. & I stress band since it was the main 2 augmented by instrumentalists.

Keep hearing Paradise as almost like a black Chrome and wonder what their 3rd lp would've sounded like. Shame they didn't last longer.

Oh & I think I look a lot like a Sebastian with dreads.

I "liked" New Kingdom on Facebook a while back, and now get updates from some skate-punk looking band from California. T-T-TWO New Kingdoms??! Oh dear, where's my medication...

I'm bummed I missed this thread! new kingdom 4-eva!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, December 5, 2005 9:54 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Dammit, Paradise Don't Come Cheap is not on Spotify or for sale on Amazon and I never made mp3s out of the CD, which I am going to have to dig out of the CD box in the closet this afternoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kkDZa-YW9g

They were the f'n best.

I saw them play the Monarch in Camden and it was right righteous. I'm fairly sure that happened anyway.

There's some other bunch of assholes called New Kingdom out there atm. LA I think.

How hard is it to check

Still not come across any live stuff. So hope some is out there somewhere.

Anyone have any contact info for these guys? Would love to write about them somehow.

Two questions:

Does the booklet for Paradise have lyrics? (I've only ever had a promo and missed buying a proper copy when I had the chance.)

If it does, could someone scan it and mail it to me or post it here? Please?

There aren't any lyrics in the vinyl copy I've got.

Don't think there are on the multifold cd insert. Think it was more that than the booklet it would need to be for lyrics. Don't have it to hand though.
It did say what the samples were though.

news just in !

Hot on the heels of their recent LOW BUDGET/HIGH CONCEPT 10" EP, MONGRELS (Kid Acne & Benjamin) are keeping things rolling with a brand new 7" titled YOU DIG RAPS? (Part One). For this very special release they welcome guest vocals from "terror-mad-visionary" Sebastian Laws (AKA Sebash) of the legendary group NEW KINGDOM.

Maverick New York producer, Scotty Hard (also of New Kingdom) has honoured us with remixing a track from their forthcoming album for the B side. Having worked with everyone from ANTI POP CONSORTIUM to WU TANG CLAN, it's no surprise the SP-12 Scotty used for his version of COMBAT DIVERS is the original bad boy from Calliope Studios, circa '89 - used by many great artists including A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, BRAND NUBIAN, BLACK SHEEP, JUNGLE BROTHERS, GANGSTARR, 45KING, PRINCE PAUL, DE LA SOUL and ULTRAMAGNETIC MC'S... It doesn't make the rapping any better, but it's still nice to know!

oh shit!

good to hear that scotty is back in action as well ..

Uhhh... didn't he die?

Wow, I guess not, just in a very bad car accident a while back and I thought he had. Well that's a relief!

from wiki ..

He suffered spinal damage and now uses a wheelchair, but he continues to work in music.

It's on Soundcloud.

Sorry, wrong link - I think this is the track with Sebastian.

ok, i know i am old, and not into the new groove,
but a kid acne vs new kingdom album is a necessity ..
i.e. that hits the spot nicely.

really enjoyed kid acne's lp a few years ago as well

also a third new kingdom would be ace, even if it probs will never happen

It should happen though. All three dudes are still around, if anything they'd just sound dustier. In a good way. Like they just stumbled out of the desert after a 20 year peyote trip.

at last.
i have tried to rip the cd editions of the album several times over the years, and the metadata is always f*cked up.
this time however, it's all sorted.
so, listening to 'heavy load' properly for the first time in ages.
damnnnnnn.
for once, i was right about a band.

Apologies for the self-promotion but I done a thing

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/new-kingdom-tripping-towards-paradise

no apology needed.
this is the article I have always wanted to read.
I had no idea re just how tight they were as a trio, and have always wondered just how these albums came into being.
cheers stevie.
proper enjoyed that.
will dig out 'kill dog e' this weekend - been too long !

Still wish some live recordings would appear from the live band era.
Same with early Goats.

Thanks so much Stevie!

failed to sell my Mexico Or Bust CD single with 5" sticker on eBay this week

It's all about vinyl nowadays, sic.

Great piece, they were a true one-off

yeah that's a lot stevie, great stuff on a great band

I keep thinking that if they went further in the drection of Paradise don't Come cheap they would have sounded like a black Chrome.

I need to hear these recent projects.

Are the old lps available at all?

It is 20 years since paradise appeared isn't it? Wow.

& when I was first playing that i was amazed by the way they'd subsumed the beat after the sound on Heavy load. Did wonder how well known they were at the time. I picked up both lps in cheapo cd shops in Dublin I think, one behind the bank down from what is now the foggy Dew and the other in Chapters. Though may have payed full whack for my first copy of Paradise. managed to lose copies several times though.

Hey, Stevie, that article was awesome!

People called us ‘rap-rock’, but it wasn’t a Judgment Night deal, you know? It was the opposite of cheese.

This is the thing I have the hardest time explaining to people... like you use the words rap and rock in a sentence and their brain shuts down because they think Judgement Night or like 60 minutes of Rock Box.

managed to lose copies several times though.

Same here. I always took it out DJing, and often it would 'disappear'.

just got this record in at the store and somehow i'd never heard it! mostly faux-beasties with tons of "metal" guitar. i don't know how i didn't see it on the video jukebox at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Um1quCYFY

they WERE pioneers when it came to mixing beastie boys, hair metal, and belgian new beat together though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa8tnpAFw1I

A pretty great Soundcloud mix celebrating the 20th anniversary of Paradise Don't Come Cheap:

https://soundcloud.com/mongrels/paradise-dont-come-cheap-20th-anniversary-mix

cracking mix possibly involving stevie in there !

just wish they would enable the download option.

Oh there's a way around that.

http://soundflush.com/

ta muchly !

I'd never heard of New Kingdom before I read this thread a few months ago and now after listening to Paradise Don't Come Cheap I'm annoyed that I could've seen them live in 1996 because they played at a festival I was at but I was probably watching Echobelly or something.

I don't even know if I could live with those levels of regret

20th anniversary tribute mix to Paradise Don't Come Cheap, blogged by DJ Food

now with download option, I meant to say

New Danny Brown has some def New Kingdom vibes

So how about a new Jason Furlow ie Nosaj single out next month on the (very great) Dub Dutch Picnic label?

https://dubditchpicnic.bandcamp.com/album/last-man-standing-single

Nuts, isn't it? Great stuff.

I am not surprised!

WOW!this is great
glad he's back

Good track. Great to hear that voice.

Any recent interviews with Nosaj or Sebastian?

I still haven't seen any live stuff by them pop up on torrent sites & they're like a grail item for me. Apparently they played live with a band at high volume. Decibel competition with '87 Swans.

Can you still get the studio stuff?

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/08/01/jason-furlow-feature/

The New Kingdom albums have shown up on UK Spotify. I'm sure they weren't there as recently as a month ago.

Good interview. Was always curious why they stopped and that sheds some light on it. Thanks!

(Also, Stevolende, would love to hear some live stuff by them too.)

They weren't especially loud when I saw them AFAIR, but it was excellent. Full band thing.

New Kingdom are on US Spotify too:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1CiqIA6Up09zn9k1wTvaEH

Okay so a NK live recording from Chicago in '96 went up on D1m3 yesterday so I thought I'd share it here, it is an audience recording in a fairly modest club but still really interesting - https://we.tl/t-OoDWzth19C

Thank you for sharing this! DLing now.

NP, I know this thread isn't terribly active so I'll leave the link up for a few months at least.

Indeed, much thanks!

yeah, of course i have grabbed this as well.
ta muchly.

Wish someone would reissue their LPs on vinyl

Not even streaming in the UK

never heard of em!!

Learn and be amazed.

oh shit!
still one of the greatest bands

looking back over this thread there were several requests for live recordings.
so, guess this will suffice.
as an old recording the quality is not half bad.
you can even hear the vocals/interplay and of course the sonic chaos, oh, and some very specific crowd reactions.
will definitely listen to this from time to time.
so, yeah, ta for this.
much appreciated.

I was supposed to see them on this tour, opening for the Red Aunts, but they didn't make the gig that my wife and I went to (Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ).

New project from Nosaj? Don’t mind if I do. https://wavegenerators.bandcamp.com/album/run-away-with-a-wild-and-a-rare-one