FADE TO MIND
Fade to Mind. The name of the label says a lot about it. The artists signed, have to inflict damage to our brains with only one weapon : their creativity. The label is affiliated to the british electro label Night Slugs, and was created in 2009 by Kingdom x Prince William. They both used to offer an alternative sound, that's why they decided to found their own label in L.A, later followed by their friends Total Freedom, Nguzunguzu, MikeQ... The two artists quickly took over the west coast clubs with underground tracks. And all around the world, thanks to their performances at Venus X GHE20 GOTHIK parties and Boiler Room.
The founder Hezra Rubin a.k.a Kingdom's got his notoriety from his EP 'Mind Reader'. He also established an important fan base thanks to his particular and personal approach of music. We can easily hear the house and reggae influences, but also caribbean, rnb and pop ones. That mix between underground and mainstream is complemented by sound effects, loud bass and drums. All those things give an industrial aspect to his sound.
Fatima Al Qadiri is one of the revelations of the label. She was born in Dakar, but she spent a part of her childhood in Kuwait, during The Gulf War. She transcribed what she's been through in her EP 'Dessert Strike'. Obviously, electro has an important place in her project but we can also hear oriental sonorities. However, the shotgun sounds sampled from videogames, remind us of the war atrocities.
The label is also composed of the duo Nguzunguzu by Daniel Pineda and Asthma Maroof. Tey are also part of Futur Brown with Al Qadiri. Their trademark is a very heterogeneous music helping them being more creative in their productions. Indeed they can easily propose tracks inclunding kizomba and others more electro dark. The duo produced the single "Enemy" featuring in the mixtape 'Cut 4 Me' by Kelela : the rising star of the label.
This young and charismatic woman impresses us by her singular voice. People usually compare her to Janet Jackson, and stay speechless in response to her capacities. She striked the attention of Solange Knowles in 2013 and also collaborated with her on her last album. Her tracks "Bank Head" and "Go all night" featured in the Saint Heron album. She's now a main figure of the underground scene as shown in her EP : 'Hallucinogene'
The genius of Fade To Mind artists isn't only limited to music. They use every kind of art to give life to their ideas. The artworks of their albums, Ep's and mixtapes are good examples. We notice a lot of geometrical shapes, volumes and pixels. Those visuals are like a materialization of their sounds. As we can see in Kingdom's EP 'Vertical XL', whose cover art was made by the 3D artist Kim Laughton.
Videos are one of the way they choose to spread their pilosophy. The collectives Fade To Mind and Night Slugs in collaboration with Wills Glaspiegels made the documentary "Icy Lake".
This 13' video describes the 90's ballroom universe through the voguing anthem "Icy Lake". This sound represents a whole era by itself. With throwbacks and interviews, we easily understand the codes and the energy of New York lgbt community. Which still represents a main part of the current underground wave, and is a real inspiration for the label. The freestyle of Kevin JZ Prodigy on "The Ha Dub Rewerk'd" by MikeQ shows it.
Fashion is also an other way get into the label's universe. For a long time, fashion and music shared a strong link, and helped artists propose another aspect of their vision. Fade to Mind's got also its own merchs line originally sold at Wild style and VFiles. Kingdom did the tracklist of Nasir Mazhar AW 2015 fashion show. For the event, he created for the english designer an energic mix inclunding violent sonorities and gunshots. He explained in his interview for Vogue magazine, that he wanted that after the show people felt like they left a rave party. Kingdom also used to mix for Hood By Air, at the beginning of the brand. More recently, Opening ceremony asked him to create a mix for their SS 2016 show. He associated for the collection a classic sound to an industrial one. At the end of the show dancers from the New york city ballet performed on the single "Rewind" by Kelela.
Fade to mind is such an eclectic label : its presence in music, fashion and art industries make it "an ovni" in the current electro landscape. From Timbaland to museums, everyone adhered to that creativity.