A few years ago, the members of the R&B group KING received a royal endorsement when Prince discovered them on YouTube. He loved their sound so much, he asked them to open for him.
Now, the Los Angeles trio — twin sisters Paris and Amber Strother and their friend Anita Bias — is releasing its full-length debut, We Are KING. As Paris Strother says, it's an introduction not only to who they are, but to how they make music.
"We really wanted to challenge the notion of what people think about when they think of who's in charge," she says. "We wrote all of our own music, produced everything — on the creation side, but on the business side, too, we were handling everything ourselves. It felt like we were the king of our own musical kingdom, so I think that was the genesis of the name."
The three women of KING recently spoke with NPR's Audie Cornish; hear more of their conversation at the audio link.
23. "RE: Made my preorder." In response to Reply # 19
After being on the go, I'm finally sitting down to listen to The Greatest and iTunes is getting my Pre-Order money right now. I'm so glad this group is finally gracing us with a full length album.
-DJ R-Tistic- Member since Nov 06th 2008 51986 posts
Thu Jan-28-16 01:40 AM
35. "Sounds dope on first listen, a good 8/10, maybe 8.5 once it sinks in" In response to Reply # 32
Amazing harmonies, chord changes, and plenty of unpredictable switch ups.
Off first listen, I couldn't find that true standout "break out" song that could get them to that new level of fame, but the project is more than solid enough to gain them a good amount of fans.
50. "RE: whoooo! I like this thang..." In response to Reply # 0
Bought it on iTunes just to be sure I could have it this morning (and I wanted to support good music directly until they come to H so I can support in person).
Of course, the vocals are cold. I'm a sucker for full songs that get sung. There's entirely too much rappery singing and not enough song-making. And this is NOT singing in the American idol 'holler a lot to show folks you can sing' way. Instead, this album is a festival of moody and confident displays of talent. And there's not a lot of shenanigans or shock value stuff. It's just rock solid and jammin. I'm in.
I'm interested in how acts seem to be an early 80s mood...and not just sonically...some other time. Let me get my old ass to work.
>http://www.npr.org/2014/09/09/341938395/with-prince-in-your-corner-its-good-to-be-king > >A few years ago, the members of the R&B group KING received a >royal endorsement when Prince discovered them on YouTube. He >loved their sound so much, he asked them to open for him. > >Now, the Los Angeles trio — twin sisters Paris and Amber >Strother and their friend Anita Bias — is releasing its >full-length debut, We Are KING. As Paris Strother says, it's >an introduction not only to who they are, but to how they make >music. > >"We really wanted to challenge the notion of what people think >about when they think of who's in charge," she says. "We wrote >all of our own music, produced everything — on the creation >side, but on the business side, too, we were handling >everything ourselves. It felt like we were the king of our own >musical kingdom, so I think that was the genesis of the >name." > >The three women of KING recently spoke with NPR's Audie >Cornish; hear more of their conversation at the audio link.
60. "Mister Chameleon is such a mean song." In response to Reply # 0
Mean in the nicest way possible of course.
Paris Strother provides a ton of swing to the song, for lack of better words. Nice and upbeat given the subject matter of the song. And the two vocalists harmonize so perfectly. I have to listen to the album a lot more for me to properly digest the material.
I wonder how long it takes for Paris Strother to compose the instrumentation, given that the trio is fully independent.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
69. "Who else was on the bill for the show?" In response to Reply # 68
Also, how much did the audience thin out as result of the delay? Funny to see you have this negative response since you were the one that started this thread originally, but a delay like that is understandably frustrating. Hopefully they posted a reason for the delay on social media somewhere.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
Ron Burgandy Member since Sep 16th 2005 1599 posts
Tue Mar-01-16 04:33 PM
70. "RE: Who else was on the bill for the show?" In response to Reply # 69
Nobody else was on the bill. I was disappointed with the sound quality. I would much rather see them with a band but I understand their budget may not permit. Maybe having some merch would help. I really didn't like hearing them over backing tracks...vocals were on point tho
72. "for the 2 minutes I heard of Supernatural, they sounded great" In response to Reply # 70
Couple folks were legit booing and chanting "start the show"
Sucks I didn't hear Love Song or Hey live, they RTd where I said I'd levitate when I heard those two songs live but oh well. Video will appear somewhere.
71. "i was SO disapointed. I LOVE them. But nah man" In response to Reply # 69
- no opening act only a dj - standing only since it was moved to The Loft - no explanation for the delay
I felt like shit healthwise so that + $15 ticket + Monday night made the decision easy honestly. I saw Kendrick in October at Tabernacle (Tuesday night) and I stood the whole time but he had an opener and it still wasn't that long of a wait.
Saw Kast in Centennial in 14 and of course I stodd, but again, openers. Plus...THAT'S KAST
The Wordsmith Member since Aug 13th 2002 17070 posts
Fri Jun-24-16 10:47 PM
79. "Just don't second guess yourself when you're doing your next set." In response to Reply # 76
The patrons don't need you being off because you misconstrued one person's reactions that technically had nothing to do with your selection but because this post got you thrown off, you start thinking that you had made a bad choice.
81. "nah, never that...i'm gonna do what i do, regardless." In response to Reply # 79
I'm not about to step out of what I do, which is presumably why I get a gig in the first place. I'm not a trick DJ, so I ain't about to be trying to be something I'm not.
I'm just always curious to see what people expect from DJs and what their likes and dislikes are. I know what *I* don't like to see hear...lol.
80. "Do you go to shows often? nothing ever starts when doors open" In response to Reply # 68
I've been to 9 PM door time shows where the headliner didnt come on until 11:30 not that that's completely acceptable. But a 60-90 minute wait is almost the norm
84. "Their live performance is a work in progress IMHO" In response to Reply # 68 Tue Jun-28-16 02:58 PM by DVS
one of the things that makes their music so dope is the lushness of the arrangements. When they hit those melodies it can make your toes curl...
HOWEVER....
since they are still cutting their teeth on being a unit and touring, It's only Amber, Paris and Anita on stage. Mind you, Paris is in the back queuing up the set list, which leaves all of the heavy lifting vocally on Amber and Anita.
In addition...the tracks are EXACTLY what you hear on the song. Paris may expand a bit but it's really kind of karaoke-ish at this point...mind you...EXTREMELY FUCKING TALENTED Karaoke...but a spade is a spade.
On the other side...King took the time to meet every fan and take numerous pictures. They are sweet as hell...but this is their maiden voyage at this shit.
If King can ever get successful enough to have an accompanying band and background singers...their experience will probably grow EXPONENTIALLY. Paris needs to be freed up to do the keyboard solo shit and have a point/counterpoint with live bandmates to vary the show...Amber needs to be freed up so she can really riff without always having to take Lead solo. Anita has a solo or two here and there...but its not enough to take the weight off the sisters.
73. "My ears may be off, but this album was like one long lullaby" In response to Reply # 0
I wasn't that familiar with their music until reading people go apeshit on here, so I decided to check it out. Didn't think it was necessarily bad...but all the songs seemed to follow the same tempo/harmonies/etc. and ended up putting me to sleep.
85. "They're very promising." In response to Reply # 73
They seem to have a good grasp on one of my pet topics in modern American popular music: melody. Their melodies have a good balance of continuation, repose and finality, which has basically been abandoned in most R&B since the late 90s.
The trap they've fallen into is an over-reliance on earth tone vibe and that top-of-the-throat breathy lullaby thing you mentioned. If they could bring the melodies down to where they're singing from their diaphragms, that would be a great start.
I really like their chordal movement, too. I haven't read up on them yet but I'm guessing at least the pianist has studied music. Nowadays, studying theory and composition is one of the only ways to learn about how to do any of this, because it's largely vanished from anything that's a new release on the radio. Well, you could also have super high innate talent too, but that's not even really that necessary to create good music if you've been taught the right things.
74. "For those that care" In response to Reply # 0
KING is re-pressing their album on limited edition gold vinyl. Pre-orders are available on their bandcamp website. Got wind of it yesterday via e-mail.
It appears they've had some success if they are going that route.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
91. "For those interested" In response to Reply # 74
it appears the orange vinyl got restocked. I was just browsing to the site randomly and noticed it is for sale again; I believe it sold it pretty quickly after its initial run.
Also noticed they are nominated for Grammy as well. That was a very pleasant surprise.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
93. "So this is the second re-press of the orange albums?" In response to Reply # 92
>missed the last 2 times. >wasn't going to miss this one.
Interesting; they must be doing well for themselves business-wise. Hopefully the Grammy nod will get them even more shine. Cool to see a strictly independent group like this succeed in 2016.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
97. "I'm wondering if it's due to Anita's departure." In response to Reply # 95
Or maybe perfectionism?
I'm sure whatever they have, and I'm sure they have a good amount of material by now, it's likely fine to release.
Also sidenote: at one point earlier this year Anita had her Linkedin info publicly available and it said she was an agent or manager now, one of the two.
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