The Sound of Tomorrow: Kingsway Brings Music by Reske, Frano & More to Tracklib

“Since its inception, Kingsway has always been about fostering collaboration and community,” explains Josh Pothier, Director of Kingsway Music Library. “Having further generations of composers get introduced by our earliest contributors like, for example, CVRE, Mido, and Young Buddha. This accomplishes two things: it creates a consistency of quality for our sound and brand. Plus, it’s also a huge extension of trust: that we represent our music and our people in a way people can be proud to invite and showcase their peers. Because the majority of our roster are friends, they are able to push each other creatively without fear, ego, or other factors getting in the way.”

Kingsway producers go places thanks to that community-focused way of working. For example, Reske, WahWah James, and Harper Gordon all had placements on Vince Staples’ self-titled—and Tracklib-packed—album with Kenny Beats last year. Compositions of Aaron Paris were heard in tracks by Drake, DJ Khaled, and Nav. Aside from that, Kingsway music found its way into songs by Kendrick Lamar, Logic, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Eminem, among others. Recently, Daniel East landed a placement on the new album by Drake & 21 Savage.

Pothier: “Kenny Beats and his team have always been very supportive of the library, hyping our producers on his Twitch streams and showcasing samples he loves. He’s someone that’s always trying to be ahead of the curve creatively. That seems to line up perfectly with our own approach to crafting unique, otherworldly sounds.”

But what’s the common factor that holds the Kingsway sound together? Pothier: “Without giving too much of our secrets away, the main approach and instruction we like to give is the music on Kingsway should be of a type that can be used in contemporary music no matter what is trendy or stylized at the time. We tell our producers that their grandchildren should be able to take these sounds and still create fresh-sounding music in their era.”

With new material by producer Frano (New Zealand) and producer/multi-instrumentalist Reske (Los Angeles, CA), among more Kingsway producers now available on Tracklib, let’s zoom in on two of their catalogs with personal insights:

"Producers can primarily find a lot of calm and hazy ideas in my first two volumes. ‘Roomkey’ on the first volume might be the best example of that, but it’s the common thread between nearly every sample. They all sound quite relaxed—which wasn’t intentional—but it’s the default place I go to when I’m working alone without much of a specific goal."

"The main influence for tracks like ‘North’ was ‘Couches’ by Ging (f.k.a. Frank Dukes), which was sampled for ‘Real Friends’ by Kanye West. There are a lot of qualities in both the composition and recording of that idea that affected my own approach. How do I get the most out of something notationally stringent and repetitious? That inspired me."

"For each volume, I’ve been trying a different take on the sound. My normal way of working is very improvisational. For the first record, I’m sampling myself, and then I orchestrate around that. For the second record, I was trying to end in a similar place, but started them all by writing parts with MIDI. Just by sitting at a piano and figuring things out. It’s an unfamiliar process to me, so I think that’s why the record has a different feel to it. The third volume has been all about vocals. Trying to sing in new ways, and stretch out a bit.

Vocals are so emotional and immediate, in a way no other instrument is. I’ve always loved that The Singers Unlimited sound… That really smooth vocal harmony, where the interplay is so nicely crafted.  I think the first one I did was ‘Rmae 28.’

At its finest, sampling is world-building. I love listening to music where the sample is fleshing out a part of that world. It can be quite visual to me. It’s the gleaming arch of the first bridge as you approach the city. The sample comes in, and the way it’s interpreted—the very next instrument that comes in—gives you a more complex picture of that world. A different shade. Sampling is a way of making a flat world three-dimensional."