King Britt
Educator/Producer/Label Owner
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King James Britt (his real name) is a Philadelphia born, Pew Fellowship recipient, producer, composer and educator. Traveling globally, he carries the history of his musical legacy into the future.
Honing his skills as the first resident (’90) DJ at the legendary, Silk City (Philadelphia), King established Back2Basics; a new and innovative music collaboration which merged a live band with a DJ performance. This format serendipitously proved a perfect fit for King to become the original DJ of the Grammy Award winning Digable Planets. After a world-wide three year tour, King decided to leave, focusing his own productions in electronic music. Since then, King has continued to DJ globally, spinning at thousands of clubs and festivals including AfroPunk (NYC), Berghain (Berlin), Liquid Room (Tokyo), Capital (Johannesburg), Rex (Paris), MoogFest (Durham) and Public Records (Brklyn).
King has performed his live work as himself and his sci fi pseudonym, Fhloston Paradigm, in a number of forward thinking performance contexts and spaces, including National Sawdust (Brooklyn), CTM Festival (Berlin), The Kitchen (NYC) and Le Guess Who? (Utrecht).
As a composer and producer, he has collaborated with the likes of De La Soul, Madlib, Alarm Will Sound Orchestra, Saul Williams and many others, being called for remixes from an eclectic list of giants, including, Meredith Monk , Solange to Calvin Harris, and composing for films like Miami Vice. Most notably his re-interpretation of spiritual songs by Sister Gertrude Morgan, that pushed its way forward into pop culture through films, commercials and live shows, sending a message of love.
The role of music event curator is a natural one for King. With his respect for creative endeavors, comprehensive experience, global connections, and determination, he’s a perfect conduit to combine music, culture, and performing arts, curating collaborations for MoMA PS1 (Queens), Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia) and Cleveland Museum of Art (Clevland).
He also co-founded Ovum Recordings with Josh Wink, produced for many labels including Sony, Hyperdub, Nervous, then later went on to establish the experimental collaborative label, The Buddy System.
Transmissions, his monthly radio show on the global hub, NTS Radio, has been hailed as one of the most creative, consisting of live electronic improvs and experiments.
His latest achievement is becoming an Assistant Teaching Professor at UCSD in the Computer Music Department, with focus on production and recording research.
Blacktronika : Afrofuturism in Electronic Music, celebrates research about the pioneers of color and socio political movements, that have helped create electronic music’s global sounds.