Music

PREMIERE: NKRIOT Unleashes Dark Dance Hymn With Debut Single ‘Reality Pages’

by Jonathan Tolliver June 2, 2017

by Jonathan Tolliver June 2, 2017 0 comments

I knew NKRIOT was a star the first time I saw him play. He was decked out in his signature customized chrome helmet, playing electronic instruments he built or modified, tearing through guitar solos with a bombast and technical prowess you only get from years of practice.

I’ve seen him play many times since, yet he’s always been kind of a mystery. The helmet, the mystique, the vocoder all cultivate an alluring yet guarded public image.

Now, though, it looks like this Boyle Heights-based virtuoso is ready to break out. He just dropped the first single, “Reality Pages,” from his upcoming full-length debut, Riot, and it’s a smash.

This dark dance anthem pulses with hooky synth lines, dirty sub bass, smooth and melancholy r&b vocals, and brooding lyrics about disaffection, down times and fearing change. This is a song you play when you need to dance full-tilt for the sake of your sanity.

It was produced, written and recorded by NKRIOT himself, and was part of a 12 week period he spent locked in his studio meticulously crafting his album.

That album will be out digitally June 30^thvia NKRIOT Productions, and physicals will be at the famed Amoeba Records in July. Don’t play yourself: Be sure to catch him at his release show June 30th at the legendary Echo. I love that room, and this promises to be a bold and riot-inciting event.