Capitol K is the name under which Kristian Craig Robinson works as a musician, producer, recording engineer and label manager. He was born in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and raised in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and now based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Capitol K first came to prominence from the single "Pillow" which peaked in the UK Singles Chart at number 99 on 9 March 2002. His early releases combined, found sound,

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

aside

hi-fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

production,

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and

Indie-pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and ...

that went someway to establishing the

folktronica Folktronica is a genre of indie electronic music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments—especially stringed instruments—deploying hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, and ...

genre along with fellow artists,

Leafcutter John Leafcutter John is the recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician and artist. He makes frequent use of Max/MSP in his compositions. Much of Burton's style is based in computer music and use of samples of everyday sounds. However, he al ...

Four Tet Kieran Miles David Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting and critically acc ...

and

Tunng Tunng are an English folk music band. They are often associated with the folktronica genre, due to the electronic influences evident in some of their work. Tunng are often noted for their use of unconventional instruments, including seashells ...

. Robinson was first signed to the record label

Planet Mu Planet Mu is an English electronic music record label created and run by Mike Paradinas. The label started out as a subsidiary of Virgin Records then Paradinas set up the label independent of Virgin. After releasing intelligent dance music, the ...

(1999) who released the debut album ''

Sounds Of The Empire In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

'', and then to

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

(2002) who released the album ''

Island Row ''Island Row'' is the second album by IDM producer Capitol K. The record was released by Planet Mu in 2000, and re-released by XL Recordings in 2002. "Pillow" peaked at No. 99 on the UK Singles Chart. Critical reception ''Exclaim!'' wrote that ...

'' before he created the Faith and Industry label (2004) which has released recent Capitol K material as well as artists, John Johanna,

Patrick Wolf Patrick Wolf (born Patrick Denis Apps; 30 June 1983) is an English singer-songwriter from South London. Wolf uses a wide variety of instruments in his music, most commonly the ukulele, piano, and viola. He is known for combining electronic samp ...

, Blue House, and

Super Best Friends Club Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter/player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard button) ...

. Capitol K currently runs the recording studio Total Refreshment Studio part of the Total Refreshment Centre. Capitol K's work as a producer and recording engineer notably includes,

the Mercury award The ''International Travel Catering Association'', formerly the ''In Flight Catering Association'' was a trade association for travel catering. They provided educational services, competitive awards (the Mercury Award) and published a regular magaz ...

nominated

The Comet Is Coming The Comet Is Coming was a London-based band that incorporated elements of jazz, electronica, funk and psychedelic rock. The band originally recorded for The Leaf Label, on which their debut EP ''Prophecy'' was released, on limited edition 12" ...

Rozi Plain Rozi Plain is a London-based musician originally from Winchester, England. Biography Rozi Plain was born Rosalind Leyden in Winchester, England, in 1986. In 2006 she moved to Bristol to study art, and she participated in the Cleaner Records gro ...

's album ''Friend'',

Ibibio Sound Machine Ibibio Sound Machine is an English electronic afro-funk band from London. Formed in 2013, the band currently consists of vocalist Eno Williams, guitarist Alfred Kari Bannerman, percussionist Afla Sackey, drummer Joseph Amoako, bassist Philip PK ...

's second album '' Uyai'', Flamingods' ''Majesty'', and

's first album entitled ''

Lycanthropy In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

''.

Serafina Steer Serafina Steer (born 30 April 1982) is an English harpist, and songwriter based in London. She is best known as a regular collaborator with Jarvis Cocker. In addition to harp, she plays keyboards, bass guitar and has composed for theatre and TV ...

, Bas Jan and

Bradford Cox Bradford James Cox (born May 15, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerh ...

of the bands

Deerhunter Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lockett Pundt (guitar, vocals, ...

and

Atlas Sound Bradford James Cox (born May 15, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerh ...

. He was a member of the Brazilian artist singer

Cibelle Cibelle (born 1978), birth name Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, is a Brazilian visual artist and musician. They are based in London, Berlin and São Paulo. They graduated in 2015 from the Royal College of Art in London. Cibelle has released four music ...

's band. And a member of Du Blonde's band for her Welcome back to Milk tour. The period 2009 to 2015 Capitol K played synth and bass with the

Archie Bronson Outfit Archie Bronson Outfit are an English rock band. They met at Kingswood School, Bath. After leaving their native Somerset, the band moved to London where they were discovered by Laurence Bell, boss of Domino Records. The band were playing in ...

. He also performed on and co-produced their 2014 album '' Wild Crush''. in 2005 Capitol K release the album ''Nomad Junk'', composed from field recordings made in Hong Kong city,

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. In 2012, Capitol K released the album ''Andean Dub.'' The album combined the sounds of Peruvian ''

huayno Huayno (Waynu in Quechua)Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) is a genre of popular Andean music and dance. It is especially common in Peru, western Bolivia, northwest A ...

'' music and more broadly Latin American

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

with electronic sounds. In 2015 Capitol K programmed, produced and co wrote the debut Loose Meat album. In 2018, Capitol K released the album ''Goatherder''.

Discography

Albums

Singles/EPs

References

External links

Capitol K official homepage
Maltese musicians Intelligent dance musicians Folktronica musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people XL Recordings artists Planet Mu artists {{electronic-musician-stub