Rush Davis + Kingdom

Los Angeles-based producer Kingdom and songwriter/producer Rush Davis announce XMSN DS, out November 4th on Young Art Records, and present its lead single, “Pretty Boy Venom.” XMSN DS, its title taken from the NASA code for ‘Transmission Decode & Select,’ is a companion album to last year’s Transmission, the collaborative debut from Davis and Kingdom, which will see its first-ever vinyl release alongside the digital release of XMSN DS on November 4th. While Transmission cherishes the tight-knit spaces where Rush and Kingdom found solace and belonging, XMSN DS embodies romantic affection. “Transmission celebrated friendship and honor community,” explains Davis. “After many conversations with Kingdom about love, I realized both of us deserve that all encompassing romantic love that we can begin to build a life with. This is a love letter to that being. Whoever they may be. Wherever they are. We are ready to love and be loved.”

Today’s “Pretty Boy Venom” is a celebration of beauty, whatever that may mean to the listener. “Beauty for me has the power to heal and deconstruct,” says Davis. “The power of beauty is its ability to throw up a mirror. Are we attracted to what we see? Does it stir up insecurity? Does it evoke our desire? The pretty boy I speak of in this song is aware of his venom. That he can be the cause and the cure. The medicine and the poison and he administers the dose how he sees fit. It is part observation, part obsession. The beautiful ones do the ugliest things.”

While Kingdom made the beat, he was listening back to some of the music that first made me want to start producing, Kevin Saunderson in particular. “This one is something uplifting and orchestral but also hard, with attitude. What Rush wrote on it fits so perfectly. I love the concept of how ugly the pretty ones can be inside, celebrating and questioning all the glossy pretty faces.”

XMSN DS  flowed naturally out of its predecessor; these aren’t outtakes from the last project, but instead are fresh pieces the duo created within the last few months, inspired by experiences and feelings that arose since 2021. Transmission had a lot of collaborative productions on it that Kingdom made with John Carroll Kirby and Girl Unit, and in contrast, XMSN DS contains mostly beats he made on his own. Sonically, XMSN DS finds them delving deeper into club spaces – Garage, Jungle, and Electro merged with Davis’ unique vocal perspective.