Artist Profile

King Cannibal

Label: Ninja Tune
Agent: Sinan Ors

Art school dropout ZILLA (government name Dylan Richards) began working on his own brand of super-evolved mixes towards the latter end of the nineties as a reaction to the glut of uninspiring mix compilations that had began to flood the industry. The first salvo against conformity was A Friendly Game of Chess , a self-funded, hand-sprayed, highly under-the-counter mix project with Lex Records DJ and friend Buddy Peace. The highly stylised conceptual expression of work that combined a rich fusion of textures together with strong themes and motifs began to ignite more than their own imaginations, selling out in just 48 hours and earning high praise on a global scale.

A Friendly Game Of Chess was swiftly followed by solo mixtape strike One Foot In The Fire, One Fist In The Air which earned numerous comparisions to Coldcuts 70 Minutes Of Madness'. Comprised of almost 100 tracks from Autechre to Britney Spears, interviews and spoken word interludes, the CD sold-out in a day, attracted attention from all corners and ended up in many a Best of 2004 list. Among those with their ears to the ground were Trash supremo Erol Alkan, notorious London promoters Wheels Instead of Hooves and the heads of both Ninja Tune and Warp Records.

After 2 appearances on the legendary Solid Steel radio show, the honour of being the first unsigned act to play at Strictly Kev & D.Ks Solid Steel clubnight, 4 sets with Buddy Peace at Dedbeat 04 in the course of one weekend and a number of European dates, Warp Records stepped in and invited Buddy Peace & ZILLA to compile a retrospective of the label. Released late September 2004 as part of the 'WARP VISION The Videos' DVD, the mix entitled 'Watch And Repeat Play' was a startlingly original tour de force, over 70 minutes the two DJs re-worked and re-wired the label's back catalogue, twisting the already twisted into sonic maelstrom.

The Warp Vision Audio Visual / Resfest Tour followed, with appearances alongside artists such as Plaid, Chris Cunningham, Seiji, Mike Paradinas and Funkstorung and invitations to play at the Glade Festival, Trash, The Warp Summer Ball and The Poke Xmas Rave. It was these shows and the experience of playing live that inspired ZILLAs latest mix Grinted Teeth & Brawlsville , a year in the making, it was a more uptempo and aggressive yet challenging body of work that manages to find the link between party starting crunk of Lil' Jon and the dancefloor destroying sonics of The Aphex Twin.

Once again the great and the good were suitably impressed with praise coming from the likes of Kid 606, Knifehandchop and, again, Erol Alkan. The success of Grinted Teeth and 'ZILLA's growing reputation led to Domino Records inviting him to remix the final single from Test-Icicles, 'Biggest Mistake', a remix which has been rapturously received by everyone from Laurent Garnier to Lo Recordings Jon Tye who went on to release 'ZILLA's remix of The Chap's 'Premier At Last'. This was quickly followed by 'ZILLA' and Autechre remixes of Unique 3 's The Theme (Fat! Records), .

2006 saw ‘ZILLA’ going back the lab and perfecting his twisted new sound, an industrial take on dancehall, dubstep & drum n bass. Demos and material started to leak out and with tunes receiving massive support from Amon Tobin (Ninja Tune,) Kid 606, Combat Recordings and Rag And Bone Records. 'ZILLA' was invited to record material for Kid 606's Shockout label, Rag & Bone Records, Combat Records and Uncharted Audio and put together remixes for Black Grass and New Flesh.

2008 looks set to be a year of true Cannibal Carnage due to massive radio support in the form of the recent BBC Radio 1 Scorn Vs King Cannibal Soundclash Special and Aragami Style receiving HEAVY rotation on Mary Anne Hobb's Experimental show , planned collaberations with Bong-Ra, remixes for The Qemists ft Wiley, Ghislain Poirier, Scorn and Ebola his EP on Bong Ra's Kriss Records and appearances at numerous festivals all squeezed around the recording schedule for King Cannibal's debut LP 'Let The Night Roar' for his proud new home, Ninja Tune.


"Too dark, love this tune"- Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC Radio 1) on Aragami Style

"..a great tune...put together like a dj's wet dream."- Amon Tobin writing about Aragami Style for Urb

""Some seriously heavy tunes"- The Bug

"If music could do you violence, this is what it would sound like. Brutal and brilliant"- The Sunday Times on Aragami Style

"...stunning"- CMU

"This sonically incredible Ninja Tune signing has inspired me to start a new section of The Remix show, called The Darkside"- Eddy TM for DJ Magazine

"this is soundclash in hell, devilish dancehall electronic bass murder. Call it what you want, but ignore it at your peril"- Clash on Aragami Style

"Creepy, dark, moody and absolutely intoxicating"- Music Like Dirt on Flower Of Flesh & Blood

It completely blew me away' - Erol Alkan on 'One Foot in the Fire, One Fist in the Air'

A phenomenal mix by UK up-and-comers Buddy Peace & ZILLA... Besting even some of the most accomplished feats of creative cutting-and-pasting, the Watch And Repeat Play mix is a rarity that you have to get your paws on - Scissorkick.com on 'Watch And Repeat Play'

"quite simply....fucking amazing"- ireallylovemusic.co.uk

"Zilla remix is absolutely brilliant - I will playlist on the radio and play the hell out of it on the dancefloor!"- Laurent Garnier on Test-Icicles - 'Biggest Mistake (Zilla remix)'

"Heavy as fuck!"- Parasite (Deathsucker Records)

"Heavy as fuck tech step dancehall!!"- Bong Ra

“Fucking great….I love it!”- Knifehandchop on Grinted Teeth & Brawlsville

Other reactions for Grinted Teeth... Album of the Week- Boomkat, Warpmart and Banquet Records “..the mix album of the year”- Fact Magazine “stunning …”- Sounds Of The Universe