Recently Materia Collective released the wonderfully named Kingdom Heartbeats, a dance remix album of Kingdom Hearts iconic songs. I got to speak with the man behind the album, house music producer RoboRob, to get his thoughts on the album and dig deeper into what brought about this rhythmic masterpiece.



QC: Did you play and/or enjoy Kingdom Hearts 3?

RR: Played some of it but I’ve still got to get through the game. I can’t marathon RPGs like I used to, haha.

QC: Any other games you want to do albums for?

RR: Oh, plenty. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, Donkey Kong Country, Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter just to name a few. I’ve done one-off remixes from a lot of titles but I’d love to tackle an album’s worth again.

QC: How did this project come about?

RR: Sebastian from Materia Collective hit me up after MAGFest asking if I had any ideas for video game remix albums and suggested Kingdom Hearts. As KH3 had recently released and I’ve always loved the music from the games it seemed like a great idea.

QC: So Tofuku lent her voice for Face my Fears and Simple and Clean. How did

you two end up meeting?

RR: Oh my and she killed it, didn’t she? We met online at first. She was doing some cool stuff out in LA with her solo work. Ben Briggs and others on our label, Tiny Waves, went in on a Tofuku remix album and it turned out great! In 2016 we brought her out to perform at an Anime Convention in Orlando with us. We became quick friends and have been working with each other ever since.

QC: What are your musical inspirations?

RR: That’s a loaded question. I grew up with a lot of Jazz and Funk in the house, as well as classic rock. Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman, Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind and Fire, Prince, Queen, Boston, all staples of upbringing in music and huge inspirations. I’m also largely inspired by tech and prog metal. Bands like Periphery, Tesseract, Meshuggah. When it comes to the electronic side of things, I’m a huge tech and electro house head. Deadmau5, No Mana, CamelPhat, Wolfgang Gartner, and Daft Punk are my 5 big electronic inspirations.

QC: So Kingdom Hearts as a series has some very well known music, but you

wouldn’t really describe most of it as house music. Did you have any

difficulties making a Kingdom Hearts House album while still retaining that

Kingdom Hearts aesthetic and identity?

RR: Yes. 100 times yes. And while I did oversee the general aesthetic of the album as a whole, it was definitely a team effort. I would be amiss not to mention how amazing and helpful the team was. Something like this is a challenge and inherently difficult but every single one of the collaborators on the album came through and helped tell a cohesive story.

QC: Who is your favorite Kingdom Hearts character?

RR: Donald. Ever since I was a kid, Donald was my favorite Disney character, in general. His sarcasm, whit, he’s impatient with stupidity but has a heart of gold.

QA: Do you ever see yourself coming back to Kingdom Hearts for a second

album?

RR: Honestly? No. But I’m open to the idea

QA: And lastly is there anything else you want to say to readers?

RR: Thanks for your support, all of this is so surreal to me! If you had told me 20 years ago we’re getting Toy Story 4, a FF7 remake, and my remix album would chart on Billboard I wouldn’t have believed any of it. What a crazy time we live in.