The Green Kingdom

Detroit resident Michael Cottone operates the ambient drone endeavor known as the Green Kingdom, producing immersive and tranquil sonic environments through the use of electronic elements, sampled material, and captured environmental sounds. Beginning in the mid-2000s, he has issued numerous albums on a wide array of imprints, with his most prominent titles appearing via Home Normal and Dronarivm.

After spending his youth informally performing guitar alongside friends in informal groups, Cottone launched his solo work in 2000. Drawing from classic ambient and Detroit techno as well as nature’s restorative qualities, he merged assorted instruments—chiefly acoustic and electric guitar—with electronic textures, samples, and field recordings in an effort to retreat from city pressures, intending the same effect for audiences. The project’s first album, Meadowview, titled after his Detroit-suburb street, came out in 2006 on the short-lived Belgian CD-R label Heldernacht, which ceased operations soon afterward, leaving Cottone without a personal copy. His 2007 self-titled SEM follow-up preceded a steady succession of releases that grew steadily more visible.

Standout entries include the 2012 album Egress, issued on Home Normal’s Nomadic Kids Republic imprint; two Dronarivm titles from Moscow—2014’s Expanses, later reissued with an added remix disc five years afterward, and 2016’s Harbor; and the mostly acoustic 2017 set The North Wind and the Sun on Lost Tribe Sound, which earned widespread critical praise. Cottone has also worked in ambient and dub techno under the Dustcraft name, releasing Exoterra in 2016 on the Spanish label Archives.