Kid606 - Down With the Scene (14 tracks) +Album Reviews

CAUTION: old fart review

misternoodley | Arlington, VA United States | 01/14/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"when i was about half the age i am now, i would buy nurse with wound albums on vinyl. they were to the 80's pretty much what kid 606 is to the new century: extremely clever sonic experimentation that stretched the boundaries of what folks at the time might consider music. in truth, nww (and others of that ilk) probably broke new ground upon which everyone from kid 606 to autechre to labradford might flourish, regardless of whether or not the aforementioned are immediately aware of their pedigree.so i'd listen my new nurse with wound album and think, well golly, that's just some clever stuff. REALLY clever. yep. don't know that i've ever heard anything quite so clever as that. yep. and then i'd never listen to it again. why? well, as clever as it was, i never really identified an emotional core to any of the material that would speak to me in a way far deeper than the novelty of new sounds and arrangements. in hindsight, it was all brains, no heart; all ideas, no vision; all content but no context. down with the scene kind of strikes me as something like that - nurse with wound on coke in the post-d&b age. it's not that i'm saying kid 606 lacks talent, that this shouldn't have been recorded (or for that matter that you won't even enjoy it for a while, cuz you might - even if it's only to show your posse just how wacky you are). exploration like this can fire the imagination of artists who might use kid 606's wall of beats, samples, and high-tech knob-twiddling as a foundation on which to build something a bit more meaningful (and yeah, probably diluting the aggression in the process for mass consumption - sorry). the kid even might be using this as a starting point for some future work that will make us see ourselves naked for the first time and accelerate human evolution. i dunno. i haven't even heard ps: i love you yet. i'm just trying to encourage the uninitiated to approach with a great deal of caution before they launch their credit card info into space. listen to the samples and then imagine yourself listening to the full tracks, six, maybe seven times. can you? okay. buy it.but ditachi comes to mind as a safer starting point. still very inventive, nearly as effed up as down with the scene, but with a deep sorrowful streak expressed in a disturbing environment."

Experimental but with a lot of houmor

Raffa | ITALY | 02/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"(sorry for my bad english i'm italian)i really like this album,it's on my top 10 ever.the kid has done a pretty unique record with a distinct sound and even if it tooks me weeks to really appreciate it now i love it.give it time and you'll undestand that each song it's different from the others,every song has a concept to explain there's no routine exercise no easy drill'n'bass.it's a unique style.it's kid 606"

Cut and paste THIS!

David M. Madden | salt lake, utah United States | 08/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"so. hm.. not sure how you cut and paste music that virtually never repeats.Ok. So yes, this is music that one cannot ignore in the background while trying to seduce someone over wine (whine) and cheese, just like elliot carter or george crumb makes horrible make-out music unless your partner is insane (good thing?). It falls into the category of more academic than club sounds. I love it. Specific tracks and why:track 7 is a duet of sorts with Mike Patton (duh, faith no more fame). The vocal processing is superb.oh damnit i will not name any more tracks. they all have a certain charm. i feel that those unfamiliar with THE KID will need a steady diet of easier fodder to get them to this point...like how it took me three years to appreciate the genius of Atari Teenage Riot...dive a little deeper in electronica/noise every couple of months and you will either get it or not. please try.those who wish to remain in the shadow of Aphex twin will die."

One of the most original CDs I've bought in years.

Thomas S. Ferguson | Sterling, Virginia | 04/25/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This isn't a CD for everyone, yes. It's billiant and noisy, yes. But one of the things that the other reviewers seem to be missing is that this thing is *fun*, maybe the funnest in my entire collection. Not fun in a let's-go-to-a-rave-and-get-wasted-and-dance-all-night way; more in line with a kid playing around with his toys, maybe, except more intellectual. This CD takes the kind of ear-shattering noise formations associated with Merzbow and Bastard Noise (which are, by the way, usually a lot harder than this), touches on various genres of popular electronic stuff (breaks, hip-hop, even a bit of house and trance here and there), and mixes it all together with a huge load of absurdist humor. This is likely to go right over the heads of all your friends who think that Wierd Al is a musical genius ("Ah ha ha! He changed gangstas to the Amish! Brilliant, BRILLIANT, I say!"). Watch their brains implode as you hit 'em with track two ("Luke Vibert Can Kiss My Indie-Punk Whiteboy Ass"), which moves from psychotic, directionless sampling genius into the harshest hip-hop/breakbeat monstrosity ever (complete with somewhat nonstandard lyrics: "AWW, I'm BLACK y'all/And I'm BLACK y'all/And I'm BLACKITY-BLACK and I'm BLACK y'all," and so on), until it smashes to a halt in a burst of static. At this point they'll be wondering if your CD player's broken, and why the hell you're laughing so much.And it's not just wit and musical genius thrown around all willy-nilly, either. Track 16 is downright beautiful, so it turns out the Kid's got a soul after all. But mainly this CD seems to be 606 saying that he gets what everyone else is doing, that he can do it too, and that he can surpass them with so little effort that he feels comfortable adding his own wittiness to the whole thing. And he accomplishes it all, too, bringing everything off with creepily easy perfection. His hip-hop and trance parodies hit all the marks while still smashing the genre standards. His less classifiable stuff is always brilliant. And he's 22, for God's sake; this guy terrifies me."

In the Vanguard of the Click-Hop Revolution...

tedghb | Oakland, CA | 07/23/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Kid 606 AKA Michael Trost Depedro is likely to emerge as a seminal figure in an emerging, but as yet unnamed style of electronica. You can call it click-hop or deconstuctionist dance or whatever you want, but a recent explosion of releases in this area bodes well for the reception of this record. Kid 606 shares a creative space which was largely invented by Autechre and their kin. Atari Teenage Riot has received alot of media attention, and the recent Funkstorung record, "Appetite for Distruction" has received good critical notice. None the less, those fellows are in Europe, and Kid 606 is in America, so you have to like his chances. If you are unfamiliar with the aforementioned groups, the best way to imagine the sound of this record is to take hip-hop rythyms and add heavy sequencing utilizing unfamiliar beats in non-repetitve patterns. If this description isn't ringing a bell for you, probably stay clear of this record. If, on the other hand, you dig Autechre, Plaid and Funkstorung but are looking for a cat with a wry sense of humor, Kid 606 may be the man for you. In conclusion, Kid 606 is probably a couple of records away from really nailing down his sound, but like Funkstorung, the sheer originality of his technique makes this record worth checking out."

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