KID 606 set at ICA 24.11.01

You like Kid 606? That seems like the most pointless musical endeavor I've ever had the misfortune of seeing "performed". Did he do something different besides push a bunch of buttons to load previously created sequences and adjust their tempos, etc. when you saw him? I saw a boring ass motherfucker playing with a lame computer music programs is what I saw.

seeing as his is music made on computers, what did you expect from him? foot-up-on-the-monitor Les Paul widdling? personally i don't like Kid 606 much, but it seems funny to expect him to be doing more visible than using a computer on stage

(although this is where film and slide projections come in very handy)

"Did he do something different besides push a bunch of buttons to load previously created sequences and adjust their tempos, etc. when you saw him? I "

...kinda like what Kraftwerk do, eh? besides its not how he looks, its how it sounds...

Oh, what witty retorts! First off, what does it matter what I expected? I didn't expect anything because I'd never heard 606 before. Kinda like YOU before you ever heard 606. Get it?

Secondly, you're right, it's not how it looks, it's how it sounds, which is what I was trying to describe. In other words, it sounds as simple and dull as what it looks like. It was variations of rhythmless machine gun blasts warped down to the worbling hum of a refridgerator motor and back again. Take a drum machine and dial the tempo up as fast as you can. Now turn it back. Oooh, neat.

And, no, nothing like Kraftwerk. Not even as good as Atom & His Package.

ok, it was the way you wrote your post that made it sound like you were less impressed with the visual side of things rather than the music. but with regards to 'loading previously created sequences', this is pretty standard for musicians whose music uses sequencers. then during the live performance they will be applying effects, repeating or omitting sections, muting or altering parts, and maybe playing a synth live for some bits. i'm not sure what else you could expect them to do.

it sounds like you dislike his music (which is a fair comment) but are attacking his method of music-making (which is a pretty common method) to do so. why not just say his music's crap if you think that?

Um, I was only attacking the method of making this "music" to describe how unmusical it was. Yes, it's true, the sound that comes from the speakers sucks, but in order to describe the suckiness of it, sometimes you must explain what is actually going on. Like you might say a guitarist is playing with out of tune piano wire, rather than an in-tune regular guitar, so it goes with my post. He's not playing a keyboard or djing with records. He's pushing buttons that release a sequence of noises, not music, and then makes them go faster or slower. That's all.

That sounds bad.

Also, if you'll notice, the initial post says:

"if so what was the "thing" during the "mellow" moment that he mixed into "creep"[radiohead]? was it new order? and which song? "

...this sounds to me like maybe he was doing something different from what I saw. This is a pretty good reason to describe the show the way I did, by it's "looks". I was actually describing the show; a show which didn't mix radiohead with new order at all. So artsyfartsy defenders of the submusical earth, release the stick from your buttholes now.

It was variations of rhythmless machine gun blasts warped down to the worbling hum of a refridgerator motor and back again. Take a drum machine and dial the tempo up as fast as you can. Now turn it back. Oooh, neat.

I know this is going to sound glib and wanky, but this sounds just from the description genuinely much better to me than , I don't know, "Four musicians playing complex post-hardcore garage rock" (say). I like music that takes a simplistic approach and that relies heavily on dynamics and texture.

Maybe you should check out Kid 606, then, cuz some people obviously dig it. It's a pretty simple dynamic, however, and the textures are all of a familiar sort. I never heard complex garage rock, tho. Sounds neat.

It was variations of rhythmless machine gun blasts warped down to the worbling hum of a refridgerator motor and back again.

Sounds great to me!

Sorry Tom for completely aping your post (albeit more flippantly)-- that's what I get for not reading the entire thread before posting.

Spock, since when is noise not music? Especially when there's a human behind the noise controlling and shaping it (however crudely). You obviously have some sort of problem with electronic music, with your casual mention of "that techno crap" on the jam-rock thread.

I understand your problems with Kid 606; I just think there are better ways to attack something you don't like than to try to characterize it as "not even music at all." When you do that, it just comes across as naive and desperate.

I was not there, curses curses. Anyone wish to share comments about Max Tundra's djing and make me very jealous indeed? I hope Mr Tundra moving to the west country means we might see some non-London gigs.

kid 606 uses reaktor and max/msp software which are both very dynamic programs with basically unlimited possibilites. i promise you he's not just turning tempos up and down, nude spok. and to the rest of you, i promise thats not what it sounds like. check out "ps i love you"

Clarke, my lad, you obviously do not know me. I suggest you not take on face value the sum of my last 3 posts and assume I'm "one of those" [whatever category you decided to lump me into]. What I heard were explosions and machine gun type noises, layered on top of each other and slowed down. "Since when is noise not music?" Well, gee, there's a refreshingly open-minded perspective. And how completely predictable. You see, I'm offering a description of the show I saw; a show that was derivative of more interesting electronic music combos and one-man bands I saw. If Kid 606 is more than what I described, then that's great, since that's what I was asking in the first place. If you are not bored by the kind of music that I described, then you are easily amused, I guess. Looped and experimental music has been around far too long for me to remain impressed by something as simple and unmoving as that. What I saw was something absolutely any shmo could shit out. Honestly. I've heard more interesting soundscapes in my lifetime and I haven't even really gone out of my way for that sort of stuff. Aphex Twin, Body Haters, Mr. Quintron, Kraftwerk, Einsturzende Neubauten, Jackofficers...

Still, this is getting off-topic. I was truly only describing the show I saw and was waiting for a response from the initial poster, not a bunch of predictable posts by enlightened music conniseurs. And, for your edification, I am not impressed by techno crap, but I do like some of it. The main reason for this is because I've made so much of it and it's very easy and untalented to do, actually: get a program called Reason, get some free drum software (you don't even need a really good program because Reason has a great library of loops), get something called SoundEdit as well for variation. Sample cds, plug in some of your own guitar or keyboard sounds, drums, vocals, odd sounds. Copy, paste, copy, paste, layer the tracks. It's ultimately much, much, much easier than creating music with actual instruments from beginning to end that is not a simple dance beat with variations. And to do outrageous noise is even easier. But, as far as electronic music, no I don't have a problem with it.

Body Haters

Great disc, isn't it? Gira's spent most of this year in a more traditional space, but I can't wait to see him trying this out more in other guises in future. I'm really anxious to hear more from the Body Lovers as well.

Regarding the whole cut/paste thing you mention -- I dunno why that in and of itself is somehow a problem. Surely it's the end results of a process that is worthy of critique rather than the means to achieve it.

It's the end results that justify the means for me, but with lame cut and paste my mind gets bored, I'm afraid. *Lame* can be considered the key word. With really interesting wholly digitized sorts of music that really goes somewhere or goes absolutely nowhere in a very impressive way, I think it's great. I'm not complaining about the act of copying and pasting. Like I said, I do it. Yes, Body Lovers is the bayootiful acoustic companionpiece. I heard there was supposed to be 3 Body Lovers discs in total. It's cool that we are of the few thousand that got copies, Ned. There was only 2000 Body Haters ever to be made, correct? I thought I was destroying my stereo the first time I played it, but apparantly it's been mastered without dangerous peaking. Scary. I never got Anhedoniac, but I've always been more impressed with Gira than Jarboe.

the only good thing i've heard kid606 do is have his work remixed by hrvatski, someone who knows what he's doing. the only props i have for the kid is that he co-heads one of the best american IDM labels today, Tigerbeat.

The end result of a process produces the proof of talent or lack thereof. Andy Warhol has a 24 hour film of the empire state building, doesn't he? The result is 24 hours of staring at the empire state building. If you get something out of it, it would be due to your own efforts to sit and stare at it, the same way it would be if you stared at it in real life for 24 hours. The result of layering found sounds often has the same impact as reading the description "layering of found sounds". In my case, the process does actually effect the enjoyment of the experience. Had I no experience whatsoever with computers, I might like more techno, but I doubt it. It's repetition is what bores me. See, I can whistle, clap my hands and stomp my feet. It's really easy to do. So, it's not impressive to watch someone else do it. I wouldn't pay to watch it. It's even less impressive if they whistle the same 4 notes over and over and beat their feet into the floor with relentless fury offset by eternal robotic clapping. That is most techno to me. If techno were made by a live band, they'd have to be shot for being so horrible. "Hey drummer, you in a time warp? Hey, is that guitar missing 5 strings? Hey, can that singer sing a whole phrase?"

Nude Spock is absolutely right. Kid 606 is crap, at least live. I was there on Saturday and it was pretty much as he describes it - lacking any spark of excitement, tedious to listen to. 'Unmusical'.

*It was variations of rhythmless machine gun blasts warped down to the worbling hum of a refridgerator motor and back again. Take a drum machine and dial the tempo up as fast as you can. Now turn it back*. Sounds good to me too. But the gig wasn't, believe me. Worst gig of the year.

And I've no Idea what the thing was in the mellow bit. Sorry.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...but did anyone actually go to this gig?

kid606 sucks. he even agrees. buy his music, though, it's cool

i have just eaten you all for breakfast
have fun digesting :]