why do i keep buying kid606 cds?

why do i keep doing it without previewing the cd beforehand? it seems like every cd the kid puts out is progressively more boring. yet almost every time, when i'm at the record store and i see a new full-length by kid606 i immediately snap it up, just in case it will be good.

i should've learned my lesson, since the last 606 album i really liked was the action packed mentalist brings you the fucking jams (though the split with dälek was worth listening to also). and i've never liked any of his releases as much as i liked the first one i picked up, down with the scene... man, i love those two cds, but most of the rest of them leave me cold.

i don't know. i love lots of stuff that has come out on his label, tigerbeat6, so maybe i keep expecting him to get inspired by one of the many cool artists on his label and do something interesting again.

but i grabbed his new cd, resilience, and so far it hasn't caught my ear at all. and if the write-up on the tb6 site isn't total pr nonsense, i'm a little worried.

Most noticeable will be the undiluted rhythmic strength of the music, derived from the most primal elements of dancehall, dub, house and hip-hop tweaked just enough to not sink into the formulaic complacence which most instrumental electronica suffers from. This record will be a surprise to many familiar with the almost schizophrenic range of Kid606's output over the years, but rest assured this is Kid606 at his most natural and uninhibited element.

for one thing, i must disagree about it being "tweaked just enough to not sink into the formulaic complacence which most instrumental electronica suffers from"... in fact, i think "the formulaic complacence which most instrumental electronica suffers from" is in fact a fairly accurate way to describe the cd. though it's possible my opinion will change after further listens. and are we really supposed to believe that this is kid606 at his most uninhibited?

anyway, i hadn't done any real record shopping in a few months (since buying stuff at bent crayon on memorial day weekend, after rrx), so i was itching to go out and buy some stuff. i thought it would be interesting to check out luna's relatively new downtown location, since i'd never been there.

after going, i decided that i like the northside luna a lot better. the downtown location (chosen because it's super close to virago's apartment) is smaller and has less stuff. the vinyl section was very small. the "electonic/dance" section was a joke... just basic club music and some cds by big-name idm acts like autechre or aphex. all the other interesting cds were filed in the "pop/rock" section.

in the end i did spend close to $150, but only after going through pretty much the entire store inventory, and buying virtually everything that looked promising. luna does have a few decent "exclusives"—releases that are not available in most record stores (like website-only releases, etc). for example, i did pick up shinola by ween and eating's not cheating by mcchris. but i also could've gotten those at the northside luna, and probably found some better electronic stuff while i was at it. (never mind the far superior electronic and avant garde selections at indy cd & vinyl.)

i did find the new venetian snares cd, meathole, which is excellent. it really follows in the footsteps of Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, so if you liked that one, you'll probably like this one, too. it really does fit together nicely as an album, which is something that a lot of his more recent releases haven't done. fantastic.

other new acquisitions: acoustica: alarm will sound performs aphex twin, romances by kaada & patton; suspended animation by fantômas; the books ep by prefuse 73; and 12"s (i forget the titles) by black dice and wolf eyes. not a bad haul, really, but i bet i would've had a much better haul if i'd gone to indy cd, or even the other luna.

in conclusion: downtown luna = okay if you're looking for indie rock, but not so great if you're looking for anything else. kid606 = not good enough to buy without listening first. but venetian snares = i will gladly buy anything with his name on it.¶