When a human arrives to
a foreign land, often the natural fauna are extremely tame, sort of a Mars
Attacks syndrome in which they have not evolved a healthy fear of the
invader. Classic evidence is the Dodo bird. When another, more advanced
culture arrives the results can be devastating, as in the case of Pizzaro
and the Inca. But this is Kid versus Kid. Neither have distinct advantage;
rather both endear a set of cultural traits so diverse that both are
mutually destroyed.
Anthropologists have managed to recreate the death knell of the Kid Commando
culture . Crashing cymbals, droning repetitive guitar, distorted vocals
representative of a northern climate. Hailing from the icy waters of Sweden,
the Viking influence is apparent, as is the sophistication of European
aesthetics. The grind and clang of one thousand years of technological
advancements storming across the Pacific in a Viking warship; the slave
master pounding frantically on his drum.
Kid606 of course has a much more
soulful Island sound. None of this cold Scandinavian business. This is due
to the hot Equatorial climate and a more sedentary, subsistence lifestyle.
The result is a warm laidback sound indicative of the ritualistic nature of
less advanced cultures. But, after the arrival of the Europeans, the Kid606
culture flourished and began producing some of the most sophisticated
minimal dancehall techno there is.
These unlikely opponents are paired
through the DIV/ORCE 7” series along side other epics, HELLA & FOUR TET,
MATMOS & DIE MONITR BATSS, and SIGHTINGS & HRVATSKI, as a protest to the
barriers of trivial music classification. Have we not learned enough from
history? Have we learned nothing from the rise and collapse of such empires
as Electroclash, Grunge, and Emo? We must not forget in order to insure the
same mistakes are not made again.
"A split with KID COMMANDO has
(KID606) decommissioning the breakbeat weaponry and and putting flowers in
the barrels, easing back into an irie skank that wouldn't be out of place on
Sabres Of Paradise's Haunted Dancehall. "Good Times" rides a tinny
ska guitar straight out of Duke Reid's old time sound system and simply
bumps plump, cheeful Acid lines in and out of the mix. It ain't broke so he
don't fix it, and the track is as simple as it is infectious. The other side
is given over to now defunct Swedish three piece Kid Commando, whose frantic
guitars lurk somewhere between the goonish hardcore of Truman's Water and
the choppy dynamics of !!!. "Black Death" has buzzsaw riffs hitting in quick
succession, keeping you on your toes and making you dance at teh same time.
Like The Pop Group, the danceability of Kid Commando is not down toa
dependable groove, but the swirling centripetal forces push the tune ever
onwards and outwards." - The
Wire