Cex is one of these young prodigies who seem to turn
everything they touch into gold. Having released his
first album at just 18, and set up the Tigerbeat6 label
with Kid 606’s Michael Depedro shortly after,
Rjyan Kidwell has already got noticed for his total
disregard for rules and establishments. Admired across
the board not only for the impeccable production of
his records, but also for the virtuosity with which
hw deconstructs soundscapes, Cex has demonstrated, with
just a handful of records, an insatiable hunger for
exploring uncharted territories.
Having spent the last few years challenging the IDM
community with pop melodies and cataclysmic beat structures,
he has, since his last album decided to take on hip
hop. But, since it is Cex we’re talking about,
don’t expect just any bog-standard burnt-out gimmicks.
Being Ridden comes in two different shapes,
one featuring Kidwell’s diatribe, and the other
presenting the almost entire same album in instrumental
form. Feeding on the same blend of lo-fi electronic
and indie rock as its predecessors, Being Ridden
however sounds nothing like Kidwell’s previous
releases. To complicate matters greatly, the two versions
of this album also manage to sound somewhat radically
different from each other. The vocal version showcases
Kidwell’s tongue-in-cheek rumblings about life,
girls and other things, deliberately sticking two fingers
up your showbiz Eminem. Cex’s lyrical style is
neither reverential nor typical, but, as it is not his
purpose to present a classic hip-hop album here, it
doesn’t actually matter much. Furthermore, Kidwell
doesn’t pretend to be the best rapper in town,
but he still has a good go at sharpening his vocal blades.
The result is sometimes uneven, but Kidwell shows moments
of pure anthemic proportion, particularly on Earth
Shaking Event, when he goes ‘middle finger
to the indie rock singer, middle finger to the wack
MC, middle finger to the uncreative underground, middle
finger to all on MTV’, before reminding his audience
that he likes girls and that ‘splitting with your
girl ain’t the most earth shaking event’.
The Wayback Machine, which opens the album,
sees Kidwell pacing his tone while The Marriage
recounts the hilarious tale of an unconsumed union.
The rest is all pretty much in the same vein and hits
the spot almost every time.
Stripped of their lyrics, Cex’s soundscapes take
a whole new dimension. From providing an interesting
background to Kidwell’s lyrics on Being Ridden,
the broken constructions appear surprisingly more textural
and atmospheric on Instrumentals, as the variety
of sounds and constant shift of influences becomes more
apparent. The real achievement of this album is that
it actually works perfectly as a standalone piece of
work. Transcending hip-hop beat structures, indie guitars
and electronic soundscapes, Cex presents here an interestingly
live-sounding record that, if not entirely original
in part, still provides a good balance between his less
compromising work and an approach making allowance for
greater accessibility.
Rjyan Kidwell’s extreme attention to details reaches
here a new level, as both releases not only complement
each other, but also seem to go in almost opposite directions.
If the fans of Cex’s earlier work might look at
Being Ridden with slight suspicion, Instrumentals
should reassure them about the man’s incontestable
musical talent, while those discovering Cex with this
release are more than likely to ultimately fall for
both records.
Being Ridden 4.2/5 Being Ridden Instrumentals
3.8/5 |
