Numbers
Kid606 and Cylob front a night of glitch, crunk, breakcore and further experimental dancefloor esthetics

Kid606

Photos Courtesy of Numbers

Scottish expat DJ and veteran party producer POL-Style kicks the recently launched Tokyo edition of his Numbers events into high gear with a night featuring two of techno’s more adventurous spirits. The DJ established the party in Glasgow in 2003 and has hosted such luminaries as Autechre and DJ Diplo.

Kid606 is the stage name for Venezuelan-born, San Francisco resident Miguel Trost Depedro. Inspired by industrial music of the ’80s and ’90s, his music is known for high-tempo breakbeats and liberal use of noise and sampling, leavened with a cheeky sense of humor.

With releases out on notable indie imprints such as Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You on Mike Patton’s Ipecac, Kid606 is one of the few producers today who can take on electronic genres from ambient to jungle, techno to gabba. In recent years he’s also been performing with a live band, Kid606 and Friends. His latest release is last year’s Pretty Girls Make Raves on his own Tigerbeat6 label.

Joining Kid606 behind the decks is another of experimental techno’s better-known names. Cylob is the handle for UK electronic music maker Chris Jeffs, who signed to the legendary Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label after handing over a demo tape in 1993.

Initial releases under the name Kinesthesia were characterized by crunchy beats and invigorating melodies, but this gave way to the isolationist ambience of Empathy Box. In ’95, Jeffs adopted the Cylob moniker, making his name with the lush melodies of Cylobian Sunset, thought by many connoisseurs to be an electronica classic.

Cylob

This year saw the launch of Cylob’s own ’net label, Cylob Industries, accompanied by a number of his own releases (including this month’s Formant Potaton) created using his own Cylob Music System, which has led to an increasingly idiosyncratic sound.

Backing Kid606 and Cylob are the Numbers crew with DJ POL-Style, co-organizers Ground Cobra with DJ Com.A, and live duo Group_inou. Consisting of trackmaker Imai and MC CP, the pair were chosen Japan Winner from among 3,399 competitors in the Diesel-U-Music Awards in 2006. On the strengths of that and their System Kitchen album, Group_inou have been invited to play marquee events like techno rave Metamorphose and this year’s Fuji Rock Festival.

Kid606 vs Cylob@Colors Studio, Oct 20. See club listings for details.

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