Cex - Starship Galactica

  by Adam Wood

published: 8 / 2 / 2005

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Review

Rjyan Kidwell has come home. Starship Galactica has returned to earth since its first release back in 2001 re-mastered and repackaged with three extra tracks to bolster it out to a proper, adult sized record. And this is where the grown up stuff stops. Cex (pronounced ‘sex’) is a comic book super hero, the Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) scene’s music terrorist, and it couldn’t be further from nerdy small town chancer Kidwell’s life. A seemingly normal young man whose Mr Hyde is a unique blend of bizarre hip-hop dance crossovers interlaced with battle raps. The song ‘Hi Scores’ sums up Cex perfectly, the listener given the sounds of Cex, literally yet the man himself is playing on his playstation. Ahem. It’s this kind of American Pie humour that really starts to grate on second or third listen, yet it reflects the confusing schizophrenia of Kidwell, his sexless geeky demeanour crosses over into the domain of Cex, a world of debauched women and glossy self confidence. The Kidwell enigma by no means masks the music though; the record twists and turns its way through hardened electro (‘Cal and Brady Style’) to organic Four Tet –esque spirit, with the occasional interjection of banality. The joy of Cex needs to be heard and this re-issue justifies him a position in the IDM pantheon, but don’t tell him that. He’s good, but not as good as he thinks he is.

Track Listing:-

1 Intro
2 Cal And Brady Style
3 Tattoo Of A Barcode
4 Get In Yr Squads
5 Hi Scores
6 Cex Can Kiss My Soft Sensuous Lips
7 Your Handwriting When You Were A Child In The Winter
8 Starship Galactica
9 Friends Fall Down
10 Monster-Face Pills
11 Bunky

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