Wire (May 2000) – Six tracks from 606 on 006 – so far so sixy. Herein the Kiddy kat breaks his run of jab-in-the-eye noise scores (his one man drive to feature in every In Brief of 2000) with a low key feline-groovy valentine. I’m speculating to the max here, but this 18 minute six-signal suite reads like a microscopic no-vox Let’s Get It On – a tonal encapsulation of an archetypal love affair, from first flirt ("Start") to lost lustre ("Over"); progressing from "Call Me" through the non-cryptic "If my Heart ever ran away it would be looking for the day when right beside you it could forever stay" (less a title, more a misdirected e-mail ) to the parting "Thank You for being my angel". The latter is key, and a standout – a Clusterfied bullet train update of Celia Johnson pulling away from Trevor Howard. The sound is blissed out, tentative, brisant, and it’s nice to hear flickers of an atom heart under the quantum noise mother (no lonely geek, this kid). What initially seems slight niggles and haunts like a profile seen briefly on a tube train that unaccountably fills you with major yearning (and all that remains is the compensation of melancholy echo.)

- Ian Penman

De-bug (april 2000) Nach Jake Mandell liefert Sunnyboy Kid 606 den zweiten Teil der Carpark "Sport-Fan"-Serie ab, und auch wenn ich nicht sicher bin, ob ich Soccergirls nun per se mögen soll oder nicht, weil man die ja manchmal als schalbehängtes Anhängsel in der U-Bahn trifft, liebe ich diese Platte voll und ganz. Denn: Kid Michael hat es offenbar geschafft, den Kopf mal vom Rechner zu erheben, dabei aus dem Fenster zu schauen und ein Mädchen zu erblicken, dem er jetzt gleich eine Handvoll wunderbarer Tracks schenkt. Bunt, hoffnungsvoll, weich, leicht süsslich, fast ambient schleudert Kid die Powerbook-Rosen gen Fenster. Mit Tracks wie 'Thank You For Being My Angel (Rev 1)' zeigt Mr. 606, dass wir ihn mitnichten aufgeben müssen, sondern voll Freude bei seinen Gigs am Bühnenrand stehen dürfen. Elektronischer Lollipop. Yippie.

- thaddi *****

Alternative Press (july 2000) –

Proving his versatility, San Diego’s Kid606 makes the transition from digital hardcore to analog softcore (well, the synths at least sound like they could be analog). The Kid previously had hinted at melodic beauty amid his frenetic breakbeats and noise terror, but on this six-track CD he lets that side of his multifaceted talent really flower. The result harks back to classic old-school ambienceurs/synthesists like Brian Eno, Cluster, Klaus Schulze and Bernard Szajner. The EP’s pulsating placidity and rich tonal palette show that Kid606 is maturing and diversifying without blanding out. By far his most accessible work, The Soccergirl EP will surprise many of his fans and it may even bring Kid some mainstream attention. (His new LP on Mike Patton’s Ipecac will also heighten his profile.

- Dave Segal

XLR8R (#43) – Carpark’s got the right idea: have geeky techno twiddlers pay musical tribute to their favorite sports. So much for getting beat up on the playground. The second installment finds San Diego’s Sixer-Kid in warm-up calisthenics mode, offering six deep breathing, Boards of Canada-style ambient extractions that diffuse shimmering rings of analog sounds across the pitch in tiny whispers. A far cry from his previous fuck-beat fabrication of NWA-is the Kid growing up? Don’t know, but this calm collection graduates cum laude.

- Tomas

Muzik (August 2000) – This has been out for a while now, but deserves a mention both as an introduction to New York’s excellent Carpark label and as further evidence of Kid’s talents. "Soccergirl", is a paean to lost love, forged from glowing repetition and beautiful understatement, that’s closer to the Mapstation EP than the harsh glitch-core and gabba of yore.

Tom Mugridge

Other Music (May 16, 2000) - The next in Carpark's 'sports' series, Kid 606's 18-minute, four-song cycle mellows him out considerably. Though he's usually hotheaded, here he's thoughtful. The tracks have a quiet, twinkly style, measured and cute, like early new-age electro -- a la Tangerine Dream with more beats and more bass. Nice soccerball-and-felt packaging.

- Robin Edgerton

www.icast.com (May 2000) - Californian analog bandit and general man about town has locked himself in the studio and emerged with three utterly distinct records once more demonstrating his extraordinary versatility…

    This young provocateur knows no limits when it comes to lo-fi, punk aesthetic electronic shenanigans. One would never guess that the Soccergirl EP comes from the same mind. It’s a gentle, melodic, sweeping record which glistens like a spider’s web in the morning sun….

    By the time you read this, the Kid will already have a bunch of new singles floating around, but these three records are mandatory.

- Tim Haslett

Grooves #4 - Kid606 delivers the second installment of Carpark’s sports theme series with his Soccergirl EP. This disc represents an unexpected departure for the Kid, as this time he’s moved into warm ambient territory. These twenty minutes are easily the most subtle material Kid606 has released, proving his emotional range extends well into the sweetly satisfied and blissful. The cascading shimmers of tracks like the standout "Thank You For Being My Angel (rev. 1)" prove that Kid606 is one of the few working artists able to pour his soul into his machines. Forgiving a few Fiona Apple-esque track names, the Soccergirl EP is as innocently romantic as electronic music gets. Place this next to his gabber/electropunk output and the portrait of the artist as a Kid is becoming remarkably complex.

-Rob Geary

pitchforkmedia
Rating: 6.7

Who’d have thought a cute soccer mum could melt Kid 606's heart? Before he was smitten by her playful passing and spot kicks, Kid 606 was the ear-shredding vandal of IDM. Not only did N.W.A. get a beating from our Kid on his reworking of "Straight Outta Compton," and Public Enemy on "It'll Take Millions in Plastic Surgery to Make Me Black," but also far softer targets, as on "Luke Vibert Can Kiss My Indiepunk Whiteboy Ass." On his own label, Tigerbeat6, 606 offered up tracks to like-minded hooligans and released We are All Winners, an ironic title unless you consider "winning" to be when all participants leave the session in tatters and with hearing impediments.

The tranquility of The Soccergirl EP is as shocking as any of Kid 606's brutal gabber. Over seven tracks, he reaches back to the early days of ambient and retextures it with his signature shards of white noise (albeit at a greatly diminished intensity). And in the process, he proves just how much of a big- hearted softie he really is.

After the gliding Tonefloat drones of "Start," Kid 606 describes a "Defective Boy" in very David Kristian terms. Though a kick drum lurks deep within the foggy mix, it's the insistent burbles that propel the track. By the midway point, a tiny percussion set vainly strives to fill out the high end.

Kid 606 treats the forlorn "If My Heart Ever Ran Away" with similar poetic care. The referencing here is less to early Kraftwerk, and more towards any number of Pete Namlook collaborations. A sequencer line dominates and answers the "if" clause of the title with, "Then life would be repetitive, echo-y, and indistinguishable." But listen closely as 606 tweaks the surrounding sounds just enough to hint that he's lying through his teeth. Playing such tricks is a gamble, of course, but as this track clarifies, he's more than capable of pulling it off.

From toying with Namlook, he takes on Tangerine Dream (their wasted Street Hawk years rather than the high magick of Zeit) during "Thank You for Being My Angel," but I sense some insincerity in his gratitude. Though the track is louder and fuller than the preceding one, it lacks any elegiac nuance. It's bold, brash, and conveys very little-- a perfect show-off!

The Soccergirl concludes as it began: serenely. "Over" hints at Oval's wounded disc schtick as Kid 606 props up these delicate sounds with even softer layers. And just as we've become adjusted to this Kid's dreamy, gentle side, the disc ends. In retrospect, the strategy enacted here was pretty obvious. 606's previous material had so brutalized us that to go any further would be to flog a dying horse. Employing restraint and tranquility, Kid 606 has startled us once again. Goal!

-Paul Cooper

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