Cex (musician)

Cex
Background information
Birth name	Rjyan Claybrook Kidwell
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, remixer, DJ
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Tigerbeat6, Automation Records, Jade Tree
Associated acts	Kid606

Cex is an American musical project run by Rjyan Claybrook Kidwell and started in 1998 at the age of 16. Although Cex and Kidwell are frequently used interchangeably, Cex occasionally expands to several people at sporadic points, such as particular tours or albums. In the past it has included Kidwell's musical associates, friends, touring partners, or high school bandmates.

The first Cex album, Cells, was a compilation of tracks Kidwell had been working on for several years, and was released in 1998 by his own CD-R label, _underscore, while he was still at Dulaney High School in Timonium, Maryland. The following year, Kidwell met Miguel Depedro (Kid 606) and the two founded Tigerbeat6, a record label which would be among the vanguards of the electronica movement at the time. The next Cex album, Role Model, was one of the label's first releases (2000), and was quickly followed up the next year with Oops, I Did It Again!. Oops not only took its title from the Britney Spears album of the same name, but played around with the title by depicting photos of the aftermath of a murder on the cover art.

All of the Cex releases up to this time were classified as IDM (Intelligent dance music) and had very little vocals or lyrics for the most part. However, Kidwell was not content to stay behind the laptop while on tour, and quickly and openly aspired to become "#1 Entertainer". He started to hone freestyling skills and performing new songs with vocal tracks like "who's the man with no clothes, underwear, fur coat, chilling in the alley?/I'm the man with no clothes, underwear, fur coat/he's brandishing knives!" ("Fur Coat") and "I know you're stressed/'cause there's only one Cex/and your girlfriend's pissed/'cause you ain't him" ("One Cex"). His vocal style was very confrontational and nearly atonal, and contained typically outrageous braggadocio; he frequently would go out of his way to chat to his audience between or in the middle of songs, and was known to strip down to his underwear (or less) from time to time. In 2002, he was offered a coveted tour spot opening for the East Coast leg of the Death and Dismemberment tour with Death Cab for Cutie and old friends from Washington, DC The Dismemberment Plan. Also in 2002 he collaborated with Aaron Funk; a Winnipeg electronic artist known as Venetian Snares to create "stamina" the ninth track on Aaron's '02 album "237 0894". Later that year, Tall, Dark, and Handcuffed, his first album with full vocals, was released. He continued to open for noted bands such as Super Furry Animals and The Roots, as well as musical friends Grand Buffet.

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