Pitchfork

[Posted Tuesday, September 9th, 2003 03:40:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Eric Marth and Stephen Nelson report:
In perhaps the most bizarre pairing since white chocolate and Kit Kat wafers, Maryland's broken-beat answer to Eminem, Cex, has joined forces with Delaware emomongers Jade Tree. Cex (aka Rjyan Kidwell), known for his incredible live performances and tendency to release almost-as-good records, is gearing up for the release of Maryland Mansions, an EP in eight tracks. Jade Tree will be pushing out the record on November 18th.

Pitchfork recently spoke with Kidwell about the new record. According to the man himself, Maryland Mansions will feature guest appearances from Zach Hill of Hella (who provided drum samples for three cuts) and ex-girlfriend Indra Dunis of Numbers, whose vocals appear on the first track. Cex claims that the sound will be "darker, louder than Being Ridden -- not quite as all-over-the-place stylistically, but I guess compared to most bands' albums it's still kinda all-over-the-place. Thematically though, it's focused. Mostly focused on endings. And a little bit focused on absence-- and I think there's a bit about closing." Hmmm... ending, absence and closing. Sounds nicely postmodern and strangely unenlightening. The tracklist:

01 Drive Off A Mountain
02 Stop Eating
03 Take Pills
04 Kill Me
05 My Head
06 New Maps
07 Stillnaut Rjyan
08 The Strong Suit

When we talked to Kidwell, he was resting up in Brighton, England after playing "show five of what has been possibly the weirdest tour ever." Kidwell noted that the tour has been received with great enthusiasm, but has been plagued by poor merchandise sales, theft, robbery and lack of passports. Sounds like either really bad luck, or the plot to a new National Lampoon's Vacation movie. Cex will continue touring Europe through most of September before bringing the mayhem to the States in the coming months. This short U.S. stint will be followed by Cex's first-ever Australian tour this December. Those sweet, sweet dates (all U.S. dates with Nice Nice):

09-09 Frankfurt, Germany - Cooky's (w/ Grand Buffet)
09-10 Berlin, Germany - Bastard
09-11 Hamburg, Germany - Pudel Club
09-12 Hannover, Germany - Silke Arp Brecht
09-13 Rotterdam, Holland - Rotown
09-15 Gent, Belgium - TBA
09-16 Amsterdam, Holland - Paradiso
10-29 New York, NY - TBA
10-30 Philadelphia, PA - University of Pennsylvania
10-31 Alfred, NY - Alfred University *
11-01 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse *
11-02 Cambridge, MA - TBA *
11-03 Providence, RI - TBA *
11-04 Baltimore, MD - TBA
11-05 Richmond, VA - Nanci Raygun

* with Aspera, I Am The World Trade Center