There was a time when Simple Kid (a.k.a. Irish-born one-man-army Ciaran MacFeely) cooked his craft like Fatboy Slim, taking sounds and running 'em through a laptop, splicing and remixing -- except Fatboy's a sampler and Ciaran the Kid's a player. But Simple is as simple does, and he left the cut-and-pastiche with his first album, 1; on his second album, 2 (see, simple!), released abroad last year and finally hitting these shores in August via Yep Roc, MacFeely plays it relatively straight, with a Beck-ish brew of banjos, slide guitars, harmonicas, and sun-drenched slacker melodies. Grab "Lil' King Kong" for the case in point.
Simple Kid - "Lil' King Kong" (MP3)
But Simple Kid is more than just a trans-Atlantic banjo man with a devil's haircut, so give "Seratonin" a shake for a taste of the full Simple Kid platter, fairly described by NME as "Radiohead meets DJ Shadow."
Simple Kid - "Seratonin" (MP3)
2 will be out in the US this August on Yep Roc, and New Yorkers can catch him live during a three night residency (8/15-17) at Mo Pitkins. No more States dates for now, but we'll keep ya posted.
