One of the most playful artists in the American electronic music scene -- as well as the founder of the Tigerbeat6 label -- Kid606's lack of seriousness regarding "intelligent techno" (conspicuous in his attitude as well as his recordings) was inspired by hardcore techno, indie punk, noise rock, and a liberal dose of heavy metal. A native of Venezuela, the Kid (aka Miguel Trost De Pedro) moved to San Diego early in life. After becoming interested in samplers, he began recording and released some material with Spacewurm, Ariel, and Disc (a collaboration with Lesser and Matmos), three acts associated with the Southern California label Vinyl Communications. Kid606 debuted on his own with a full-length for VC, 1998's Don't Sweat the Technics. A split CD with Lesser gained release later that year, as well as the VC EPs Unamerican Activity and Dubplatestyle. De Pedro kicked off his Tigerbeat6 label in 2000 with the release of Kid606 and Friends, Vol. 1, an album of remixes and collaborations. The label also issued GQ on the EQ++, a full-length CD containing Kid606's 10" EP GQ on the EQ as well as additional tracks from other limited releases from that era of his career. In mid-2000, Kid606 released Down with the Scene, his first album for the experimental Ipecac label associated with Faith No More's Mike Patton. A few months later, the experimental techno label Mille Plateaux issued the comparatively subdued P.S. I Love You, along with an accompanying remix album (P.S. You Love Me) the following year. Kid606 veered back into hardcore with 2002's mashup-heavy The Action Packed Mentallist Brings You the Fucking Jams (on Tigerbeat6's bootleg-centric Violent Turd imprint) and 2003's Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You, along with releases on Shockout, a ragga/jungle sublabel of Tigerbeat6. Resilience, from 2005, and Pretty Girls Make Raves, released one year later, found Kid606 returning to the green pastures of an earlier era in electronic music; the first harked back to IDM and electronic listening music, while the second was a back-to-basics techno record. (Both appeared on Tigerbeat6.) In addition to a number of collaborative projects, remixes, and split releases throughout the late 2000s, Kid606 moved to Berlin and found time to issue an EP called Die Soundboy Die in 2008. The follow-up full-length, Shout at the Döner, landed in 2009. Around this time, he began releasing a remarkable amount of digital EPs, most of which were dancefloor-centric and loaded with remixes, and some of which appeared on Tigerbeat6 sublabel Tigerbass. A full-length record, 2010's all-analog and nearly beatless Songs About Fucking Steve Albini, appeared on Important Records, home to records by Merzbow and Zurich. Lost in the Game, a set of tunes that embraced melody more than anything previously in his evolution, was released in 2012. The following year's Happiness was similarly melodic but much more cheerful, taking inspiration from a move to Los Angeles and the smooth sounds of Christopher Cross and Toto as well as Tangerine Dream. De Pedro went in an even mellower direction with 2015's piano-based minimalist album Recollected Ambient Works 1.0: Bored of Excitement and the EP Recollected Ambient Works 1.5: Discreet Music, which featured a cover of the Brian Eno piece of the same name. Another volume in the series, the slightly more song-based Recollected Ambient Works, Vol. 2: Escape to Los Angeles, appeared by the end of the year. ~ John Bush, Rovi