Kid Beyond -- Does Björk know about this guy?

Kid Beyond - Human Beatbox Extraordinaire
by Mark Burbey

Not much has been said about the direction in which Björk intends to take her new album, but she is not one to stand still or remain in one modality for long. It has already been reported that Björk has stepped into the studio with such disparate artists as Timbaland, Joanna Newsom, and Toumani Diabaté, who has garnered global acclaim as one of the world's finest players of the Malian kora -- a 21-string harp-lute used extensively by peoples in West Africa. It's no great leap to predict that the next album will follow Björk on yet another trajectory of artistic growth, but there really is no guessing what form it will take.

When MEDULLA was released, she said that she would do another all-vocal non-instrument album, then tour performing material from both. That notion may well have been displaced by other inspirations, but if not, has Björk heard of Kid Beyond, a San Francisco human beatbox artist whose skills seem to surpass those of Rahzel and Japan's Dokaka, both of whom contributed to MEDULLA?

Kid Beyond doesn't just do amazingly rich beats, but he loops and layers them and vocalizes instrument-like sounds over them and sings on top of that. Whether or not Kid Beyond could contribute to Björk's artistic vision of the moment, he certainly fits the mold of groundbreaking outsider with whom Bjork loves to collaborate.

Check out his video and see for yourself.

Also check out his website to see if he's performing at a club near you.
www.kidbeyond.com