Cutting Edge One-Man Band
Keyboard Magazine - 09.01.2005
"Sharing a bill with DJs and rock bands, Kid Beyond sticks out. His arsenal doesn’t include turntables, guitars, or drum kits — he’s just a dude with a laptop and microphone. It all makes sense, though, when the Kid opens his mouth and starts to fill the room using his top-shelf beat boxing skills, expert vocals, and some of the deepest, most amazing live-looping chops we’ve ever seen..."
[expand]. Whether he’s doing a sensual cover of Portishead’s “Wandering Star,” an eerily realistic rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” or one of his Fatboy Slim-esque party song originals, Kid B’s ability to pump up a crowd using zero support personnel and nominal equipment is truly impressive. In order to perform thick and thoroughly-arranged songs using no sound source other than his mouth, Kid B does his technological homework. “Each song is an empty [Ableton] Live set,” he says. “There’s no audio in it, but my tracks and effects are already set up and they’re different for each song. I’m just onstage pouring audio into each track.” Running the program on a Sony Vaio laptop with an M-Audio FireWire 410 interface and a Shure SM58 vocal mic, he records and controls his loops via a [Digital Music] Ground Control Pro MIDI foot pedal and some customized programming. “I’m using a little utility called MIDI Translator from www.bome.com,” he says. “Each song has a cue list of MIDI events; for any event that comes through the foot pedal, [MIDI Translator] can turn that into a sequence of lots of keystrokes.” Though he avoids computer-based harmonizers, Auto-Tune, and resonators, Kid B does augment his vocal source audio with less invasive computer-based effects. “I subharmonize my bass,” he says. “I can produce low bass notes with throat singing, but when I’m on a bill with a bunch of DJs, let’s say, I want my stuff to kick as hard as their stuff does. I draw some arbitrary lines of purism,” he continues, laughing. “But I reserve the right to move the line when I want to.” Though best known for his live shows, Kid B has a solo studio album in the works, and has also found time to collaborate with BT for the producer’s upcoming disc. “I beatboxed and sang and did all sorts of vocal stuff,” he says. “BT’s going to chop it up, blow it into his computer, and create a whole song based on my vocal samples.” "
[collapse]

One-Mouth Band
SF Magazine - 12.15.2004
"DJs and rappers have long sliced and diced other artists' melodies and beats into their own compositions. But vocal percussionist Kid Beyond samples his own "beatbox" performances live: He unerringly mimics the sound of drums, violins and dozens more instruments... then, using a small set of foot pedals and a mike, records and plays back his uncanny sounds..."
[expand]. After building a song's rhythmic and melodic underpinnings, Chaikin - who has performed at Carnegie Hall - sings along with himself in as many as eight tracks at a time. A veteran of a cappella band the House Jacks and former "Drummer" with San Francisco rocker Austin Willacy's band, he's been a regular at house parties for years, captivating fans with his wacky Led Zeppelin "drum" solos. Some lucky audiences get a beatbox lesson as well."
[collapse]

Kid Beyond
IGN Entertainment - 12.10.2004
"Kid Beyond is a San Fran native who follows in the steps of the great classic beat boxers such as Dougie Fresh, Kool Rock-Ski and The Biz, plus adds his own flavor in the mix with real-time looping and some crazy throat singing... You would swear that the stage was filled with drum machines and kits, synthesizers and a line of back-up vocalists when he sprays; something that few humans can claim..."
[expand]. After some freestyle beats, Beyond did some cool techno creation which included an on-the-fly pseudo-sample of The Matrix's Agent Smith, and also a quick rendition of a Nine Inch Nails joint. Beyond ended his performance by showing off his live looping skills with a rendition of Portishead's "Wandering Star" that could have made Beth Gibbons herself swoon."
[collapse]

Looks like Popeye, sounds like a 12-piece drum kit, rivets us. Must be Kid Beyond.
SF Weekly - 10.13.2004
"My second brush with hip hop satori happened last week... a guy who looked like Popeye, sounded like a 12-piece drum kit, and riveted me to my spot. He was covering the Portishead song "Wandering Stars," each part "played" by loops of his voice that he created and then layered over one another like a full band..."
[expand]. This wasn't rock, though, this was pure hip hop, as transcendent as the first time Grandmaster Flash decided to replay a break. Apparently, while the rest of us were sleeping, beat-boxing moved into a whole new realm, with musicians using their voices in ways that are not only acrobatic, but surprisingly tuneful as well. The new breed of beat-boxing is some deep, powerful S**t That Cannot Be Named. "Is this for f***ing real?" said the guy next to me, drinking a can of Budweiser out of a paper bag. It was. The performer we were watching was Kid Beyond, aka Andrew Chaikin... I could have listened to him perform for hours. He is amazing, and the audience members felt like they were witnessing something new, something this jaded music writer could not entirely understand, much less put into words."
[collapse]

Best Beatboxer
SF Weekly - 05.19.2004
"What takes most people an entire band to produce, Kid Beyond (aka Andrew Chaikin) executes with his own mouth. Cupping his hands to manipulate the sound, and moving his lips and tongue in mysterious ways, Kid Beyond can replicate drum sets, Latin beats, hip hop grooves, and turntable scratches. But his talent extends beyond percussion: He also sings in and around the beats, and records bits and pieces of his performance in real time using foot pedals, then loops it back live, so he's riffing with himself..."
[expand]. The results include eerie orchestrations that make you feel you're in the presence of a higher power and psychedelic trance that makes you want to get up and dance. Kid Beyond performs regularly throughout the Bay Area; check his Web site for future shows."
[collapse]

Tourette's Without Regrets
East Bay Express - 01.21.2004
"Andrew is clearly the Vowel Movement's home-run hitter, a fiercely charismatic beatboxer with a secret weapon: live looping, in which he beatboxes specific parts into a foot pedal that records, loops, and slowly pieces his beats together until he has created an aural army of clones onstage. Watching him one-man-vocal-percussionist-band his way through Portishead's "Wandering Star" is truly mesmerizing. "That's the best live thing I've ever seen," the dude behind me pants when it's over."