Kidstreet

Waterloo acoustic/electropop siblings Kidstreet have the potential to be majorly twee simply by that preceding description alone, but in their remix of Caribou’s sonic sizzurp “Sun,” nothing is precious. The recent Nettwerk signees do right by the original—it’s still chilly, still chanty, and still overflowing with gorgeous, skin-crawling creep. Use it for a good cry, sway, or walk through dirty snow. Buy more here, and be treated to refits/cameos by Rampue, Panic Bomber and Jeremy Glenn. - RCRDLBL.com

Thickly falling flakes frame vocalist Edna Snyder’s face as she makes her way through thick snowdrifts, occasional flashes of light and editing distorting Waterloo-based band Kidstreet’s video for “Penny Candy”. One third of the experimental synth-pop group, Snyder said she remembers when the band assembled.

“When I was 18 and Karl realized he had a little sister who could play piano and that I might be a resource worth using,” she said with a laugh.

Mixing song and sibling may not work for everyone—ahem, Gallaghers—but Cliff, Karl and Edna Snyder undoubtedly have a certain X factor poised to break down any rivalry or conflict thrown their way. The had a chance to chat with the trio over the phone in light of their gig opening for Dragonette at Ale House tomorrow.

Have you always been a musical bunch?

Edna: Cliff and I both took piano as children, so we’re classically trained. I continued on with it at university a little bit. Karl, who writes most of the instrumentation and really, well mostly everything, he never really took lessons.

Karl: I took three or four drum lessons and then decided it was going to ruin drumming for me … so I guess we always have been kind of musical, or at least our parents always gave us the opportunity to play instruments if we so chose to do that.

When did you transition into playing production and synth-heavy tunes?

Edna: When I was 18 and Karl realized he had a little sister who could play piano and that I might be a resource worth using.

Karl: Yeah I guess that is kind of true. One of the things about playing music with your siblings is … you have the family resemblances when it comes to taste, but it also helps conflict resolution a lot because you’ve been doing conflict resolution your whole lives.

You probably get asked this frequently, but how is it working, playing and touring with your siblings?

Cliff: I think it’s awesome! No I’m serious. I’ve been in other bands where you’re not siblings and it’s kind of like being in a relationship … something goes wrong in the band and you break up and never speak to the other people again. Stuff falls out. But when it’s your brother and sister you don’t really have the option for stuff to really fall out. You’re always going to be brother and sister so you find ways to make it work whereas with other bands you might just pack it in … When it’s your brother and sister you’re working with you find ways that you can make the band work.

You’re releasing a full length this April, how has the process been?

Karl: It’s taken so long. About a year and a half ago we probably could have released an LP and it would have been very different from the one we’re releasing now. We just kept pushing it back and pushing it back and then we signed on with Nettwerk and everything got pushed back more and more and more. We released an EP when we first started which was completely instrumental and we just self-released it. That’s the only thing we’ve released other than the single … we’re kind of new to that whole thing. It’s done, it’s finished, I think we’re all excited to get it out there and see what the response is.

I caught your set with PS I Love You at The Drake Hotel in Toronto in December and you have such a captivatingly energetic live show. How do you translate that energy into a record?

Karl: It’s almost a piece of contention in the band, with how to … you can’t really develop that onto a record. In certain ways, maybe we’ll learn how to do that as we go, but as it stands … how do you replicate jumping around? We haven’t quite figured it out yet. It’s fairly difficult to replicate that I’d say.

Can you tell me a little bit about the video for “Penny Candy”?

That process was a bit of mess because we’d invited out a bunch of our friends and then it ended up being about the worst day ever. It was 0 degrees and it started raining 10 minutes before people were getting together and then it dropped down to minus five … people sat around for the first hour and then about half the people left. By the end of the video we only had maybe 10 people who had stuck around. Some very nice people who stuck around … it worked out OK. The concept was to make it look like one shot from the start to the finish. I think it was two shots. The concept was to just be quick with it and do lots of editing kind of thing.

Can we expect to see more videos in the next little while?

Cliff: Hell yeah. We’ve actually got two separate videos on the go right now. We haven’t actually released any new videos yet since that “Penny Candy” one. We’re feeling some pressure to really get it done and like I said we’ve got a few different video concepts on the go right now.

Karl: There are a couple different independent video artists we’re working with right now for later releases. I’m pretty excited with the work they’re doing. There’s some pretty cool animation stuff coming up. We’re just trying to do our own video but we’re fi - Queen's Journal

Waterloo electro trio Kidstreet have barely started to make their mark in Toronto, but the three siblings who make up the synth-pop outfit have already inked a major licensing deal with Ford. The staccato piano from their song (simply titled Song) backs the car-maker’s latest TV spot.

“It’s one of the few good ways left to make money in music – and we plan to invest that money back into the band,” says drummer Karl Snyder.

Rounded out by older brother Cliff on synths and guitar and younger sister Edna on piano and vocals, Kidstreet began with a different sound. They only decided on their present upbeat and uptempo direction last summer.

“We were playing this really depressing-sounding music and no one was dancing. Then, one day we wrote a dance song by accident, and people loved it, so we were like, ‘Oh, this what we need to do!’” remembers Snyder.

Onstage, the band blends electronic elements with live drums, vocals, guitar and synths – while encouraging the crowd to dance.

“We reproduce our recorded sound as much as we can. We’re trying to make experimental dance music, and we sound like a DJ but with the energy of a live band.”

Snyder laughs that sometimes their audience gets nostalgic over their name, shamelessly lifted from classic kids’ TV game show Kidstreet.

“People started doing the clap at our shows! It’s nerdy but also pretty terrific to see a sweaty crowd doing it!” - Now Magazine

They say the family that plays together, stays together. Waterloo, Ontario sibling trio Kidstreet seem to be taking that axiom to heart -- Cliff (synth and guitar), Edna (piano and vocals), and Karl (drums) Synder join forces to make music as giddily addictive as Pop Rocks candy, all sugary rush with an unexpected spark.

The indie-electro outfit (named after a nerdily earnest '90s-era kids' TV gameshow featuring teams of siblings) has been steadily gaining buzz since first bowing onto the scene in 2007 with their upbeat, danceworthy sound. But they've smartly taken their time to develop, releasing only a few key tracks in the interim before signing to noted Canadian label Nettwerk Records, which will release the band's forthcoming full-length this summer.


Many electro acts like to tout their ability to re-create their heavily-produced studio vibe live, but Kidstreet take that whole "DJ-as-live-band" angle much further -- their gleefully frenetic sound is best experienced at one of their sweaty, hands-in-the-air dance parties.

Luckily, the trio seem to have captured that loose, fun sound in the tracks they've released to date, including the bouncy 'X' -- brimming with youthful exuberance, it's an electro jam that wouldn't seem out of place next to a Woodhands tune on a particularly fun mixtape -- in fact, 'X' makes a good argument for Kidstreet as Woodhands' younger, poppier cousins.

While Kanye might approve of the sleekly futuristic Vocoder-ized tone of 'X', the lyrics reveal the song to be far more human than its robotic vocals might suggest: "I want you so bad," Edna chirps over a driving beat, the steady breakdown punctuated by piercing whistle blasts as the blips and bloops swirl up around the boy-girl harmonies.

There's an interesting tension between the ebullient beats and seemingly longing lyrics that lends the usual indie-electro vibe a fresh edge. On 'X', Kidstreet may not be getting the love they're looking for, but if the buzz around this act is any indication, they certainly won't be lacking for love from fans of good music. - Spinner/AOL Canada