In the post-grunge, indie leanings of a city like Seattle, where the literacy rate is amongst the highest in the nation and the Public Library system has the largest percentage of library card-holders per-capita in the country, the city’s backdrop perhaps better explains the roots of urban wordsmith Sadistik.

At the age of 22, the MC released his first work -“The Balancing Act”- in which he aimed to prove to the world that the emotional output of a white hip-hop artist could again be affecting and poignant without playing into what has become the comic relief or stereotype. Regarding the album, LastFM would go on to state that “after you are done listening… you feel as though you have the world’s strongest drug in your veins.” Not bad praise for a kid straight out of the shoot.

Enter Kid Called Computer. A Kansas City native who moved to Chicago as a full-time creator of soundscapes. Branching from his production work for MCs such as Mac Lethal and Ces Cru, KCC began creating solo instrumental music with his signature hybrid of hip hop’s classic bass and snare intertwined with heavy ambiance and post-rock structuring. Sound bizarre? That’s because it is. In a culture where just as many artists try to be different as those who try to conform, Kid Called Computer just is. And it’s from this mutual disregard for the norm that Sadistik & Kid Called Computer formed as a duo. With so many commonalities in their outlook on music as well as their own individual strengths brought to the table, Sadistik & Kid Called Computer have created a sound that is not only absolutely unique but also relevant on their debut EP “The Art of Dying.”

RS: How did you guys come together for this collaboration?

Sadistik: We worked together a little bit on my first album and just started talking and flirting with the idea of making something, and pretty much two songs into it we kinda got a sound and realized we were on to something and I think we slowly committed to it as we convinced ourselves that it was worth it…or at least I did.

Kid Called Computer (KCC): [laughing] I’m in agreement. We definitely by like the second song knew we had something going that was pretty much unique for the both of us so…it just felt right. Kinda “fated.”

RS: What inspired/influenced the idea for this collaboration?

KCC: We share a lot of the same tastes when it comes to film and music in general; we have a lot in common. Pretty much everything that we’re into just trickled in to our music. The sound developed from the general liking of the things we’re into.

Sadistik: I was kinda in a dark lull for a little bit…I lost my father and then I was in a really bad breakup and I was in a really dark, negative place and I wasn’t writing very well when KCC and I started merging ideas. The first song was “Black Rose” which dealt with that breakup, and then after that we kind of went all-out in the weird dark guitar side and I kind of felt like KCC was bizarre enough and weird enough to fit the mode that I was in and so it felt really natural.

RS: Did any of the tragedy that you went through have an influence on “The Balancing Act” as well?

Sadistik: Well, I lost my dad really shortly before “The Balancing Act” came out; I had every song done except one before that album came out; and then the breakup happened just right as we were starting this EP so…[the breakup] was much more temporary but it was kind of, in a weird way and some cosmic sense, it felt like a really good spark plug to get things going on this project – something to piss me off enough to start it [laughing].

RS: How would you compare “The Art of Dying” to “The Balancing Act” (if at all)?

KCC: Oh boy!

Sadistik: [laughing] Well, one thing through this whole process is KCC has been very adamant about this being very different than TBA. Because people online and wherever will post things and ask about, or hint toward this being another “[The] Balancing Act” and KCC has been very adamant about this being something else – don’t expect a redo of that, especially because that production was mainly by Emancipator and that’s kind of a different sound altogether. So this one is much more, I mean, the vocal style that made TBA what it was and my writing is still the same and things like that, but KCC’s production is very different and so it kind of sparked a different subject matter for me so it’s different. But, I mean, the same themes, the really cinematic, dense, layered production and hints of live instrumentation and then the kind of elaborate writing style that signified the last album are all still here but this is just kind of a different color.

KCC: Yeah, this is kind of like a concept album, but it’s a neat theme because it’s generally shorter. But what we came up with just kind of took off on its own anyway, I mean, I don’t really think there’s any way to really compare it to TBA at all because it’s just something else completely.

Sadistik: TBA is more like a journal with prettier colors in it; this one is more like some creepy nightmare at two-in-the-morning with a few of the same colors but a little more grey in it.

RS: What kind of music have you guys been listening to that may have influenced this album?

KCC: Well, for me I’m just a really big fan of old 70’s psychedelic rock. For as long as I can remember I’ve been into that kind of music but a lot of the production on this album was inspired by bands like Camel from back then. It really [the production] was more about the way they went about doing things and creating things back then – it’s really inspiring. In a time where, especially in hip-hop, where everything has more of an 80’s feel, it’s just – it’s easier for me to side-step those things because I’ve never been one to make traditional anything, and I don’t know why that is because I actually try, I’m just no good at it. I’m no good at making “popular” stuff, I don’t know why. I’ve always been kind of an odd-ball musically so, it’s kind of good that I met this guy [Sadistik].

Sadistik: KCC’s more of the real music purist and his influences shine really strongly, like his little psych-rock hints and little stuff like that I don’t even know what the hell it is but he does it, so…[laughing] Me, well, everyone that knows me personally knows that I’m pretty vocal about my love for Radiohead – they’re my favorite – and then a lot of old-school rap, some underground stuff but not as much lately, I kind of feel like there’s a lot of carbon-copy stuff coming out; but lately a lot of indie-rock. And then I like old-school grimy New York kind of rap – it’s kind of my favorite – even though that makes no sense to anyone…

KCC: [laughing] Yeah that’s another thing people don’t know about you [Sadistik] is that you have this like, very in-depth knowledge of old rap just from all over, and people have no idea! They think that was pretty funny, you know what I mean?

Sadistik: Yeah, people will be like, “Hey do you like that Immortal Technique album?” and I’ll be like, “No, but I like Onyx.” [both laughing]

KCC: Like, word-for-word you like Onyx, that’s the funny part! Like, he [Sadistik] really likes them! It’s cool.

RS: I was noticing on your blog that you had been listening to some really random, eclectic artists – especially like Lali Puna – who really never gets the play they deserve, and I found that to be really neat.

KCC: Yeah, I don’t know why a lot more people haven’t stumbled upon them (Lali Puna) but it’s to be expected; something that unique, you know, kind of gets overlooked. And working with Sadistik is kind of a chance for people to get to embrace something they normally wouldn’t get to because they like him [Sadistik] so much, and they would have no idea that we would even fit together. And when we put up our first track – “Black Rose” – I think it kind of blew people away to see how well we fit together.

RS: So, KCC, you play a lot of instruments (obviously), but what about you Sadistik? Do you play anything?

Sadistik: I do not. That’s why I rap because I can’t play any instruments.

KCC: [laughing] But you play guitar now!

Sadistik: [laughing] I’m trying but I’m not even close to being able to stay in-tune.

KCC: There’s no Lil’ Wayne coming [laughing]

Sadistik: Yeah, if Lil’ Wayne can do it better than me then I probably can’t play guitar [laughing]

RS: How was the music making process for this album since one of you are in Seattle (Sadistik) and the other (KCC) in Chicago?

Sadistik: A lot of it over the phone [laughing]

KCC: [laughing] Yeah, we’ve done most of this album over cell phones! It’s pretty strange. I actually want to try and be the first to produce cell phone headphones with a sub in them! [laughing]

Sadistik: Well, we’re friends so a lot of it would be just small talk and then we’d find out where each of us were at [in life] and be able to just work with each other based on what we were going through at the time. For instance, with “Black Rose” I just told KCC what I was going through at that time and he said, “Ok, I’m going to work on something for you to work with” and then send it to me, and we’d just kinda go back and forth. I guess it was kind of like if you were in a room together but just a slower process. Most of these songs took like 8 months just slowly making it more into what it became. But yeah, most of it was done over the phone and internet, but I’m sure that the next time we do something together it will be in the same room so we can do it faster and not drive ourselves crazy.

RS: What would you say – either together or individually – would be your long-term goal(s) as an artist?

KCC: I want to score a film…an indie film. Somewhere in the future, that’s my goal.

Sadistik: I want to make a stack of CD’s that I don’t think sucks. And be able to pay rent with it. I mean, it’s so easy to get caught up in the business side of things and tell myself that ‘I need to do this to sell it and I’ve got to do these shows and blah, blah, blah’ but then I have to take a step back and remember why I’m doing this, I mean, all my heroes are broke and unhappy anyway and I just wanna make something that I care about or something I believe in, you know? I’m sure a lot of people say this, but I’d rather make something that I enjoy listening to and have it fail than to make something successful that isn’t an honest representation of myself.

RS: As an artist what would you say is the biggest mistake you have made?

Sadistik: Umm, I don’t know, I feel like I just started, I mean, I only have one album and I don’t really feel like I’ve had a big mistake yet. I’m sure probably a year from now I’ll be able to answer that better. I haven’t really had a chance to mess up because with the first album there were no expectations; nobody knew who I was and it happened to do pretty well, so now there’s expectations and now I am blessed with the opportunity to completely fail.

KCC: I’ve made a lot of mistakes! I think the only thing I would really call a “mistake,” and I don’t really know if that’s what it is, but I should have probably invested more time in my own music instead of doing production for other people. I kind of look back in my catalog now (if you want to call it that) at the stuff that I’ve done, and I’m proud of it, but I just feel like – especially now – since this project is coming out and people are responding to it, that there’s a lot more of my music that people are going to learn about, as opposed to what people have heard through other people – like working with Mac Lethal and stuff like that – you know what I mean? Because working with all of these other people that I’ve worked with, you get a specific kind of sound for that particular project rather than hearing my own unique music. So, I’d say that I wish I had of put out some more, maybe solo stuff along the way. I mean, I have my own stuff; in fact, I put out a solo album back in 2000, which I hope no one ever hears! But that was my dark time in life.

RS: How old were you when you first got into music?

Sadistik: I started rapping about 10 years ago when I was 14, and I was really, really bad for a long time. But, “The Balancing Act” was my first release professionally, and I was 22; so I’ve been involved in music on a level where I could maybe make an impact for about 2 years now. I went through many different phases trying to find my own style, and there’s probably about 200 different songs that nobody will ever hear from all of that.

KCC: Oh wow! Well, I’ve kind of always been in music. My dad was a huge vinyl collector and was really into old jazz and old funk and stuff like that and we had the world’s worst turntable and I would always try to scratch with it – I don’t know why, I just thought that was ‘the thing you did’ – and I would destroy it [laughing]. But I was always around music and so I was always trying to find a way to create it.

RS: How long did “The Balancing Act” take to write and produce?

Sadistik: It took me almost 3 years. I named it as kind of tongue-and-cheek because I had these different styles and I was trying to balance them out and it kept feeling almost like it was restraining and wasn’t really representing me, and so I called it “The Balancing Act” because it’s a really, really imbalanced album. It’s all one color, pretty much. It’s very ‘love it or hate it.’

RS: So, Sadistik, there’s a lot of people that like to try and compare you to other artists like Slug from Atmosphere, Sage Francis, and even Marshall Mathers – how does that make you feel?

Sadistik: I get a lot of comparisons to Slug – a lot, and there’s definitely worse people to get compared to – he’s kind of the king of indie-rap; so I don’t take offense to that or anything but I feel like it’s a lazy comparison. It’s pretty easy. Eminem is the laziest comparison humanly possible. I just feel like Atmosphere is, “Oh, you’re white and you sometimes talk about girls, so yep, there it is – Atmosphere!” But Sage, I get that sometimes too and I definitely take that as a compliment – I’m a big fan of his. I really respect his writing style. But, I think people who really listen closely to Atmosphere and my own stuff will clearly see there are definite differences. I get that a lot at shows, people will come up to me and go, “Hey, have you heard of that guy Atmosphere?” and I’ll go, “Yeah, I’ve heard of him.” [laughing]

RS: Where did the title of “The Art of Dying” come from?

Sadistik: Actually, my girlfriend actually brought that up. We kept trying to think of titles and one day she texted me “The Art of Dying” in Latin, and I don’t remember how to pronounce it, but it was a Latin book about how to die a good death. I called KCC about it and proposed a Latin version of the title but he didn’t like it (and neither do I now), but when I explained the reasoning behind it then it just really fit perfectly with the content of the album. It’s a dark album, but it’s a pretty and artistic [darkness]. Yeah, we’re talking about pretty lurid subject matters, but it’s in a pretty way. It’s like taking medicine with sugar around it, you know?

RS: How do you think the public is going to receive this album?

KCC: Well, I can honestly say that at first we really weren’t sure how anyone was going to receive it because this stuff is very different than anything we’ve done before and what most people who know us have heard from us before, but after leaking the track “Bed of Flowers” (the second song on the album) the response has been pretty warm. I mean, it’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be. That song in particular because the song itself is like 7:15 long and I had no idea how people would respond to that as like a “leak,” but if anything I thought it showed the artistry of the album. That song really represents us as a duo. So, the response has really been great so far.

Sadistik: Yeah, and I can honestly say that we made this with absolutely no concern with what anyone would think about it. [laughing] Our concern when we were making this was not about what those who have supported us so far would think about it. Honestly, I thought, and you’ll hear it when it’s out, but I thought it would be much harder to swallow…that people would be more torn on it than people seem to be after leaking these songs. A lot of people who follow my stuff usually like songs like, “November” and “Ashes to Ashley” and like the prettier sentimental stuff, and I felt like if I wanted to please people or to sell a couple more albums I would just make a CD of that, but I didn’t feel like that at all, and so we made something way different than a lot of people expected. But so far, and much to both of our surprise, the response has been really good.

KCC: Definitely, definitely, for sure!

Sadistik: I mean, it’s called “The Art of Dying” – it’s not the most happy [sounding] thing in the world [laughing] and people seem to like it so…

KCC: [laughing] “I can’t wait to get my hands on that album!” And people are really saying that! People are really saying that they can’t wait to get their hands on the album and so I can’t wait for them to! If they like that song (“Bed of Flowers”) then I think they will ‘get it’. I mean, it moves; it has a certain feel; it’s a journey for sure, so if people like that song then they’re going to be willing to take the journey with us. As strange as that might be to say, it’s true. I was not expecting the response we got at all and the other stuff on the album is a lot less dark, would you say [Sadistik]?

Sadistik: Yeah, definitely.

KCC: They make you wait, I mean, they might be lengthy but there’s some stuff on there that’s kind of accessible, I guess you could say it could be popular…I don’t know.

RS: Are you guys excited about your upcoming tour?

Sadistik: Definitely! Very excited!

KCC: Very, very excited for sure!

RS: Do you like performing live or do you prefer to work in the studio?

Sadistik: I love performing live. I feel extremely comfortable with it and, honestly, performing live is the most exciting part of making music for me, besides listening to it. The actual ‘making’ process is, I mean it’s fun and rewarding, but I tend to stress myself out about it and then performing live…I have a lot of fun with it. I like getting better at it.

KCC: I find that like, well especially with something like this album, performing it is going to make it make more sense to people. It’s going to translate well on the stage. Performing in itself for me is like a whole other side of you that people get to rarely use or show, you know what I mean? So to have the chance to perform and I haven’t had the chance to tour or perform in a while, so I’m really excited about it. When I get on stage it’s like therapy man, it’s a release.

Sadistik: And we’ve got some surprises on this tour too. It’s definitely going to be worth the ticket price.

RS: Ok, so I have to ask this question: What does your name mean or where did it come from?

Sadistik: Mine? Well, there’s actually a really interesting story behind my name…I was 14 and I thought it sounded cool. And I don’t like it. I was just a kid, and honestly, I don’t think my name fits me; but I don’t lose any sleep worrying about it, it’s too late. You should answer that KCC, your name is cool…

KCC: My name, well, I actually took it from one of my favorite martial arts film and it was kind of just a joke. The name of the film is called, “A Man Called Hero” and the whole Kid Called Computer name, I mean, I was just one of those guys that was very adamant about never, ever, ever making music on a computer and then I realized how much easier it was and how much more freedom you had doing it, and yeah…I just said it as a joke to someone. I think I said it to like Mac Lethal or someone and it ended up being the title to the album that I made and the name just kind of stuck. I like it, though! I think it’s pretty cool. [laughing]

RS: Last question: What upcoming albums are you anticipating the most?

KCC: The new Blonde Redhead…

Sadistik: I would say Radiohead and Lupe Fiasco. The Kid Cudi album might be good too.

KCC: Yeah, I think that one might be a lot bigger than I expect it to be…I don’t know…

RS: Any last words?

KCC: My whole thing is to anyone who reads this out there – thank you for all of the support! And if you make music, do it for you and challenge yourself. Don’t do what everyone else is doing because we don’t need anymore of that stuff…seriously.

Sadistik: Yeah, Myspace took care of all of that [laughing]

KCC: Right, right! Make an album, not a mixtape!

“The Art of Dying” is available on August 22, 2010.