In the past it has included Kidwell's musical associates, friends, touring partners, or high school bandmates.

[1] The first Cex album, Cells, was a compilation of tracks Kidwell had been working on for several years, and was released in 1998 by his own CD-R label, _underscore, while he was still at Dulaney High School in Timonium, Maryland.

The following year, Kidwell met Miguel Depedro (Kid 606) and the two founded Tigerbeat6, a record label which would be among the vanguards of the electronica movement at the time.

[2] He continued to open for noted bands such as Super Furry Animals and The Roots, as well as musical friends Grand Buffet.

2003 was a pivotal year for Kidwell - after spending his entire life living in or around Baltimore, he packed up and drove out to Oakland, California.

Also notably, the album was not released by Tigerbeat6, and it seemed to have largely abandoned both the IDM and jokey old-school hip-hop of Tall, Dark, and Handcuffed for rawer sounds and themes.

Maryland Mansions pushed those motifs further and was modelled somewhat on the Nine Inch Nails EP Broken, and was released just around the time that Kidwell returned to Baltimore.

The LP cover was in response to AFI's newly formed electronic project, Blaqk Audio, whose album was named the same as Kidwell's first record, CexCells.