Search - Kid Koala :: Some of My Best Friends Are DJs

The turntable as an instrument

R. Solomon | New Zealand | 11/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Eric San is one creative guy. He makes music, writes comic books and can even make a chess board. He doesn't necessarily do these things seperately either. Some of my best friends are djs comes with the lot. The comic makes for a good read and the chess board ... well I just can't bring myself to cut up the cd packaging. These are side issues really though, what I'm interested in is the music.



I'm not that familiar with 'carpel tunnel syndrome', a previous album, but i would say this album is a little more cohesive. There's a sense of beginning and end and a little more structure. 'Basin street blues' kicks of the album and it's a piece of genius. It's got a slow looping drum with a trumpet (sic) sample strectched out over the top. The beat rolls in about 1 minute into the tune. It's brilliant, especially the bit about epileptic chram. The jazz theme rolls on through to 'elevator hopper' and 'annies parlour'.



I've never met him but i'd say Kid Koala must be a pretty fun guy. Some of my best friends is full of jokes, crazy statements and animal noises. It's also a pretty laid back affair, there are no guest MC's and no huge banging club hits. Is subtle turntabelism, not some over the top scratching for scrathing's sake hip hop. This is a very enjoyable album."

Do You Get Your Money's Worth?

Filmore Mescalito Holmes | tinymixtapes.com | 03/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, what a tangled web we weave as the amazingly talented Kid Koala lets loose a beautifully frustrating concept Jazz-turntablist album. Clocking in at just 35 minutes, including the four bonus tracks, the question is, was it worth the wait? Yes and no. The amount of precision skill involved in his first album, 2000's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, is built upon to a point of superhuman proportions. Each play has its own reward as the many rich textures and impenetrably deep production cascade between your headphones. Jazz to the core, he plays each sound as if it's its own instrument recalling legendary old tunes while creating new ones. Even with the bonus tracks the album, as a whole, is a tight listen ... but 35 minutes? That's not even long enough for a good shag, at least not where I came from, and isn't that in some way the point of those funky beats? And, despite his fantastic display of scratch perversion, most songs lack that extra punch DJ Shadow possesses and the fun and adventure that made Carpel Tunnel so good. Most of the album can slide by unnoticed for the hyperactive child in each of us and for an album this length that is unacceptable.So while Kid firmly cements his position as one of the greatest humans to ever destroy vinyl with this disk, he has also proved that he can get a chimp like me to pay him £20 an hour for him to do it. It's pretty hard to say if you get you money's worth."