The story of how Eric San – otherwise known as Kid Koala – was discovered is the stuff of electronic music legend itself. Residing in Montreal during 1995 where he was studying at the time, San had been experimenting with scratching since the early 1990’s. When a Ninjatune tour hit town, San somehow blagged his way on to the tour bus on the way back to the airport and put his Scratchcratchratchatch demo tape in the cassette player. It caught the attention of DJ Food and San was signed shortly afterwards.
Constructed from a vast array of records from his library of breaks, informational recordings, jazz, soul, spoken word and piano and recitals, San has a very original sound that twists and turns throughout each track. Of the tracks here, “Stompin’ at Le Savoy” and “Annie’s Parlour” are probably the nearest to what you might expect from an artist such as San by being a combination of kicking beats, scratches and carefully chosen samples. Elsewhere on the album, San traverses jazzy ska on “Skanky Panky”, funky disco on “Robochacha”, piano elevator music with “Elevator Hopper” and Hawaiian guitar on “Vacation Island”. He also displays a sense of humor, particularly on “Flu Season”, a track, which announces itself as a conversation between two DJs on the street and consists of a series of breaks, scratches and coughs. Similarly, the jaunty “More Dance Music” pokes self-depreciating humour at San himself by opening with an informational recording on koala bears. The first single from the album, “Basin Street Blues”, is an infectious electro jazz number with a New Orleans feel that takes on a whole new meaning when viewed alongside the video (produced by San’s cousin Monkmus). Aside from the music however, the album’s theme is as a musical soundtrack to the accompanying comic book drawn by San and depicting a love story between an unemployed robot and a workaholic girl.
What sets San apart from other electronic musicians is that he constantly keeps the listener guessing, twisting and turning all over the place whilst maintaining a set of core components that give each track its identity. Some people may not find San’s ever changing patchwork of samples to their liking, but his style is refreshing and will continue to grow on you if you give it a chance. Deserving of further investigation and you get a comic book of San’s own work with the album. Look out for Kid Koala’s upcoming tour of North America, Japan and Europe in support of Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, where San promises a mix of music, animation and humor.
Some of My Best Friends Are DJs is OUT NOW on Ninjatune.
