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Kid Koala Kid Koala is an artist synonymous with the Ninja Tune label, but six years after his initial signing, we've only just had the chance to hear his second full length album, the presumably factually titled "Some of My Best Friends are DJs". Luckily, it was well worth the wait, not least because we got the chance to interview the Montreal-born scratchaholic about his newest project, and how he's reinterpreting it for his tour. Otherwise known as Eric San, Kid Koala has joined Money Mark's band, toured with Radiohead, released a 340-page book about a robot that tries to get work writing love songs. And drunk more than his fair share of sugary drinks.
PIXELSURGEON: Hi Eric. Many thanks for taking time out to talk to us here at Pixelsurgeon. We've been enjoying your new album immensely.
KID KOALA: I am happy to hear that... :)
The dictionary definition for cute might as well be: a kid koala. Those two words together conjure up warm and furry thoughts like no others can. But while 'Some of My Best Friends are DJs' is less dense than your debut, there's still a fair bit of prickliness in that old Eucalyptus forest. Why the marsupial-inspired moniker, and why the continued pursuit of some of the most fascinatingly schizophrenic sounds ever put to record?
I used to consume this sugar drink called Koala Springs as a child... It was about the same time that I started deejaying when I was in school. There would be empty bottles of the stuff everywhere in my record room. My friends started calling me Koala kid as a joke.
As for the sonic schizophrenia... um I blame it on watching too much Muppet show Flying Circus as a child.
You were hanging out in Montreal when Ninja Tune (namely Coldcut, DJ Food and Funky Porcini) discovered you back in 1996. How much of a role did your mixtape, Scratchcratchratchatch, play in scratch-starting that fruitful relationship? For starters, that beat you lay over the Monty Python and the Holy Grail trumpet fanfare is enough to get any self-respecting cultural enthusiast bustin' a move or two...
They accidentally heard an early mixdown of that tape in the van on the way back from the airport. Strictly Kev asked for a copy of it before they left so I made them one. I didn't hear from them for almost a year after that... so I began to think... "Oh well," y'know? But then one morning I got a call from Peter at the Ninja HQ in London and he asked me if I wanted to make some recordings for them. I remember much rejoicing and jumping around the apartment after that phone call.
Well in fact, that mixtape had your debut Ninja release on it; 'Emperor's Main Course' didn't it? It remains one of our favourite tracks on the Xen Cuts album, which celebrates ten years of Ninja Tune, but it must feel like you've come a long way since then. How do you feel your style has evolved since those days?
Um... some of it has become more developed... some of it has regressed. :)
How do your two albums differ in style and execution from your other release- Nufonia Must Fall, which is a 340- page book with your trademark greyscale illustrations, accompanied by 'a soundtrack for piano and turntable'?
Nufonia Must Fall was a book project I did with my friend Louisa Schabas. The cd soundtrack for it is supposed to sort of be the musical score for some of the scenes. So those pieces kind of correlate to certain pages in the book... Louisa and I were watching a lot of black and white films while we were working on that book. A lot of the Charlie Chaplin films we watched had piano music going in the background... so when it was time to make the companion cd for the book I tried to layer some piano into the mix.
Talking of your trademark illustrations, both Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Some Of My Best Friends feature supplementary comics in the Kid Koala style. In fact, it's quite difficult to think of your music without thinking of your sketches and your handwriting. Were you a comic artist in your last life, or will you be one in the next perhaps? In your head, does your music take place in a world populated by these angular monochrome characters?
Sometimes things make a bit more sense in that demented little world...
While we're on the extra-curricular tip, that video for the latest single 'Basin Street Blues' is such a perfect illustration of the atmosphere your music creates, that it borders on the scary. Did you collaborate much with Monkmus (Eric's cousin) on the video, and/or how did the project take shape?
We're both fans of jazz music... and I decided to do a hand cut turntable version of the song after I had visited New Orleans for the first time 3 years ago. I spoke to Monkmus about it and he thought it would be cool to do an animated video for it. The next time I was in New Orleans I took a bunch of reference photos of from the French Quarter for him... and I also sent him a rough version of the track... He sent it back with some animatics and I set out to find some extra audio bits to fit in with some of the visuals.
On the new album, there's a sample of what sounds like a grizzled detective from a 1950s film noir, who narrates as follows: "From the start it had a kind of epileptic charm, it fitted the times, it made jokes and it wept, it laughed out loud, it dozed, and sometimes spoke of regret." In a strange way that's a pretty apt description of the new album, and your music as a whole. Talking of fitting the times, and epileptic charm, what, exactly, is Short Attention Span Audio Theatre?
Short Attention Span Audio Theater... it's our attempt to finally bring these albums into context in a live situation. We've been djing clubs for years now... but in actuality the recordings I make for ninja aren't really aimed toward the dance floor. So we've designed a cabaret-style turntable show for the people to come and experience if they want to. First of all the venues are seated with tables and chairs... so they won't have to feel awkward about being on the dance floor when we play the more melancholy pieces. It's supposed to be the entertainment for the perfect first date. There are 8 turntables set up in 5 stations on the stage... one for each layer of each track we do. And there's also a piano, which we bring in to do the piano/turntable pieces from the "Nufonia Must Fall" soundtrack. Plus there's a slide projector, which we will use to present some of the characters from the various comic books, and to play BINGO during the intermission. Oh! And there are also some animated shorts in between some of the songs (a la Gilliam) that were done by my friend Monkmus. It'll be fun... we promise. Plus this tour will only happen once since we don't usually get budgets to put together evenings like this... so I do hope some people will come check it out.
Well hopefully you've managed to convince a few Pixelsurgeon readers at least! Talking of live performances, you've been on tour with The Beastie Boys, and you've even supported Radiohead. How did those two experiences differ, and whom would you most like to tour with in the future, either living or dead? So, the future or the past then, depending on your choice...
I really enjoyed touring with Radiohead... their audience is very open-eared. And all of the crew is very friendly... I did the Beastie Boys tour with Money Mark. He's a bit of a music mentor to me.
It would be cool to see how Bjork or Tom Waits put a show together!
Well, they're both still alive, so who knows? Thanks Eric and best of luck with the tour, the album, and the whole Koala thang.
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