As a real, genuine kid, long before he became Kid Koala, Eric San wanted an E-mu SP-1200 sampler– the Ark of the Covenant of hip hop production, used by his idols and heroes and imbued with legendary, almost supernatural, audio powers by rap aficionados worldwide. Unfortunately, he worked out he would have to deliver around eight million newspapers to buy one. Now, having hit his thirties, Eric finally has the machine he always craved. Of course, music production has largely moved on, so Eric began working out what he could do with it – a kind of reverse engineering back to his childhood self. Now he is under the label Ninja Tune, is touring with the band Bullfrog and member of Deltron 3030, Gorillaz and Lovage.
Kid Koala is known for his extraordinary sound and his big collection of samples, which goes from sneezing sounds, jazz from the 30s, Monty Python-songs to cuts from comedy-shows. He released three albums already: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Some of my Best Friends are DJs and Your Mom’s Favourite DJ. The fourth just came out, 12 Bit Blues. A little mucking around and it came to him – the blues was always about stripping music back to its bare essentials, which is exactly what the SP1200 does, too. Over three days he cut up and reassembled the bed tracks for “12 Bit Blues.” No sequencing software was used. Using the pads on the machine and a multitrack, Eric played each part of the tracks in real time, before finally returning and adding cuts over the top.
The result is a really raw, immediate and strangely beautiful album, much like the music it draws on for its inspiration. In attempting to outplay and out-think the technology he is working with he revives the unworldly oddness of blues music before it became a staple of beer adverts and the jam-fantasies of middle aged marketing executives. This is the music, ripped and scratched and distressed until all those souls sold down the crossroads rise up and send shivers down your spine. It’s that real and, yes, that made up.
Kid Koala is going on his “Kid Koala’s 12-Bit Blues Vinyl Vaudeville show “– tour and on the 3rd of March 2013 he will stop in the Lucerna Music Bar in Prague. Tickets are available for 300,- Kc (+fee) at Ticketpro, Ticketstream, Ticketportal and Eventim or at the cash desk of the LMB.
More info @
www.facebook.com/lucernamusicbar
www.facebook.com/dsmackupromotion
