eMusic Review 0
Most electronic producers who work with samples, even the ones with "DJ" in their name, lay out their compositions in software, a practice far closer to collage than performance. But the turntable virtuoso Kid Koala records his music the way he performs it: in real time, his complicated routines finessed from hours of practice and prep-work. His second album, 2003's Some of My Best Friends Are DJs shows the distance he's come from 2000's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; there's less emphasis on convoluted passages of breaks and scratches, and more emphasis on breaking down instrumental solos into wobbly components that are refashioned into virtual combos. Loopy muted horns approximate a New Orleans funeral on "Basin Street Blues"; "Skanky Panky" layers hiccupping sax riffs into a spot-on pastiche of vintage Jamaican bluebeat. What transcends the gimmickry is the sheer musicality with which his songs unfold. There's no shortage of good humor, either, as on "Elevator Hopper," which assembles scraps of dialogue into a workday romantic escapade, complete with a nasally elevator operator and the requisite lite-jazz background music.
