Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North
American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that
followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North
America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But
it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led
him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In
1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the
road to open for the Beastie Boys on their "Hello Nasty" world tour.
In
2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album “Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome” which received international praise by the press for having
defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page
comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the
album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a
member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own,
opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While
on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a
350-page book called “Nufonia Must Fall” which was accompanied by a
soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of
this book came the release of his second album, “Some of My Best
Friends are DJs” complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess
game. This album was support …
Back in 1996, Kid Koala became the first North
American artist signed to UK label Ninja Tune. In the years that
followed Kid Koala released a string of remixes and toured North
America with fellow Ninja artists: Coldcut, DJ Food and DJ Vadim. But
it was not long before his skill, innovation, and performance style led
him to attract attention from those outside the club community. In
1998, he was invited to join Money Mark’s band, and then went on the
road to open for the Beastie Boys on their "Hello Nasty" world tour.
In
2000, Ninja Tune released Kid Koala’s debut album “Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome” which received international praise by the press for having
defied expectation. The album featured a video game and a 32-page
comic illustrated by Kid Koala himself. Following the release of the
album Kid Koala toured extensively in North America and Europe as a
member of groups such as Deltron 3030, Lovage, Bullfrog and on his own,
opening for some of his favorite artists, Radiohead and Bjork.
While
on the road, Kid Koala kept busy with pen to paper, illustrating a
350-page book called “Nufonia Must Fall” which was accompanied by a
soundtrack that he composed on the piano. Shortly after the release of
this book came the release of his second album, “Some of My Best
Friends are DJs” complete with a 50-page comic book and mini chess
game. This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour known as “The
Short Attention Span Theatre”, which featured 3 DJs on 8 turntables, a
slide show and a bingo game among other quirky surprises. Following
this tour Kid Koala performed DJ sets in Australia, Asia, Europe,
Russia, North America and South America, all the while working on a new
book and a very eccentric puppet show scheduled to take place in 2006.
Kid Koala is now on the road
supporting his newest album on Ninja Tune, “Your Mom’s Favorite DJ”.
On this record he shows that his chosen means of expression (the
turntable) is used not as a way of showing that he can do faster crabs
than anyone else, but as a way of telling stories. Although there is
the romance, silent movie comedy and swing that your mother may well
smile at and even shake her booty to, the enthralling deftness and
complexity you’d expect from Kid Koala is also here - woven together
with classic hip hop beats, breaks and generous swathes of heavy
guitars.
