Customer Reviews

Some Of My Best Friends Are DJs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'Some of my best friends are djs' is too weird for normal listeners.
If you are one, better skip it.
If you are a turntable/mix maniac, you'll just have to have it.
For milder fans like me it's some crazy stuff
that I like and appreciate, but can't fall in love with.

Kid koala is definitely a genius - extraordinary
turntablist, dj, programmer, musician. Being such,
he delivers a truckload of beaty scratchy funny
witty entertainment...

..And a lot of headache too. ;)
You'll listen to the album with a lot of attention
and interest, but you'll never choose it for
a whole-day-long company.

The kid is smart, he's funny, and he is playful,
creative and naughty ... sometimes irritating ... like
all kids, eh? Nay.

Jazz, swing, rhythm and blues, vintage-like voice samples
and load of funky feeling. It's all there and out there.
Crazy mixing, crazy fades and pitch downs.
Black belt mastery. After all it's Ninja Tune.

Favourite track: More Dance Music.

Remember: Don't Do This At Home!
Just buy the disc.:)

Unlike Carpal Tunnel, this album is much more orderly. Which isn't much of a compliment, because Carpal Tunnel was an awesome experimental album. Kid Koala could've gone in that direction, but he chose not to, and I can respect that. These tracks have a beginning and an end, where Carpal Tunnel was an experience and should be treated as 1 track, this new album definitely can be broken up. Comparably, the sounds and beats are somewhat orderly as well. Unlike continuously turning the knob of your radio, passing through different sounds every 10 seconds, these new tracks stick with a seperate theme for each track. So? Kid Koala has matured and so has his sound. He's still a turntable/electro god in my book.

-TarTar

Eric San is one creative guy. He makes music, writes comic books and can even make a chess board. He doesn't necessarily do these things seperately either. Some of my best friends are djs comes with the lot. The comic makes for a good read and the chess board ... well I just can't bring myself to cut up the cd packaging. These are side issues really though, what I'm interested in is the music.

I'm not that familiar with 'carpel tunnel syndrome', a previous album, but i would say this album is a little more cohesive. There's a sense of beginning and end and a little more structure. 'Basin street blues' kicks of the album and it's a piece of genius. It's got a slow looping drum with a trumpet (sic) sample strectched out over the top. The beat rolls in about 1 minute into the tune. It's brilliant, especially the bit about epileptic chram. The jazz theme rolls on through to 'elevator hopper' and 'annies parlour'.

I've never met him but i'd say Kid Koala must be a pretty fun guy. Some of my best friends is full of jokes, crazy statements and animal noises. It's also a pretty laid back affair, there are no guest MC's and no huge banging club hits. Is subtle turntabelism, not some over the top scratching for scrathing's sake hip hop. This is a very enjoyable album.

Those who became acquainted with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome will buy this album and be pleased, but not surprised. This one comes through with more beats and more layered work, especially the innovative MASTERPIECE of Basin Street Blues. Anyone who complains about this cd just because it's weird and silly should really listen to that song and realize that behind all the jokery, Kid Koala is a serious artists who is pushing the bounds of turnablism and truly using the machine as an instrument, as fluidly as a voice. There are lots of funny vocal samples like the first cd, and although the format is simillar, this one is more fun and accessible than the other one. Hats off to him for making songs like Basin Street Blues and More Dance Music that build and climax like real songs by using music instead of just loud drums...this kid is going places. No one else is doing this stuff.

The work of Kid Koala is so impressive and creative that I can't give less than 5 stars...this album is a masterpiece because it does not look like any other album...it's a mix between jazz, blues, scratch with hip hop beats...
The real plus for kid koala is the spirit of the album, exclusively positive...
True fans of hip hop don't miss it

Kid Koala is the definitive mastermind turntable wizard, weaving tunes seemingly effortlessly...this cd. just kicks like a mule of sound to the jaw. have fun and enjoi the ride.

If your looking for something different then this is a must have CD. Its a combination of well, all sorts - a sort of raw mixed funky jazz flavour - I think!

By far my favorite track on the CD is Skanky Panky, with a sort of really heavy Ska-style bass rythm and twisted trumpet effects its deffinately a must-listen. Unfortunately not all the tracks do it for me, infact only a couple do, and its a bit short at just 35:07.

However, as far as 'something different' goes, this is a must have album and it has a certain honesty that many superstar DJ albums don't have, a sort of charming neivety, almost as if you are in the room having a laugh with the DJ himself. Try it, it can't hurt!

Ah, what a tangled web we weave as the amazingly talented Kid Koala lets loose a beautifully frustrating concept Jazz-turntablist album. Clocking in at just 35 minutes, including the four bonus tracks, the question is, was it worth the wait? Yes and no. The amount of precision skill involved in his first album, 2000's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, is built upon to a point of superhuman proportions. Each play has its own reward as the many rich textures and impenetrably deep production cascade between your headphones. Jazz to the core, he plays each sound as if it's its own instrument recalling legendary old tunes while creating new ones. Even with the bonus tracks the album, as a whole, is a tight listen ... but 35 minutes? That's not even long enough for a good shag, at least not where I came from, and isn't that in some way the point of those funky beats? And, despite his fantastic display of scratch perversion, most songs lack that extra punch DJ Shadow possesses and the fun and adventure that made Carpel Tunnel so good. Most of the album can slide by unnoticed for the hyperactive child in each of us and for an album this length that is unacceptable.

So while Kid firmly cements his position as one of the greatest humans to ever destroy vinyl with this disk, he has also proved that he can get a chimp like me to pay him £20 an hour for him to do it. It's pretty hard to say if you get you money's worth.

Since the Ninja Tunes Record label is known for putting out incredible artists such as Amon Tobin, Mr. Scruff and Bonobo, I thought I'd try Kid Koala. He is indeed a turntablist, maybe too much of one, which to me makes "Some of My Best Friends are DJs" sound too choppy and incomplete. Unlike others of his ilk who actually compose full-length songs through scratching, sampling and mixing, I found Kid Koala to be a tease and slightly unimpressive. IMO there's no consistency in his songs and just when you think you're gonna get a jamfest from KK he throws in some dumb samples from God knows where that destroys the entire song...buy only if you're totally into the whole turntablism thing.

Kid Koala took the critics by storm with his exploration of using the turntable as an instrument like no other on his proper debut "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome". Since then, he's toured with the likes of Ben Harper, the Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Bullfrog (as well as headlining his own shows). In addition, he's also worked with Dan the Automator and Deltron 3030 (aka Del Tha Funkee Homosapien) and Gorillaz. Not to mention he also released a 300-page comic book. For the most part, Koala dives into the leanings of his debut. In some ways, "Some of My Best Friends Are DJs" is better than his debut. He's found ways to expand his style and experiment in ways that even the converted will be shocked by. The soaring scratch melody of "Basin Street Blues", the exuberance of "Stompin' at le Savoi" and the enthralling "Skanky Panky" are arguably better than anything off of "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome". With that said, there is a bit less rhythm and unity here. A slight complaint would be that the music stops too much, and doesn't flow quite as well. But like his debut, repeat listening overshadows these weak moments with all of it's positive aspects. Overall, if you were a fan of the first record, this should definitely please you.