★★★★★
In an era when many young DJs have never even touched vinyl, where does an old-fashioned turntablist like Kid Koala fit? Choosing to make an album based on the manual triggering of a vintage sampler and traditional record-scratching in 2012 feels as self-consciously retro as putting out a banjo album of old hillbilly songs on a wax cylinder or raising chickens in your backyard. Actually, when you put it that way, maybe 12 Bit Blues is perfect for this moment after all...
- nowtoronto.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Guitar bands are always trying to reinvent the blues - so why shouldn't the turntablists have a crack? That's the thinking behind Eric San's new project, with 12 takes on the genre, produced with only the E-mu SP-1200 sampler: a relative dinosaur from the golden age of hip-hop. In doing so, San's made an often beautiful record that's better at its quieter, slower moments...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
"The blues is not like a plaything, like some people think they are," croaks Delta blues legend across the opening track of 's fifth album. Lord knows what he would've made of 12 Bit Blues - a blues record unlike pretty much any other. Though it's likely he saw it coming somehow: "Youngsters today will take anything and make the blues out of it," he says on 1 Bit Blues. That Vancouver-born Koala is behind such a singular project is no surprise...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
Goto commentsLeave a commentShare That Kid's Got The Blues Canadian turntablist Kid Koala's latest release, 12 Bit Blues, takes his skills down to the muddy banks of the Mississippi, giving us his interpretation of the blues. Known for his unique and sometimes obscure sample selections, Kid Koala stays pretty close to the genre on this one. At moments, 12 Bit Blues sounds reminiscent of Moby's Play, but only in theme. Kid Koala's signature turntable techniques are unmistakable here...
- www.mxdwn.com
2012-09-20
★★★★★
Owning an E-mu SP-1200 sampler/drum machine was Canadian turntablist Kid Koala's teenage dream. Released in 1987, just a year before Koala (a.k.a. Eric San) started DJing, the SP-1200 pretty much defined the sound of hip-hop's golden age. Everyone from Public Enemy to Gang Starr to the Beastie Boys expertly deployed beats crafted on the machine, making the SP-1200 San's ideal sonic weapon...
- www.xlr8r.com
2012-09-17
★★★★★
Kid Koala is a multi-faceted artist who is all over the place. He's a DJ, he records music, he writes graphic novels, he bakes pies......OK, I'm not sure about the pies, but the rest is true. The album that was up next in my stack to review was the Space Cadet Soundtrack, but it's not the soundtrack to a movie. It's the soundtrack to his second graphic novel "Space Cadet"...
- hangout.altsounds.com
2011-10-17
★★★★★
Goto commentsLeave a commentShare Spacing Out Canadian born Kid Koala brings us Space Cadet by way of the good folks at Ninja Tune Records. The 37 year-old entertainer tells stories by way of his turntables in addition to graphic novels. His new album is an attempt at scoring his latest comic with the same title. Beginning with a lot of melancholy piano work, Space Cadet sets the scene for a sorrow filled story from two different perspectives...
- www.mxdwn.com
2011-09-26
★★★★★
With the long-awaited follow-up to his Ninja Tune debut, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, the Kid again takes the listener through a roller-coaster ride of humorous samples, constant scratching, jaunty jazz breakbeats and unpredictable eccentricity. Though some may say Some of My.....
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-09
★★★★★
There are some artists you would love to get inside the mind of. Why do they do the things they do? What motivates them to put two completely different sounds together? Kid Koala is one of those artists. Not only does he prove that he is a highly skilled turntablist, Eric San's third album goes one step further in establishing him as a truly original figure in the industry...
- www.gigwise.com
2010-11-09
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