Kid Koala
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Kid Koala is one of the most unique and most interesting turntablist up to date. Instead of basing his music on hip hop sound he bases it on jazz or instrumental records, sound effects and little scraps of dialogue. Most of his dialogue strange, random and hilarious with lines like “Good morning/ house plants/yes its wakey time”. The jazz or instrumental recordings he uses are either fast and exciting or slow and calm, setting a different mood for each song. Kid Koala’s also has some unique scratching, his scratching can sometimes resemble much different sounds than other turntablist make and make them resemble sounds you heard before. Kid Koala may not have as much skill as his pears like “Cut Chemists” and “The X-ecutioners” have but he does have more creativity. Many turntablist focus more on their scratching than how it actually sounds. Watching someone scratch with all their skill may be cool to watch but not that fun to listen to, it is like some one playing a really skilled guitar solo that just doesn’t sound that pleasant. This is what makes Kid Koala so much more different than other turntablist, he’s songs are well structured and they are pleasant to hear. The “Invisbl Skratch Piklz” aren’t going to put you in a different mood but Kid Koala’s “Naptime” kind of makes me feel like going to sleep. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is the perfect Turntablism album to start out with.
Strut Hear: Strut Hear is based around a funky guitar riff. Other than the riff there is a introduction of Kid Koala’s unique scratching and his extremely strange sound effects and dialogue. 3.5/5
Nerdball: The dialogue in this song is based on nerds mostly. This is one of the only songs on this album that is not that pleasant to listen to, its not that he is madly scratching the entire time but a lot of the sounds may be quite overwhelming. This song does show a lot of Kid Koala’s skill but isn’t that pleasant to listen to. 3/10
Fender Bender: Starting out with one of those weird voice scraps. Following the voice snippet is a guitar riff that is the signature part of the song. Other than the extremely catchy riff the song uses all these cool sound effects, my favorites being the car horn and the trumpet. This song is extremely catchy, danceable and puts you in a nice giddy mood. It is really nicely written. 5/5
Drunk Trumpet: This song is very jazzy. All the recordings for the music he uses are jazz records. The trumpet being used he is being used he adds his own personal touch on make it sound more like a drunk trumpet. The beauty of the song is no matter how weird the trumpet may sound it is being added at the correct parts of the song making a good melody. 4/5
Roboshuffle: This song you know is a little more exiting as soon as the rhythm. When the scratching comes in it sounds really nice and goes along with rhythm flawlessly. Most of the sound effects in this song resemble the sounds of robots. Other than this song being well written and catchy it is very unique. 5/5
Barhopper 1: This song has a really nice jazzy recording playing behind the voice recordings. Throughout this song Kid Koala is scratching or playing dialogue. The scratching is really great and I don’t think he could not of picked better dialogue sample. What makes this song so great is that its just non stop new samples and it is so greatly written I can listen to it for hours. 5/5
Music For Morning People: This song sound like your rushing through the city to work. Most of the dialogue samples are about morning. There is more real nice scratching and great writing in this song. A lot is going on in this song it is pretty hard to talk about. 4/5
Naptime: What seems to sound like a lullaby is being played with a drum beat. Throughout the song you hear someone snoring and a really cool horn comes and goes and there are more strange dialogue samples. a really nice and quick song. 3.5/5
A Night at the Nufonia: The song starts out with some cool scratching and funny dialogue sample. After that a cappela of people making what sounds like a bass beat and a normal drumbeat also appears. Throughout most of the song this rhythm is playing. At one point Kid Koala starts scratching amazingly out of nowhere and its unbelievable how perfect it sounds with the song. This song is really catchy and well written, defiantly worth your time. 5/5
Temple of Gloom: The conversation in the beginning of the song cracks me up each time. The opening beat to the song is slow and strange. After it sound like Egytian type of rhythm that would be used in the soundtrack of a Indiana Jones movie. 3.5/10
Scurvy: The beat in this song is very slow but still nice. At appoint he starts scratching and it sound like your rewinding a tape recorder. This song is a little like “Barhopper 1” stretched out, but instead of all these new dialogue samples its more focused on different sounds. The conversation at the end of this song also cracks me up. 4.5/5
Like Irregular Chickens: This song is definitely the strangest, no question. I don’t even know what the sound is at the beginning. There isn’t much a beat to the song. Explaining this song is impossible! It is just extremely unique,
strange and weird, my favorite combination. 5/5
Barhopper 2: I think this song was really unnecessary. This song has the same rhythm as Bar Hopper 1 but the song itself isn’t as well written. What I do like about this song is that the dialogue samples are really funny. 2/5
Roll Credits: This song sounds exactly what the credits would sound like to a old cartoon if you were on LSD. 3.5/5
Rating: 9.2 Out Of 10
Favorite Track: Bar Hopper 1