Artist: Kid KoalaTitle: Your Mom’s Favorite DJRating: 4 StarsReviewed by: Dustin Glick
Kid Koala is dope, plain and simple. Hailing from Canada, the 31-year-old DJ has been cutting up vinyl since he was 12. If you’re not familiar with his work, you may be aware of his classic track “Drunk Trumpet,” where he scratches out a trumpet solo good enough to turn a jazz aficionado into a lifetime turntablist fan. On his new album, Your Mom’s Favorite DJ (Ninja Tune), Kid Koala takes us on a journey through sound, tearing up everything from funky breaks to piano ballads and ’70s metal. While his unique style of scratching is clearly the focus of the album, it’s always balanced in the mix, never dominating the music.
But the thing that sets Kid Koala apart from all the other DJs out there, and most of today’s musicians in general, is his sense of humor. If you can’t tell by the album’s title, Kid Koala is a pretty funny guy, and when you listen to his music, you can tell he’s enjoying himself. There’s a certain wink-wink to the listener that let’s you know, “Hey, I don’t take myself too seriously; I just like to rip it up and have a good time.” Kid Koala takes you back to the time when Hip-Hop was fun, before every album cover featured some dude in a bullet-proof vest ice grilling you, when Run-DMC was rhyming about sneakers and De La Soul made party music for Saturdays.
Of course, there’s a downside to the album, and it’s the same downside there is to every turntablist CD without vocals: how often are you really going to listen to it? Regardless, the album is a lot of fun, even if you just throw it on in the background while you’re in the kitchen cooking up some grub. With three studio albums now in his pocket, it seems Kid Koala just can’t do no wrong.
