Eric San (born 1974 in Vancouver, Canada),who records under the name Kid Koala,is a Montreal, Quebec based DJ and turntablist. He is signed to the British Ninja Tune record label, is a member of jam band Bullfrog and alternative hip hop supergroup Deltron 3030. He has also made appearances with many other artists from Amon Tobin to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and has made contributions to Lovage,Peeping Tom,Gorillaz and numerous other projects.
San graduated from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School and went on to study elementary education at McGill University. He is well known for his enigmatic style of turntablism, which uses an unusual collection of samples. He has been known to use samples of music from Charlie Brown television specials, old comedy sketch routines (including those which mock turntablism), people sneezing, and people reading a menu in Cantonese. He is well known for his cheerful demeanor at concerts and having a good sense of humour.
San is also an illustrator and an artist, having designed all of his own album covers. A comic book he drew is included as the liner notes to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Following the release of the album, Kid Koala toured extensively, during which time he opened for some of his favorite artists, including Radiohead and Björk.
He has also released a full length graphic novel, Nufonia Must Fall, which includes a soundtrack CD he composed. Some of my Best Friends are DJs includes a chess set as part of the packaging.
This album was supported by a cabaret-style tour throughout North America, Europe and Australia known as The Short Attention Span Theatre, which featured an unpredictable opening act—3 Djs (Kid Koala, P-Love, and DJ Jester the Filipino Fist) on 8 turntables set up like a band, and a bingo game at intermission among other tremendously quirky surprises. Following this tour Kid Koala has performed DJ sets all over Asia, discovering new fans in destinations such as Iceland, Eastern Europe, Russia, and South America whilst working on a new book (apparently about a mosquito trying to play a clarinet) and a unique puppet show set to take place in 2008.
San popularized a method of playing the turntable like a melodic instrument, where a long, single note is dragged under the needle at different speeds, creating different pitches. Since this method of adjusting pitch is imprecise, the resulting notes waver and bend. Thus, in the song "Drunk Trumpet," San uses this method with a trumpet note to simulate a drunken trumpet player; interspersing drunken vocals to complete the effect.
San released a new Kid Koala album, entitled Your Mom's Favorite DJ (ZENCD127), on 25 September 2006.
As of October 2006 San was married and had recently embarked on a 90-city tour.
Kid Koala is currently touring as the opening performer for DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist's "The Hard Sell" tour.
Discography
Kid Koala has released 3 albums on the Ninja Tune label.
* Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (ZENCD34, 2000)
* Some of my Best Friends are DJs (ZENCD82, 2003)
* Your Mom's Favorite DJ (ZENCD127, 2006)
