Calgary Buzz: Kid Koala Sheds Some Light On New Album

Kid Koala is one busy marsupial.

Aside from contributing to Mike Patton's Peeping Tom and Deltron 3030 (a project he created with Dan The Automator and Del Tha Funky Homosapien), the Montreal DJ has recently spent a lot of time holed up in his home studio working on a new album of his own.

"I think of it like the second installment of Scratchhappyland, in terms of the way it flows and what it's trying to do," says Koala. "All these records I've been learning are finally coming together on one reel-to-reel tape."

According to Koala, the as-yet-untitled disc will go into the mixing phase in May and should be released on Ninja Tune by late September or early October. Until then, he's filling his schedule with a handful of dates in preparation for a full-blown European tour in July.

"I'm kind of oblivious to how many people are paying attention," Koala says with a laugh. "I probably know about 100 people, 40 of them really well, and 20 of them are family.

"Whenever I go to a city without family, I'm shocked at the amount of people that come, and I'm lucky that people are curious to hear new music."

Professionally, Koala isn't too worried about whether or not his music will make him a superstar.

"I've never tried to make radio records," he insists.

"If I did, I'd probably play guitar and sing. I like living in this odd little universe, but I do get to see and interact with people at the live shows."

If that's not enough, Koala also worked with composer Luigi Allemano on the soundtrack to an independent film, Jaime Lo Small And Shy, animated by Lillian Chan. Still following? There's more. Koala is almost finished a 3-D book that's been three years in the making. The concept involves building scale models and characters out of clay and photographing them frame-by-frame. Okay, now you can exhale.

So what does a busy DJ listen to when he needs to relax? According to Koala, the new Flaming Lips album is essential listening.

"I met two of them a couple of weeks ago. They're really nice, super-cool people. Definitely one of my favourite bands musically and philosophically. I like how they incorporate the element of surprise in their shows as well."

Koala may have a few surprises up his sleeve when he brings his turntables to Calgary for a show on Friday at Broken City.

"These spot dates are great for testing out new material and ironing out the bugs," he says. "It's pretty much just me, my turntables and a whole pile of records."

Toronto heavy rock trio C'mon are on the road in support of their latest album, In The Heat Of The Moment, which was co-produced by Al-P (MSTRKRFT) and Daryl Smith (Sloan, Godspeed You! Black Emperor). The band have previously crossed the country three times and have shared the stage with The Darkness, Danko Jones and Nomeansno, among others. This is shaping up to be an explosive show. Check 'em out on Saturday at the HiFi Club with The Rocky Fortune and Hearts & Aces.

Finally, Winnipeg rockers Burnthe8track have a new disc waiting in the wings. Their second album, Fear Of Falling Skies, features 12 new tracks and will be released via Abacus/Century Media in July. They'll be touring more extensively after the disc comes out, but for now you can get a taste of the new material when they hit the stage with The Johnsons and The Sleepers on April 27 at The Stetson.

Got an idea for a cool local music story? Let's hear it. Shoot Trevor an email: trevor_monkey@hotmail.com