Search - Kid Koala :: Basin Street Blues

Hawaiian beat juggling

Adam Preble | Atlanta, GA United States | 09/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kid Koala brings us 2.5 new tracks on this single: "Basin Street Blues" (4:47), "Vacation Island" (3:28), and "Exciting Excerpts" (0:41), plus an animated video of the title track.For "Basin Street Blues," Kid Koala assembled the standard note by note, pulling individual bass line notes from several records, a gentle banjo for rhythm, and San's masterful slurring and scratching of a trumpet over the top of it (think "Drunk Trumpet," following the BSB melody). The result is a freakishly tasty, dawdling (90bpm) rendition. "Vacation Island" opens with warm cinematic strings that dissolve into a lazy ukulele and steel guitar beat juggle. A mellow horn, an occasional beat, and a farewell sample give the track some needed direction; the Hawaiian beat juggling can get repetitive by the end.The animated video to a 3:30 edit of "Basin Street Blues" is perhaps the best part - a visual to remember as you listen away from your computer. His sound remains as playful and melancholy as ever, and if Basin Street Blues is any indication, his skills as a musician in the more traditional sense of the word are coming to the forefront in a big way. It's good to hear from Kid Koala again."