Kid Koala doesn't do audio without visuals. The turntablist turned illustrator was part of the cartoon band Gorillaz, after all. So his hot-off-the-press solo CD, Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, comes with a 50-page comic book. Here's what the 28-year-old has to say - in words and in black-and-white pictures - about his work and the future of music.
WIRED: Why did you start releasing comics with your albums?
KID KOALA: When I was a kid, my first records were storybook records - little 7-inches that had illustrated stories with them. When I did Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I remembered those records, so I drew a comic. I thought maybe it would just go with some promo copies for fun, but it ended up part of the album.
Aren't DJs supposed to be high tech these days?
People take their laptops everywhere and program music, but I've always been sort of a lo-fi kid. When I go on tour, everyone will have their laptops and I'll have my Game Boy.
The turntable preceded both those devices. Are there any new frontiers left to explore?
The turntable is still a very young instrument. The ability to render melody with it - that's something I haven't achieved yet. When I first started scratching, I would build mostly percussive elements. But for a lot of the music I listen to, what I like is the melody.
How do you get melody?
I don't physically have the muscles to do it yet. I can do scales and get up to a certain point, and then it collapses. I've got to learn how to control the record more. A lot of people are working toward it, but it's something we haven't heard yet.
How do your drawings of low tech robots represent your work?
It's tough making something that ends up being kind of dated. Sort of like my stuff. I work very hard to make a new record, but its relevance to the times or people's lives is questionable. By the time it comes out, does anyone care?
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Planet Moby
Scratch-n-Sketch
What's On Your iPod?
You Chill, You Score
The Michael Crichton School of Science
The Big Tease
Life After Star Wars
Atlas of the Mind
Artists in Wonderland
Spray-On Silk Stockings
Happiness Is … a Highrise Museum
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