Kid Koala has seen (and been) it all. Since the mid-1990s, the Canadian-born DJ, turntablist and producer has worked with the likes of Prince Paul, Gorillaz, Deltron 3030, and also penned the graphic novel series, Nufonia Must Fall, for which he also produced a companion soundtrack.

A chance backstage meeting at a Los Angeles show with famed production designer K.K. Barrett (frequent collaborator with filmmakers such as Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola) turned into a friendship that helped see Barrett turn the Nufonia Must Fall project into a full fledged adaptation of the robot-meets-girl, dialogue-free graphic novel based on Koala’s stories and illustrations. Condensing a 350-page story into a one-hour stage experience resulted in a closed-set film with actors and post production transformed into a living organism populated by puppets, string quartet and film crew, including a live editor, amid a myriad of miniature sets.

Recently, Juxtapoz contributor Todd Mazer attended the full performance of Nufonia Must Fall at Boston ICA and sat down with Koala as the artist talked about his life in music, bridging the gap between sound and visual experience, as well as touring Nufonia. —Juxtapoz

In 1996, Koala walked into his local copy center with the equivalent of lunch money in his wallet and created copies of his self-drawn album cover, then stuck them on perforated J-card cassette templates. He titled this demo/mixtape with a tape run estimated to be “In the 10s,” Scratchcratchratchatch. It included a last-minute addition of his phone number and opened with the line, “Call me Koala, got whatcha need,” delivered by Q-tip of Tribe Called Quest before meandering between cuts and samples on the way to a crackly version of the silky stringed title theme from the Academy Award-winning biopic film, The Last Emperor. The demo eventually landed him a record deal with lauded London label, Ninja Tune. The move catapulted Koala from underground star to internationally influential artist. —Todd Mazer

Drawing and Listening to Records
Kid Koala: My first several years of music experience were horrible and full of stress. Everything was leading up to exams and competition. I remember thinking, “I don’t even like this music. Why do I have to practice it all the time?”

I think it all goes back to those seven-Inch storybook records that my mom would get me when I was five or six years old. They were supposed to foster a love of literature, but what I really dug about them was that you could get sucked into this universe. There was a story, illustrations, music, vocal actors and sound effects. It was literally a multidimensional experience for me. I also discovered that, no matter where I was, if I touched a pen to a notepad, I could escape to a universe of my own design.

Music as Self-Expression
It was a very biochemical reaction. I was so ready to take on sound, then destroy, deconstruct and twist it into oblivion. I wanted to make the most aggressive, dissonant and odd noises possible. The more alien, the better. I liked the potent horn arrangements on Sly Stone albums and the heartbreaking chord progressions of Brian Wilson.

Instead of trying to freak people out, I decided the freshest thing was to play with familiarity, chords and motifs to evoke emotional responses. All of a sudden, I was practicing things on the turntable I hated doing on the piano, like scales and archipelagos.

Writer’s Block
I’m no stranger to writer’s block, but I know now if that happens, then I have to just go dabble into something else and it will unlock. I realize now there is this concept of a front burner, a side burner and a back burner.

Nufonia Must Fall
I had “therapeutically" begun illustrating Nufonia after the completion of my 2000 album, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Nufonia is derived from “no fun spun backwards” and there are references to it in each of my first three albums on the tracks Night at the Nufonia, Radio Nufonia and Nufonia Noise Consultation Committee.

I saw Nufonia as this city where people had no fun, in a state of mind where someone is so stressed they become their own tortured obstacle from getting joy in their life. That outlook at that time was something that I clearly related to.

[During a break after the filming of Spike Jonze’s Her] K.K. Barrett and I got an opportunity to turn ideas into action. He was constantly dropping these Yodaisms. That’s when he went through the 350-page story I had and transformed it to a one-hour stage experience.

In the end, as a crew, when we perform Nufonia, we need to come together and harmonize just like a song. Every night it’s kinda like 15 people on one surfboard, so if someone starts to wobble, everyone else has to readjust so we don’t fall in the water. Anything can happen and I realize now that just trying to hold on is actually the fun part.

For tour updates, visit kidkoala.com

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Originally published in the June, 2016 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, on newsstands worldwide and in our webstore.