Montreal Turntablist Kid Koala (aka Eric San) is probably best known for his extraordinary skills on the decks – mixing, sampling and scratching his way through everything from hip hop to snippets from cartoons and comedy shows. A noted artist and illustrator, he has also released a graphic novel and designed the liner notes for some of his albums. Now, in an unlikely partnership, he has teamed up with Dynomite D and former Wolfmother bassist & keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett to form, The Slew.

The story behind the project is unconfirmed, but sources say Kid Koala and Dynomite D were approached to create the soundtrack for a documentary based around the lives of an obscure Seattle rock band of the 70’s known as The Slew. While the documentary never came to fruition, the soundtrack has now surfaced. Titled 100%, and mixed by Beastie Boys engineer and producer Mario Caldato Jr., it’s an interesting journey that blurs the lines between electronic music and rock.

Kicking off with the title track, it’s almost Hendrix like, the guitars all slinky amidst a cacophony of cuts and scratches, interspersed with frontman like yells. The cuts continue with It’s All Over, a motivational speech scattered throughout. “The people don’t have the power…to change things anymore”, sounding like a mantra for the post flower-power generation. Problem Child features some simple but hard guitar riffs, while You Turn Me Cold is almost like a rap-rock infusion with a fierce but catchy hook, with Ross showing off his prowess at the axe. Wrong Side of the Tracks has an incredibly memorable bass hook, as it gets overlaid with Koala’s stop/start scratching style, crunchy guitar riffs and sweaty drunk vocal snippets. Easily the best track on the album.

Robbing Banks (Doin’ Time) picks up the pace a little as Ross’ riffs take centre stage. Then the bass, drums and vocals kick in and seemingly build up to a crescendo that doesn’t quite reach its destination (though it’s still a killer track). The Grinder starts off quite slow, the bass plucked at a steady pace before the drums and percussion (including what sounds like a triangle) turns it into a sexy psychedelic number. Shackled Soul has probably the most apt title of the bunch, the angry guitar evoking images of a tortured soul longing to escape, and eventually morphs into an image of an angry mob attempting to escape hell, while Southeast Soliloquy could easily be the aftermath, the soul reflecting as it remains stuck in purgatory. The final track Battle of Heaven & Hell closes out the chapter and the record, the sombre vocals almost sounding like a warning that a rock & roll apocalypse is coming.

As it’s gone along, the album has seemingly changed from a collection of tracks to an actual soundtrack, which is precisely what Kid Koala was commissioned to do in the first place. The way he has managed to bring these sounds to life is testament to his ear for music. One of the most interesting albums of the year and one can’t help but envision the world that Koala has himself formulated in his mind. Definitely crazy ,but at the same time borderline genius.