Birdy Nam Nam

The idea of taking a quartet of turntablists as individual musicians to create live music has been going on for years since the Skratch Piklz days, but it’s not really been approached at this angle before. French disc jocks Birdy Nam Nam have decided to approach the idea of chopping records in a more abstract way to make electronic music rather than battle beats — at times they even get very minimal and create ambient tunes such as the slow-paced "Body, Mind, Spirit.” When this foursome get raw and upbeat then it sounds pretty much identical to early Mr. Oizo, while this style can also be credited to Kid Koala as we get a taste of the influence in "Kind of Laid Back,” which takes a lounge vibe with various organs, jazz drums and upright bass to make a great soundtrack for your wine parties, and you never would guess as to how it was constructed. You might not think about it that much when listening to them in audio form because what these former DMC team champions do is really understood when you see it with your own eyes, and thankfully this CD also comes with an accompanying DVD with live performances that will show you how incredibly tight and in-sync with each other they really are to make seamless music. The tunes on this record are already great electronic grooves even if they were produced by one bloke and his laptop, so adding the four-man turntable circus on top of all of that really makes this an exceptional outfit to keep your eye on.