Some of My Best Friends Are DJs is Koala's second full-length album, but fans of 2000's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are in for a surprise. Though this album is less cluttered and more musical, it's not just turntable dexterity and symphonies of samples and sound effects. The tunes bounce from genre to genre, though most of them fall in the ragtime, blues, and jazz categories. "Vacation Island" features an island melody played on ukulele and steel guitar to which Koala patiently adds the lush tones of each individual instrument in a string quartet. A piano version of Earth, Wind and Fire's "Spinning Wheel" plays prominently in "Elevator Hopper," but by far the most impressive track on the album is the opening "Basin Street Blues," a deconstruction and reinterpreted version of Spencer Davis' Dixieland 1928 funeral march. Koala created the song note by note, using samples from more than 100 records and ukulele and banjo lines played by a Bullfrog bandmate.
At less than 35 minutes, this album is short by most standards, but the length is forgivable.