Koudlam was born in 1979 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and spent most of his youth living between Africa, North Dakota, Mexico and the French Alps. As a kid, he loved to walk in the bushes, and imagine he was bravely saving young damsels’ lives. His numerous heroes included great mountain climber Reinhold Messner, poet Charles Baudelaire and Jim Morrison. In middle school, he showed his talent as a singer/guitar-player in rock bands that changed every week, but aged 16, he was introduced to electronic music by pioneers of the rave scene and was soon playing weekend gigs in front of chemically enhanced crowds. After DJing, he surrounded himself with stolen samplers and beatboxes, and wrote dozens of pieces on a 4-tracks tape recorder. All of which are lost today.
Every second spent listening to Koudlam reminds you that every civilization is bound to fall. The same fate awaits Maya calendars and planned urbanization: everything will fade away within the din of a collapsing tower block.