Koudlam was born in 1979 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and spent most of his youth living between Africa, USA, Mexico and the French Alps. As a kid, he loved to walk in the bush imagining he was doing such courageous acts as saving young girls. 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 early on, aged just 17, 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 rhythm boxes and composed dozens of pieces on a 4-tracks. All of which are lost today.??

In 2006, he released his first self-produced album “Nowhere”, featuring 17 tracks and a new kind of music,?showcasing his love for diverse styles, from classical to rap, rock to ambient, pop to hardcore techno. He?came to Paris and gave his first concerts throughout the city. His first big fan was the artist Cyprien Gaillard,?and Koudlam went on to write the score to some of Gaillard's work, such as “Desniansky Raion”. A?mesmerizing rioting feature, "Desnjansky…" quickly became a huge hit in the art world and gave Koudlam?the occasion to perform all around the world. Most of the time, his gigs occurred in unexpected settings?ranging from rooftops to construction cranes, italian theaters or museum halls (the Tate Modern being just?one of many).

??In 2008, Koudlam signed on Pan European Recording and released “Live at Teotihuacan”. Soon to become?a cult classic, this first, limited vinyl offering found the artist toying with the notion of "opera électronique" and?successfully matching Philip Glass's melodic knack with a taste for New Age and embracing the unknown.?This is best evidenced on "Goodbye", his second full length, launched in France to much critical acclaim in?late 2009. This sophomore release sees Koudlam making giant leaps towards "Heroic World Music" or to put?it simply and in the man's own words : "pop not made for the hundreds but for the millions”. Experimental?and easygoing, forward thinking and retro, rock and electro, "Goodbye"'s collection of danceable singalongs?gave new meaning to the oft-coined notion of instant classic. The album also marked the rise of a new hope?on the otherwise conservative French music scene. Pale rather than stale. "Goodbye" jettisons the prevailing?clichés and escapes all pigeonholing.??

Today, in a post Fukushima world, Koudlam's distinctive taste for apocalyptic mishmashes has become all?the more necessary. While most are still licking their celsium burns, Koudlam moves on to fuse as diverse?genres as world music, techno and opérette in the form of his "Alcoholic Hymns" EP. A restrained effort at?prolongating Goodbye's signature sound into a new artform, "Alcoholic…" is modestly described by the man?as "a training in pop music and a relaxation in-between albums".

Mutant pop that will speak volumes to the Tchernobyl baby in you.