King Kahn and the Shrines sidestep gimmick and breathe new life into excavated soul sounds on the forthcoming The Supreme Genius Of (Vice, 2008). The album picks up right were the elusive Kahn and his nine piece enterprise left off, with last years What Is?! (Hazelwood, 2007). Opting for their signature analog nostalgia garage sounds; reverberating guitar riffs recall primal rock and roll at its most chaotic and ambitious. In lesser hands The Supreme Genius Of could come off exploitative, but Kahn treats his source material with a reverence that infuses agelessness and authenticity.
The record’s sixteen tracks vary in mood, from the frantic drum beat of opening track “Torture” to the sedated guitar, organ, and horns on “Shivers Down My Spine”. Taking more than a few pages from the book of James Brown, Kahn howls distorted “yeahs” over the Shrines’ instrumental fury, juggling bouts of screechy falsetto with his normal register. His voice is effortlessly timeless. He exudes charisma and a smug “fuck it” disposition as a vocalist. There is no doubt that this man is a rock star.
While the production values and overall veracity of The Supreme Genius Of are nothing short of fantastic, they’re not groundbreakingly original either. The album charts familiar territory. Kahn’s narratives center on women (“Took My Lady To Dinner”) and good times (“Live Fast Die Strong”), while the Shrines churn rock and roll like the Amish with a butter shortage. The biblical phrase “there is nothing new under the sun” comes to mind. However, in the end the music does all the work, eliciting sways and spasms of joy, bridging the passage of time like yesterday was 1963.
-Justin Mitchell
King Khan and The Shrines: www.king-khan.com
Vice Records: www.vicerecords.com