28th October 2009

Audio with 1 note

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Animal Party
Invisible Girl (In the Red)

Well, I relied too heavily on the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, and I missed an integral connection necessary to get to Northampton in time to catch The King Khan & BBQ Show at the Iron Horse tonight, stranding me at home.  But,  I figured, since I’ve got their new album, Invisible Girl, I might as well give it a review, since it involves several listenings, during which I can pretend to be seeing them as well.

Goddamn, this band is great.  Bare bones lo-fi garage rock; a few chords, that bare-bones 4/4 drum beat, and shoutin’ vox.  The band is just two guitars and a coupla drums - shared between two members, both of whom sing as well.  I’ve seen them both performing in a different band; the guys are great performers, and you can feel it coming through their recordings.

The new record involves more riffy garage rock stompers, and more of their … raunchy … lyrics.  ”Tastebuds,” a particularly rough track, is full of explicit sexual descriptions.  And it’s awesome.  I’ve not listened as closely as I could, but “Anala” is probably about butt-stuff.  What I’m saying is that these are a couple of stand-up guys.

Other highlights of the record are “Invisible Girl,” which has this one bit of harmony right before the chorus that kicks my ass every time, and “Truth or Dare,” on which they sing like the Damned.  The one attached here is “Animal Party,” a scuzzier take on those old novelty rock cuts (think “Stranded in the Jungle,” or maybe a less goofy “Monster Mash”), which I think is really intelligent, and an excellent send-up of the style.

The thang drops November 3rd on In the Red, and it’s well worth a purchase.  Fuckin’ gnarly.

Note: the first time I wrote “BBQ” today, I wrote “BBW.”

Tagged: stuck in thee garageur indies!hipster trash