King Khan
Brewing up a heady mixture of high-spirited rhythm & blues, real-gone psychedelia, and middle-finger-flipping garage rock, King Khan has earned an international reputation as one of the wildest showmen in underground rock. First making his name in the insouciant garage punk band the Spaceshits, Khan enjoyed a productive collaboration with Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) on scrappy but passionate efforts like 2006's What's for Dinner? and 2015's Bad News Boys. With his group the Shrines, he delivered a more ambitious and full-bodied sound that suggested a crazed, internationalist R&B show band flying on spiked punch, documented on 2007's What Is?! His solo debut, 2017's Murderburgers, showed that he knew how to play tighter and leaner music without sapping his energy or sense of fun, and he detoured into jazz-influenced instrumental sounds on 2020's The Infinite Ones and 2023's The Nature of Things.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Montreal to a family of Indian émigrés, Arish Ahmad Khan first made a splash on the Canadian music scene in 1996 when he joined the frantic garage-punk outfit the Spaceshits, where he played bass under the name Blacksnake. The Spaceshits released three albums and a handful of 7"s, but after nearly four years with the group, Khan opted to strike out on his own, relocating to Germany following a tour of Europe. Adopting the new stage name King Khan, he began assembling a solo act while also recording and touring with former Spaceshits vocalist Mark Sultan (aka Bridge Mixture and BBQ), cutting a pair of albums as the King Khan & BBQ Show. King Khan & His Sensational Shrines (the "Sensational" part tends to come and go at will) made their recorded debut on a split single with Reverend Beat-Man & the Nonbelievers in 2001, followed by the EP Spread Your Love Like Peanut Butter and the album Three Hairs and You're Mine.
King Khan's band grew all the while and took on a number of remarkable personalities, including Ron Streeter, a percussionist who spent years touring with Curtis Mayfield and Stevie Wonder; Ben Ra, a German sax player who worships at the altar of John Coltrane and Sun Ra; Freddy Rococo, a French organ player who previously led a one-man band in drag; and Bamboorella, the Shrines' full-time go-go dancer. After cutting a split LP with the Dirtbombs, Billiards at Nine Thirty, Khan and the Shrines released their second full-length album, 2004's Mr. Supernatural, which was followed by lots of international touring and a third full-length, What Is?!, in 2007. In 2008, Vice Records signed King Khan & the Shrines to an American record contract, and sealed the deal by releasing The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines, a collection of Khan's best material to date, dominated by tracks from Mr. Supernatural and What Is?!
It would be several years before Khan returned with the Shrines, issuing the more psychedelically tinged Idle No More in 2013 on Merge Records. In 2015 Khan teamed up with BBQ for another duo album, Bad News Boys, and in 2017 he participated in an unusual project, composing new music to accompany recordings of William S. Burroughs reading excerpts from his novel Naked Lunch. The Burroughs album was released under the title Let Me Hang You on Khan's own label, Khannibalism Records. Murderburgers, which Khan described as his first solo album, was released in 2017; for the sessions, Khan was backed by the band the Gris Gris, with group leader Greg Ashley producing. Enjoying the decadent after-hours pleasures of life in France and Germany inspired 2018's Turkey Ride, which was credited to the King Khan Experience. Khan took a detour into jazz-inspired music on 2020's The Infinite Ones, which included appearances by longtime Sun Ra sidemen Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott, as well as John Convertino and Martin Wenk of Calexico. He created another jazz-oriented release in 2023, The Nature of Things, which once again featured John Convertino as well as Torben Wesche of the Shrines, Davide Zolli of the Mojomatics, Brontez Purnell of Younger Lovers, and Alex White of Fat White Family. Taking its name from the long-running Canadian television series hosted by David Suzuki, the album was previewed with the track "Snarlin' Lil Malcolm," an homage to activist Malcolm X; Khan said he was especially inspired by X's words, "When the 'I' is replaced by 'We,' even 'illness' becomes 'wellness.'"
© Mark Deming /TiVo
Artistes similaires
-
The Sadies / King Khan
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Khannibalisim - Ernest Jenning Record Co. le 24 janv. 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Murderburgers
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 13 oct. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Infinite Ones
Jazz - Paru chez Khannibalisim - Ernest Jenning Record Co. le 30 oct. 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billiards at Nine Thirty
Soul - Paru chez Sounds of Subterrania le 11 janv. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Never Hold On
Rock - Paru chez Khannibalisim - Ernest Jenning Record Co. le 15 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Never Hold Back / Never Hold On (versions)
King Khan, Miranda and the Beat
Bandes originales de films - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 7 août 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Invaders - Original Score
Bandes originales de films - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 18 août 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
-
We The People Of The Myths
Meditations on Crime, King Khan, Harper Simon
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Antifragile Music le 13 juil. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mother Nature's Plan
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Khannibalisim - Ernest Jenning Record Co. le 24 sept. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blue Film Woman: Original Soundtrack
Bandes originales de films - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 17 avr. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'm Rich Bitch / Bee Atch
Rock - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 20 mai 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John B's Lament
Bandes originales de films - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 10 juil. 2023
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas Time with King Khan and Friends
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez In The Red le 15 déc. 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Whole
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 13 sept. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hungama & Khamoshi
Rock - Paru chez Khannibalism le 27 juin 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"Children of the World" b/w "Gone Are the Times"
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Merge Records le 3 juin 2016
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just Insulin B/W Bubble Butt Bounce
Hip-Hop/Rap - Paru chez Ernest Jenning Record Co. - Khannibalism le 16 juil. 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
America Goddamn
Rock - Paru chez Khannibalisim - Ernest Jenning Record Co. le 15 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Last 3 Words
Alternatif et Indé - Paru chez Khannibalism le 31 oct. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo