The King Khan & BBQ Show
Invisible Girl
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Label: In the Red
Sometimes I wonder whether the relative cultural subversiveness of a given artistic approach (a.k.a. being more ‘punk rock’ than the next guy) is in reality, measured like the political spectrum. Conventional wisdom and nomenclature both suggest that that spectrum runs laterally, left to right, liberally to conservative. Upon further consideration, one sees it’s more of an upside-down ‘u,’ perhaps even touching at the bottom (remember, Jello Biafra warned us about Zen Fascists in “California Uber Alles”) and I think this ‘punk rock’ factor must be measured on a similarly slippery scale; can a musical genre be uncool enough that it becomes cool to perform?
B.F.F.s Arish “King” Khan and Mark “BBQ” Sultan make records whose songs, at heart, are winsome, and sometimes, entirely wholesome doo wop and sock hop rock songs. I can’t imagine a genre as irrelevant to the current state of the pop union than doo wop, but here are the King Khan & BBQ Show furnishing their third release, Invisible Girl, with songs like “I’ll Be Loving You” and “Spin the Bottle.” But lest anyone feel that complete reverence to the genre veer down the ‘u’ toward uncool, this Canadian duo don’t perform the genre’s songs so much as attack it, with cheap-sounding amps blaring guitars played by the duo (BBQ drums with his feet, plays guitar and sings live) and a spirit that often makes this music sound like the most vital thing that ever happened with electric guitars. At the same time, one must remember that these two are buds with those Black Lips creepsters (and have formed a side project with them, the Almighty Defenders), so their songs sometimes veer into subtly unsettling territory, making Invisible Girl a loud, distorted Moebius strip of acceptability and subversiveness.
The opening “Anala” is a swinging, late ’50s-styled ode to a girl whose name (pronounced “anal-a”) kept me wondering whether there was sicko intent in the lyrics, just as “Waddlin’ Around,” from the duo’s previous self-titled record, had me wondering whether that song’s object of desire was some poor girl suffering from a leg deformity. The title track is a shockingly-gorgeous (if ragged) ’60s pop song, with BBQ’s handling of the chorus actually kind of affecting. “Animal Party” is closer to the kind of straight razor garage funk Khan does with his Shrines and “Spin the Bottle” and “Crystal Ball” are goofball love songs, centered around one gimmick or device like so many old school hits were. “Third Ave” is a slow-burning, lovelorn ballad, with a vaguely psyched-out organ detour in the middle. BBQ was just born too late for Sha Na Na, but is better than that lukewarm rehash anyhow, nailing a song like “Tryin’” with a performance that would make Johnny Maestro jealous.
If none of this sounds like your cup of tea, then at least check out “Lonely Boy” or “Tastebuds,” where Khan takes center stage, sounding as wound-up and messy as Wavves’ guitar attack. With Invisible Girl, King Khan and BBQ sound just as gleeful as they look on the front of their self-titled record. With something for everyone in its grooves, if you don’t like any of it, you simply don’t like rock ‘n’ roll.
by Chris Middleman
