It must really suck being labeled a jam band or ska outfit when that's not the kind of music you're into. But it's tough to pity poor Kubla Khan when that's what they really sound like. Okay, maybe not so much ska, but certainly jam band with a bit of ska horns.
Kubla Khan wishes to be nothing more than a pop band, but wishin' ain't doin'. And if you can't hear a bit o' Phish in the melodies you've smoked a lil' too much cheeba hombre. Regardless of what they is and ain't, the point is, they don't want to be what people tell them they are, which is a precarious conundrum to address. How should they react? Ignore the responses and proceed headstrong into the pigeonhole? Radically overhaul your approach and admit defeat? Strange as it is, I think Kubla Khan made the right decision by verbally protesting the issue while musically ignoring it.
Okay, so they're grappling with genre identification, but ... the music? It's great in its own way, just not really my bag. It's hooky, sugary, poppy and Phish fans who hate the noodlin' jam-out concept will probably love 'em. There are a few warm and fuzzy guitar solos, but it's never showoffmanship. Nathan Eklund, the voice of Kubla Khan, sounds as harmless as, well, I don't know anyone who sounds as harmless, except maybe a sedated Erland Oye (the peppy one in Kings of Convenience who's a dead ringer for Napoleon Dynamite). For example, "Skate" is about a boy gathering up the nerve to make his big move on a girl, which turns out to mean holding hands while skating.
Mothers lock up your daughters. Anyone this wholesome has got to be hiding something! CMJ
www.myspace.com/kublakhanmusic |
