James T. Kirk's Nemesis
Khan, aka Can Oral, has been making screwy dance-pop music of one sort or another for ages now. Back in college, I remember a couple of his albums being put out here in the US on Matador, and just not knowing what the hell to do with them at all. Weird disco breaks, his crooning voice, and the hustler call-boy art of 1-900-GET-KHAN?
No clue.
Well, many years later and wiser (musically and otherwise), I've got a bit better grasp of Khan's work, especially having heard his collaborations with Snax as Captain Comatose, whose Going Out and Up In Flames are both excellent albums of electro disco-house with vocals that can't be beat.
Throughout this time, Khan has collaborated with dozens of artists in the US, Germany, Finland and Mexico, has a dozen or so pseudonyms, and has been in as many different bands. His latest solo work, Who Never Rests, comes out this month on Tomlab, and it is as excellent, and as out there, as anything Oral has released. The album is rammed full of electro-pop, fuzzy guitars, synthesizers, and his off-sweet croon singing about all variety of sweat soaked craziness (think Beck on a week's supply of psilocybin).
Who Never Rests is available now, direct from Tomlab, downloadable via iTunes, and will be at your favorite indie music retailers in a week or so. Recommended.