via//chicago

np: "Shower Your Love" - Kula Shaker

If you thought the return of Robyn was big news, you ain't heard nothin' yet. It seems that one Mr. Crispian Mills just wasn't making enough impact with his most recent band, The Jeevas, so he's decided to bring his old band off hiatus. That's right, the one and only Kula Shaker is reforming like Voltron to bring you more of that hippie-tinged Britpop that has been missing from your life for the past 6 or 7 years. If you aren't from Britain, you probably remember this band most either through their first U.S. hit, the middle-eastern flavored "Tattva", or through their cover of Deep Purple's "Hush" - included on the soundtrack to I Know What You Did Last Summer. If you still have no idea who I'm speaking of, Cripsian is the son of British actress Hayley Mills (original version of The Parent Trap) whom decided that there just wasn't enough mysticism and psychedelic influence in the Britpop boom of the mid-1990s. They had some decently performing singles in England and a debut album, K, that sold pretty well - but the bloated follow-up, Peasants, Pigs, and Astronauts fared much worse. Between harsh criticisms of the second album and the public's backlash to Crispian's pigheaded media presence, the band imploded and Mills retreated into near total oblivion before coming back several years later with The Jeevas. Details are scarce on what the band has planned, but a new website indicates that something is afoot. It's very unlikely that many people care about the band at this point, but maybe the dismally low expectations will result in a nice surprise when they release some new material. Thanks to my rabid obsession with any U.K. guitar bands back in the second half of the '90s - I was quick to gather as much as I could of bands hyped by the NME or Melody Maker, so I managed to fall for several of their singles. The link below the picture at the start of this entry includes a link to "Shower Your Love", one of my favorite songs the band released.