Customer Reviews

Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kula Shaker is a big of an oddity -- a 1990s band (recently reformed) that sounds like a classic psychedelic/Indian funk band from the sixties or seventies.

And their second album "Peasants Pigs and Astronauts is a seriously underrated little Britpop album, full of rich atmosphere, brilliant instrumentation, and a thick opulant blanket of Indian musical influence. Where else in modern music do you hear Sanskrit chants with blazing riffs?

It opens on a spacey, shimmering note, before seguing into the funky, catchy, wild "Great Hosannah." It's a surprisingly stirring song calling for all people to join together, because, Crispin Mills asks us a bit uncertainly, "Will we arise in our time/At the dawn of another meaning/Will we awake at the break of a great hosannah?"

It's followed by the sinuous, swirling rocker with a great name "Mystical Machine Gun." Then they follow it up with a slew of solid rock'n'roll, flavoured with a heavy Indian vibe -- psychedelic blues, roof-raising rockers, bouncy Doors-like pop with samples of thunder, soft acoustic ballads, and little yowling songs that cycle gently in chiming, colourful circles.

It came as a shock to me to learn that Kula Shaker (named after an Indian holy man, Kulasekhara) only formed in the mid 1990s. Listening to their sound and their socially critical lyrics, I thought they were a product of the sixties or seventies, whose music had stayed timeless.

But as I listened to it more, it became clear that this music was a more modern type. It has deliciously barbed, jagged riffs paired with cycling, ethereal guitars, even in mellow love songs like "Shower Your Love." And it's laced with bells, funky horns, eerie flutes, smashing drums, rippling retro keyboard and spacey synth. It's all woven tightly together, into pop songs with a dozen layers of sound. But they also do something a bit more recent, slipping in delicate samples of church bells, singing birds, and a weird little voice.

Crispian Mills has that retro flavour as well -- he pours his heart into his rough-sounding vocals, as he belts out everything from neo-psychedelic weirdness ("You're a wizard in a blizzard/A mystical machine gun") to tender love songs ("Shower your love on me/Don't make it so hard to cry"), and a few awkwardly phrased calls for revolution ("Well, I laugh and catch the sun/'cause it's gonna be revolution for fun").

The newly reformed Kula Shaker mishmash retro instrumentation, Indian funk and blazing rock'n'roll together in their second album, an underrated little Britpop gem.

First I thought I didn`t like this album as much as K, but now I know how wrong I was. 'Great Hosanna' is a perfect song with the most incredible intro. 'S.O.S.' truly has it, one of the best songs on the album! No bad songs on the album! I'll say '108 Battles' and 'Timeworm' are one of the best ones. PP&A is one of the best albums I've ever bought. Though I have to say this is not so mainstream as K was. Just buy this record, it's worth it!

Kula SHaker are a great band and this is a good album. YOu just get the feeling that for every magical piece of music, theres another track which isnt so awe inspiring. "Shower your love" is pure genius yet something like "SoS" is pretty average. A lot of Inadian influence which isnt a bad thing. Yet they could have done without the horns. Nice album but not life changing.

Although i think the previous albums of Kula shaker are better than this one, i still think they really did well in this album...So u must listen to it!!Once when u hear it, u must like it!!

Totally inspired on Indian music and The Doors, this album is by far the best music I ever heard.

Mystical Machine Gun is tthe most popular song on the album but it isn't the best. This is really one album you must buy. Crispian Mills has got feeling for bringing Indian Music and Rock 'n Roll together, and new for this album are the trumpets. So get the album!

Crispian Mills has excellent showbiz credentials, being the grandson of Sir John and the son of Hayley Mills.

But unlike, say, Julian or Sean Lennon, he has the talent and wit to stand in his own right. The only legacy of his famous family seems to be his looks and the fact that he seems to be raving mad. Being a complete froot loop is, of course, no barrier to making great rock 'n' roll though, and it's surprising Kula Shaker (subsequently defunct, now back in the land of living, but a shadow of their former selves) didn't make a better fist of it than they did, especially with a record as sophisticated as this.

Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts is a bit of everything - it updates sixties, eastern psychedelia and blends it with the seventies rock ethic and loopy fin-du-siecle spirituality into a trippy, upbeat, musical feast. In terms of direct relations, I think a blend of the Beatles, the Doors, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin in equal measure, with a dash of Floyd to give the album some length. Cheery choruses, sweeping hammonds, bunkum lyrics, grinding guitars and the odd all-out space-jam. Nice job.

I suppose ultimately it's too backward looking to really have made waves, even in England, but if a fancy a quick spell of time-warped escapism, you could do a lot worse than Peasant Pigs and Astronauts. Although why they decided to give the album that particular name is anybody's guess.

Olly Buxton

After a critically acclaimed,but far from perfect debut album,"K".Crispian Mills and his compatriots hit back with possibly the album of the decade.With obvious references and inspirations,Kula Shaker manage to create a diverse,and surprisingly cohesive atmosphere.Think psychedelic Beatles meets Ravi Shankar 1999.A milestone.

And I thought 'K' was the best thing ever...

PPA is by far one of the greatest things I've ever heard. The fact that Great Hosannah and Last Farewell are two parts of the same song (ha!) doesn't bother me one bit. Rockers like SOS and MMG are absolutely fabulous, with 108 Battles and Golden Avatar screaming against yer ears. Nice, soft songs include Shower Your Love(!), Namami Nanda-Nandana, Radhe Radhe (Love the horns), and Timeworm. Last but not least is the grand Sound Of Drums! Wahey, it's a revolution!