The King Khan & BBQ Show

Invisible Girl (In the Red)

What’s for Dinner? (2006) combined a love of 1950s/1960s R&B with an appetite for humor. It was an almost-perfect party album, where the slow songs balanced the dancers. On its latest, duo BBQ (Mark Sultan) and King Khan start in with the jokes straight away: “Anala,” a love song to a girl with an unfortunate name. The goofs continue on “Animal Party,” a Saturday night tale of barnyard debauchery that should be made into an animated video. Despite the cover of the album, the majority of Invisible Girl stays as serious as it can for men who wear wigs and miniskirts. The doo-wop of “Third Ave.,” soul stomp of “I’ll Be Lovin’ You,” and chiming neo-punk of “Lonely Boy” temper the more juvenile impulses of songs like “Spin the Bottle.” KK & BBQ have their yin and yang – Sultan’s the timekeeper, Khan the flair – and it works in small doses. (Sunday, 6:15pm, Yellow Stage.)

***

This article appears in November 6 • 2009.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US