Khan - Who Never Rests

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 21 / 4 / 2007

Label: Tomlab
Format: CD

Disappointing mixture of industrial music and clubby house pop from former Matador signing Khan, who has returned after a long absence

Review

The travelling German Khan has kept quiet for the last few years after leaving New York, and departing from Matador Records. Still zigagging through different styles of music, Khan has landed in Berlin and remained faithful to dance music, but now likes to meddle with rock music too. Keen on a wee bit of sleaze, he devoted an album to sex phone numbers years ago, and on this new album he's still that same naughty boy. This mixed bag of music is kept together by his sometimes lethargic, or at least laconic, voice. To suit some of the bouncy pop house tracks that appear here, Khan's singing, or crooning if you like, changes for the better. When set against an uptempo track, he finds the pace and joy that lacks in the vaguely industrial rock tracks that are also present here, some of which are pretty dreadful. At thirteen tracks, and lasting 40 minutes, the album is still a little too long. The highlights of the album are all those clubby pop house songs, which have greater melodies and are much easier to digest than the gritty and the far-fetched rumble of for example the starkly bleak opening track 'Excommunication'. After his lengthy absence, Khan might have given us a little more and sounded a little fresher.

Track Listing:-

1 Excommunication
2 Satan Backwards
3 Strip Down
4 Golden Dawn
5 I Got To
6 Who Never Rests...
7 Take It Out On Me
8 You Like To Party?
9 On The Run
10 B-Movie
11 Hey Lil’ Sister
12 The Shining
13 Favor After Favor