Kula Shaker
The band are known for their interest in traditional Indian music, culture, and mysticism, with a number of their most famous songs, including "Tattva" and "Govinda", featuring lyrics written in Sanskrit. The name Kula Shaker was itself inspired by King Kulasekhara, an Indian emperor from the 8th century. In addition, many of the band's songs feature traditional Indian instruments, such as the sitar, tamboura, and tabla, juxtaposed with guitar-heavy, Western rock instrumentation. Despite achieving commercial success, Kula Shaker were unpopular with many critics, with "The Observer"'s Simon Price describing them in 2014 as a "joke band".
Kula Shaker
The third album, "Strangefolk" (which was the working title of second album, "Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts"), was released in Japan on 27 June 2007 through Sony, in Europe on 20 August 2007 through the band's own label, and on 19 February 2008 in North America through Cooking Vinyl. All editions contain at least one bonus track; the Japanese edition contains two further bonus tracks. The track "Song of Love/Narayana" on the album incorporates elements from the tracks "Narayan" and "Climbatize", both of which can be found on The Prodigy's "The Fat of the Land". Narayan was co-written by Mills and included a vocal performance by him. The album reached No. 32 in Japan and No. 69 in the UK.