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**Kula Shaker - K ★★★★☆**

In the heady days of 1996, when Britpop was reaching its imperial phase and every other band seemed content to ape The Beatles' more obvious charms, along came four lads from London with sitars, Sanskrit chants, and a frontman who looked like he'd stepped straight out of a Maharishi's ashram. Kula Shaker's debut album 'K' arrived like a psychedelic meteor, crashing into the British music scene with all the subtlety of a burning incense stick through your nan's letterbox.

The band's origins trace back to the meeting of Crispian Mills (grandson of actor Sir John Mills, no less) and Alonza Bevan at Richmond College. Mills, having spent time in India absorbing Eastern philosophy and music, returned to Britain with his head full of mystical ideas and his guitar case stuffed with exotic influences. Together with drummer Paul Winter-Hart and keyboardist Jay Darlington, they crafted a sound that was part Britpop swagger, part raga-rock revivalism, and entirely bonkers in the best possible way.

'K' opens with the thunderous "Hey Dude," a track that immediately signals the band's intentions. Mills' vocals soar over a bed of swirling guitars and tabla rhythms, while the lyrics namecheck Krishna with the casual confidence of someone ordering a pint. It's quintessentially British yet utterly otherworldly – like finding a meditation room above your local pub. The song's success (it reached number 7 in the UK) proved that British audiences were ready for something more adventurous than another three-chord anthem about feeling sorry for yourself.

The album's centrepiece, "Tattva," remains their masterwork – a hypnotic mantra that somehow made Sanskrit lyrics seem as natural as a Gallagher brother's sneer. Built around a mesmerizing sitar riff and propelled by Winter-Hart's thunderous drumming, it's both spiritually transcendent and utterly danceable. The fact that it became a Top 5 hit suggests that mid-90s Britain was perhaps more spiritually hungry than anyone realized, or at least willing to embrace anything that offered an escape from the mundane realities of post-recession life.

"Govinda" continues the Eastern odyssey, its hypnotic repetition and exotic instrumentation creating something that feels both ancient and urgently contemporary. Mills' guitar work here is particularly inspired, weaving Western rock sensibilities through Indian classical structures with the ease of a master craftsman. Meanwhile, "303" strips things back to reveal the band's more conventional rock foundations, proving they could deliver straight-ahead anthems when the mood took them.

The album's sonic palette is remarkably rich for a debut. Producer John Leckie, fresh from working with Radiohead and The Stone Roses, helped the band realize their ambitious vision without losing the essential earthiness that kept their cosmic wanderings tethered to something recognizably human. The interplay between traditional Indian instruments and conventional rock arrangements never feels forced or gimmicky – instead, it suggests new possibilities for what British rock could become.

Not everything works perfectly. "Start All Over" veers dangerously close to standard indie-rock territory, while some of the album's more experimental moments feel slightly undercooked. Mills' occasionally overwrought vocals can grate when the material doesn't quite support his mystical proclamations, and there are moments where the band's ambition slightly exceeds their grasp.

Yet these minor quibbles pale beside the album's considerable achievements. 'K' sold over a million copies worldwide and spawned four Top 20 singles – no mean feat for a band peddling sitar-heavy psychedelia to a mainstream audience. More importantly, it opened doors for a more adventurous approach to British rock, influencing everyone from Kasabian to Temples.

Today, 'K' stands as a fascinating time capsule of mid-90s optimism and experimentation. While Kula Shaker's subsequent albums never quite recaptured this debut's magic, and the band's later pronouncements sometimes overshadowed their musical achievements, this remains a bold, beautiful, and occasionally brilliant statement of intent. In an era when British bands were looking backwards to the 1960s for inspiration, Kula Shaker dared to look further back still – and in doing so, created something that felt genuinely forward-thinking. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is embrace the ancient wisdom,