Awesome new group from the Bay Area who channel international psych of years past to create some totally engaging and undeniably fun sounds. We're lucky to have so many amazing bands and musicians in San Francisco and we're even luckier that many of them are customers of ours. So it's always cool to see what lots of our favorite music makers in town are listening to and checking out when they swing by the store. And not that we've been spying but every time Max Balaoin (one of the master minds of Khi Darag) has come into the store over the last couple years it was hard not to notice how fast he'd make a beeline to the '70s Turkish Psychedelia section, as well as always seemingly after left of center sounds from across the globe circa late '60s and '70s. 
With a band that features folks from groups like Rube Wadell, Rupa & The April Fishes, Charming Hostess, Lord Loves A Working Man and even the SF Mime Troupe, these extremely talented musicians have taken those international psych sounds from years past and brought in their own elements of surf rock, klezmer, and soundtracks to create music that is pretty impossible not to move to. 
Much like Dengue Fever they use their influences from the past with total respect and love and it comes out in the sounds that they create. They also have a bit of a suspenseful undertone to their aesthetic which makes us think this is exactly the kind of band Mike Patton or John Zorn would want playing at their wedding with a dancefloor of weirdos having the time of their life. So fun! 
-Aquarius Records Staff
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"This stuff is fun. Khi Darag! hail from San Francisco, and they've certainly got hints of that classic Bay Area psychedelia. But before any of that hits you, you'll hear the great sounds of Middle Eastern folk-dance music. Clarinet, oboe, saxophone take the lead in a number of their songs. Add in guitarist Max Baloian's great prog riffs and you've got some pretty refreshing tunes. Oh, and the percussion! Dear god, the percussion! Go, dance, have a good time. You deserve it, America."
Preview by: Joey Price
original url
http://loudfarm.com/event/9525/
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“Opening band Khi Darag was great! Khi Darag had nine people on stage playing cool Middle-Eastern sounding tunes. Khi Darag is from San Francisco and I hope to see them again in 2010... Being a long-time fan of Secret Chiefs 3, I was excited and surprised to see a band that could now be compared to them. The horn section reminded me of the first Primus New Year's Eve show back in 1992 when Mr. Bungle opened for Primus at the Bill Graham Civic in SF."
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