Former members of national-touring bands (Big Wu, Bobby Llama and Three Minute Hero) decided 200 gigs a year, crashing on floors and dining at 24 hr. Gas & Sips was not the only way to live. They parked their respective vans and started over… What began as a Minneapolis-based piano-bass-drum trio, as heard on “The Things That You Lack,” has grown to a 7-piece band featuring guitarist Stein Malvey and the Scratch ‘n’ Sniff horns. Known for their upbeat and infectious live shows, the KK sound falls somewhere along the lines of Ben Folds, The Band, Wilco, Chicago and Fleetwood Mac. On July 7th, Kubla Khan releases their sophomore CD, Lowertown. The album was produced by the wunderkind production duo Fiction, the brainchild of Eric Fawcett (Spymob, N.E.R.D, the Hopefuls) and John Hermanson (Storyhill, Alva Star, the Hopefuls). To round out the team, KK called on über-mixer Alex Oana (Kid Dakota, Vicious Vicious, The Honeydogs) for mixing and mastering duties. Lowertown is a collection of vintage pop tunes celebrating life’s finer things: summertime love, roller skates, and cellular biology. What could be simpler?