The band began working on the album in 2008. After touring was completed for their previous album, Shine On, the band took a short break. The album was originally thought to be released in late 2008 but a secret show was played in Melbourne in December 2008 only to debut new material. Various tracks from the album were played at this concert, including the first single "She's a Genius". In an interview with MTV's Ruby Rose on Channel 10's 7PM Project, it was said two unnamed tracks were recorded in Australia, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney.[citation needed] The album was posted on 20 August 2009 on the band's MySpace page.
The track "K.I.A (Killed in Action)" was added to Jet's website in early April 2009. Altsounds.com first reported on the album in late April 2009—drawing on information from the leaked press kit and providing the image of the album cover.
Singles[]
Although not confirmed as an official single, the song "K.I.A. (Killed in Action)" was uploaded as a preview for the album on the band's official website. The first single from the album was confirmed to be the track "She's a Genius", which went to radio on 22 June and was available for free download at AOL Music on the same day for 24 hours.[2] "Black Hearts (On Fire)" was released as the album's second single and received extensive airplay in Australia. "Seventeen" was the third and last single taken from the album, rising and peaking at number 31 on the singles chart during its fifth week on the chart and eventually being certified Gold status.
Shaka Rock was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 51 based on 9 reviews.[3]
Q rated "K.I.A" in the Q50 for September 2009 and the album as a whole fell just outside the magazine's best fifty albums of the year. The record has been made Entertainment Weekly Picks of The Week for 23 August.[12]
