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.
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.[2]
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.[11]
^"Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News and more!". FMQB. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
^ a b"Metacritic Review". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
^Craig Mathieson (21 August 2009). "Shaka Rock Jet". The Age. Melbourne.
^Sendra, Tim (25 August 2009). "Shaka Rock - Jet". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
^Jason Lipshutz. "Jet, "Shaka Rock"". Billboard. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
^"Jet, 'Shaka Rock'". The Boston Globe.
^"Pop & Hiss". Los Angeles Times.
^ a b"Critic Reviews for Shaka Rock at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 March 2012.