I’ve been swimming with Black Kids lately for Metromix. I feel like I have been drowning in summer sex pop for days now. But my interview with Black Kid leader Reggie Youngblood and review of the hyper-hyped band’s debut Partie Traumatic have hit Metromix at last. Now I can go back to My Bloody Valentine.
The Black Kids are Alright: An Interview with Reggie Youngblood
The groups I latched onto from the ’80s were very funny. Pet Shop Boys, the Smiths, Prefab Sprout. They got away with saying the most ludicrous things. Some people definitely don’t enjoy our humor, but it’s what I love. I love ludicrous lyrics. “King of Rock and Roll” from Prefab Sprout has the line, “Hot dog/Jumping frog/Albuquerque.” That’s the fucking chorus! I love that. Sure, there was a lot of somber, severe posturing going on back then, but I’m drawn to the fun stuff…”
Backstory: Like their kitchen-sink peers the Go! Team and Tilly and the Wall, Black Kids specialize in a Spector-like pop of steady backbeats, emotional vocals and angular weirdness that unfolds like a multihued ecstasy trip. Brother-sister combo Reggie and Ali Youngblood are front and center on vocals, guitar and synths, but the entire band is a rhythm section that could have given ABC or OMD a run for its money back in the ’80s. The Jacksonville, Fla., crew broke into the mainstream last year with the “Wizard of Ahhs” EP.
Verdict: Youngblood’s strained vocals straddle the fence between ecstasy and pain nicely, especially on the post-punk stomp of the title track and “Hit the Heartbreaks,” but they are an acquired taste. He takes it down a notch on the throwback electro-pop of “Hurricane Jane” and “I’m Making Eyes at You,” like he just stepped out of “Sixteen Candles.” But so it goes for 40 minutes.
http://articles.mcall.com/2008-07-20/features/4144873_1_black-kids-nine-inch-nails-stomp