I’d be the first to admit that I got pretty bloody excited by Black Kids when the buzz around them began near the end of last year. They released that EP for free from their MySpace and everyone went Black Kids crazy and since then they’ve released a few singles, made some festival appearances and got some serious radio play on Radio 1 thanks to Edith, Whiley and co. Today I even saw them on the extremely fucking awful T4 On The Beach which had the likes of Scouting for Girls, The Hoosiers, The Feeling, Sam Sparro. Pass me the fucking bucket, please. Actually no, a dustbin would be more appropriate for those artists.
Black Kids are no where near as bad as the previously mentioned artists, where as I’d give The Feeling’s new album 0 out of 10 Black Kids would definitely be able to succeed that low score. Anyway, the EP titled ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’ which was everywhere at the end of last year showed some real promise from the Jacksonville 5 piece. A sound which was compared to Arcade Fire (why I’ll never know) but a sound that to me was a nice blend between The Go! Team and The Cure.
The album ‘Partie Traumatic’ sadly does not really live up to the great potential shown by the digitally released ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’. Sadly like many other bands at the moment the band have rushed to get an album out pretty quickly obviously due to popularity. The album contains most of the songs that we’ve heard from the ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’ EP and songs from the same session that were released at the same time as that EP. What was so good about those songs was the raw sounding and fresh sound that Black Kids. However the polished sound that now goes with the album ‘Partie Traumatic’ is not one I’m particularly enjoying. Unfortunately the album seems to be one big blur of songs that sound very similar to each other. What a shame.
The new songs that exist on the album are no where as near as the quality I’d imagined from Black Kids. I think what they should’ve done is released an EP this summer and then took a bit longer to release an album nearer Christmas time. I mean it was only about Christmas time that the band was getting a lot of buzz just about everywhere. Oh yeah and also get a different producer because Bernard Butler has really wrecked their sound from the previous EP which was a very good sound.
Despite my criticisms there are catchy songs on this record and I’ll be the first to admit that the album has songs which will get people dancing. Newest single ‘Hurricane Jane’ being a perfect example of this along with other standout songs ‘Hit The Heartbreaks’ and first single ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You’. One of my favourite songs from the first EP ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)’ is still a really strong song and new song ‘I’m Making Eyes At You’ is a real grower.
This album moves along nicely, is not offensive but to me it doesn’t make any bold statements and is not really different from any other indie album that is out there or has been made. Having said that it is a lot better than The Feeling, The Hoosiers and Scouting for Girls, so kudos for that.
6/10
Black Kids are no where near as bad as the previously mentioned artists, where as I’d give The Feeling’s new album 0 out of 10 Black Kids would definitely be able to succeed that low score. Anyway, the EP titled ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’ which was everywhere at the end of last year showed some real promise from the Jacksonville 5 piece. A sound which was compared to Arcade Fire (why I’ll never know) but a sound that to me was a nice blend between The Go! Team and The Cure.
The album ‘Partie Traumatic’ sadly does not really live up to the great potential shown by the digitally released ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’. Sadly like many other bands at the moment the band have rushed to get an album out pretty quickly obviously due to popularity. The album contains most of the songs that we’ve heard from the ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’ EP and songs from the same session that were released at the same time as that EP. What was so good about those songs was the raw sounding and fresh sound that Black Kids. However the polished sound that now goes with the album ‘Partie Traumatic’ is not one I’m particularly enjoying. Unfortunately the album seems to be one big blur of songs that sound very similar to each other. What a shame.
The new songs that exist on the album are no where as near as the quality I’d imagined from Black Kids. I think what they should’ve done is released an EP this summer and then took a bit longer to release an album nearer Christmas time. I mean it was only about Christmas time that the band was getting a lot of buzz just about everywhere. Oh yeah and also get a different producer because Bernard Butler has really wrecked their sound from the previous EP which was a very good sound.
Despite my criticisms there are catchy songs on this record and I’ll be the first to admit that the album has songs which will get people dancing. Newest single ‘Hurricane Jane’ being a perfect example of this along with other standout songs ‘Hit The Heartbreaks’ and first single ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You’. One of my favourite songs from the first EP ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)’ is still a really strong song and new song ‘I’m Making Eyes At You’ is a real grower.
This album moves along nicely, is not offensive but to me it doesn’t make any bold statements and is not really different from any other indie album that is out there or has been made. Having said that it is a lot better than The Feeling, The Hoosiers and Scouting for Girls, so kudos for that.
6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment