Sketchyyyy Tunes: Black Kids

Okay, I know. I am WAY late to be hopping on the Black Kids bandwagon. Especially after a dozen people mentioned how good they were to me months ago. To be totally honest, I downloaded their Wizard of Ahhhs EP and none of it's four tracks really struck a chord with me. Maybe I just wasn't very responsive that particular day or perhaps I was distracted by the million other things I attempt to do with music blaring from my laptop but for the most part Black Kids was a "heard it, over it" type of deal.

That is until I listened to "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend", their latest single, vibrating off the walls of Other Music today. Holy crap is that a fantastic pop song. Lead singer Reggie Youngblood's voice crackles like Robert Smith but on a high-dosage lithium prescription. Extra points added for the badass name as well. What I also failed to realize, until I viewed the songs video earlier today, is how young these band members are. These kids are Be Your Own Pet type of young - early twenties at most - and just as, if not more, awesome. However, unlike the brash garage rock of BYOP, Black Kids throw lo-fi guitars with 80's style dance synth in ways that are old and familiar yet uniquely their own. It's no surprise to me now why everyone was flipping a shit about this group way back.

There's two things that should be learned here: a) always follow up on a band that all your friends are telling you about because you will feel like a complete moron if they're right and b) Black Kids are real frakkin good...believe the hype.

("I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend")

Sketchy Rating: Makes the kids lose their shit.