 | Black Kids |
Well kids, it has been a long absence for the good ole BVaz, but after moving and shit, hopefully we can get this shit back going here. Anyway, since Daigle has handled Lolla, and Pitchfork Fest just seems so fucking long ago I might do a Throwback Thursday about it, let’s get back into album reviews and shows why don’t we. Anyway, these guys pretty much everyone knows about at this point I think. Black Kids had a shitload of buzz going last year from their EP “Wizard of Ahhs”, which they parlayed into a major label debut (shoutout BSS) and a headlining tour at some pretty sizeable venues this fall such as the Metro in Chicago. The EP had some really creative songs, most of which make an appearance on the album in a remixed/remastered form, but as I mentioned previously about their live show, they kind of hadn’t really found an identity as a band. I think that continues here, and they still are more in the ‘showing potential’ phase than actually blowing minds.
As I said above, all of the songs from the EP have gotten a big studio overhaul on the album here, and some translate alright, some not as much. I think “Hit The Heartbrakes” (the opening track) transfers over alright as does “Hurricane Jane” and “Teach Your Boyfriend to Dance With You”. But then again, the thing with the EP was that the songs were really solid, and it would be hard to screw those songs up. They are certainly the strength of the album once again just as they were the songs on the EP that got all this buzz started in the first place.
“Listen To Your Body Tonight” doesn’t really translate quite as well, with clearly a lot of external advice and production techniques put in there to try and bolster the song, but I think what it really does is kind of swallows it up and makes the song lose its heart and feel. I think that ends up being a theme with the album is the production fighting with the songs we all heard on the EP. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not quite as well. I think “I Wanna Be Your Limousine” kind of goes this way too, with just a lot of production put on top of it.
There are also some new songs on here, including the 80s sounding “I’m Making Eyes At You”, which is what they closed with at Lollapalooza I think. It is a pretty good song, and actually flows pretty naturally from beginning to end, never really sounding forced. “Love Me Already” is another very 80s kind of jam that sounds pretty alright. I think you will notice though that the new songs sound fairly different from the original EP songs even with the stepped up production on the old ones.
I think there is no doubt these guys are really talented, and they have written some damn good songs and I’m sure will continue to bring us some great shit. I think the problem with this album is that in a lot of ways, and certainly in comparison to the EP, sounds a bit like a square peg in a round hole. There is a lot of production and dressing up of the sound with the studio resources, but in a lot of cases it doesn’t seem to fit the songs nearly as well as the low budget low-key sound on the original EP. Anyway, they are touring this fall all over the place, and are certainly worth checking out as I’m sure we will hear more and more from these guys in the coming years.
