Music critics’ love affair with Johannesburg alt-rock band named (I guess ironically) for black municipal policemen who did some of Apartheid’s dirty work, continues. This time its New York Times music writer Jon Pareles:
‘… Now and then it’s easy to guess that Blk Jks, from Johannesburg, are an African band on their four-song “Mystery EP” (Robinson Projects, available for download from digital.othermusic.com). That’s when they go bounding into three-chord South African township grooves in “Lakeside” or overlay the reggae foundation of “Summertime” with syncopated guitars. But Blk Jks make their music in a global swirl of possibilities; they are an art-rock band. Produced in New York by Brandon Curtis of the band Secret Machines, the songs on the EP are far closer to TV on the Radio and the Mars Volta than they are to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. While the lyrics (mostly in English) ponder philosophical quandaries — “All the wise men ’round the world don’t know the answers” — the band’s quick-fingered, multilayered vamps well up out of murky echoes, piling jubilation atop the anxiety, before submerging again. An earlier Blk Jks song, “Transit Camp,” is available (from Emusic or CD Baby) on the South African compilation “Phrased Differently” (Runway Music); less vertiginously produced and furiously propulsive, it has the band “smiling into oblivion, then dreaming swift into the heart of the abyss.” ‘
They can play.
Sample some of their tunes here.
Awesome. I love these guys. Don’t bother trying to buy through OtherMusic, though. You can’t if you live in South Africa. Can’t seem to find their stuff anywhere. (Don’t feel like installing iTunes.)
1) “Music critics’ love affair”? cmon dude 500+ brooklyn heads were at harriets, no critics/press.
2) “alt-rock”? all the writing and references you bring together on your blog and thats your descriptor?
3) re: band name. no irony involved. yes its a name for township cops (was it all “dirty work”?) but in this case the name of a prickly seed pod or burr that grows in fields and sticks to your pants and socks when youre passing through…
come back to love!
respect / knox
blkjks.com
Knox,
Music critics can be good people.
Hey I’ve bought all the songs on iTunes and I’m not a music critic.
BTW, I did not know about the reference to prickly seeds. Where does it come from?
Thanda kakhulu.