Black Kids return home and rock TSI
10/07/07 • Posted in: Downtown Jacksonville, Music, Reviews by Joey Marchy 14 Comments »
Fresh off a trip to London to meet with labels and a scorching 8.4 Pitchfork review Black Kids stopped by TSI Friday night to play a show for their favorite city, Jacksonville Florida. As usual the show was high energy and filled with Reggie cussing lovingly at the fans.
After watching the Black Kids develop for well over a year I can say they’ve matured musically. My co-worker Travis is constantly saying “their new songs are so good”, and I have to agree. What was once a painful and awkward (at times) band to watch is now developed into a confident team ready to sign with a major label.
My favorite of Friday’s eight song set was Hurricane Jane (mp3). If they do sign with a label I think this song should be the single (ahem). Although the Internet sweetheart I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance with You (mp3) probably will be.
As usual Reggie (vocals+guitar) put on a great show and I loved the way they Ali and Dawn (keys+vocals) set up on a pedestal above the rest of the band. They’re a great focal point during the show because they really get into it make the whole experience fun, fun, fun. I wish Kevin (drums) and Owen (bass) would get into the shows a little and shake their booties. Their combined energy amounts to my grandma sitting in a rocking chair, sipping lemonade. But hey! They are who they are.
Black Kids are sitting in a very envious position right now. Coming off a quite amazing 8.4 Pitchfork review with the added bonus of being awarded the Best New Music designation. This honor is sure to win them a slew of new fans, or at least a few listens from people who troll the site for great new music on a daily basis. Pitchfork, a music review website loved almost as much as it is hated says:
a record with not just a distinctive aesthetic, but also one single-worthy track after another. Dueling keyboards and scrappy lo-fi guitars give rise to Go! Team-style shouted-back cheers, a communal urgency not unlike the Arcade Fire’s, and an uptempo bounce paying homage to Motown 45’s. In short, Black Kids make catchy, tightly executed songs that put a memorable stamp on pop’s classic themes.
On top of this is the even more amazing story of the Black Kids current success. It’s based on the strength of their live shows and a four-song, self-released EP (Wizard of Ahhhs). Not some money-spewing, MTV marketing machine. You might have heard of some other bands who rose to fame via MySpace and self-promotion: Arctic Monkeys and The Arcade Fire.
With blog posts titled Don’t sign to Vice…Hold out for Sub Pop! and Black Kids Are Almost Out-Shadowing Radiohead This Week floating around the Internet, it would be amazing if those kids didn’t let all this go to their head.
I say let it, for a while. You deserve it.
Upcoming Shows
Oct 18, The Annex, New York
Nov 15, Star Bar, Atlanta
Nov 16, Flicker Theatre, Athens
Photos from the show
Black Kids Myspace (download the EP Wizard of Ahhhs for free)
Black Kids Pitchfork Review
More Black Kids articles
Do you have any video of this show? There’s a sweet spot in that room, as far as little camera microphones. So far, the videos I’ve seen haven’t found it yet.
Brendon- Would you pass on to Jason and Ryan et al that there is a DVI meeting today at the Burrito at 3:30 concerning traffic plans after events in the sports/entertainment complex? Hopefully DVI has already let them know, I don’t have numbers in my new phone. THX
Also- sorry I missed this show, though I agree owen could shake his ass a lot more. I have definitely been hearing alot more about black kids than radiohead this week.
Ryan and Jason often get overlooked by any city related meetings and such. Can you email the info to me? I’ll try to get one of us out there.
booking@clubtsi.com
thanks!
As far as the butt shakin…
Maybe it’s because the drums and the bass lines are the continuous components of the Black Kids. The other 3 have lots of spare time to dedicate to dancing. Or maybe the other 3 dance so much, it overshadows Kevin and Owen’s moves.
Tony-
Thank GOD! I hope you guys come up with some good stuff, because trying to leave the house after any event at the stadium, and to a lesser degree, the arena, is a nightmare of poor planning and shoddy traffic control by JSO.
I second that.
Trying to make it across West State St takes courage and a willingness to put your truck in harm’s way.
But watching the GA-FL post-game vomit train is always entertaining.
I vomit from the anxiety of getting stuck in that train.
The meeting went pretty well. Of course it will take some time to roll out any improvements but I would say that we had all of the key people there to make changes and they seemed willing to listen and participate. If we can create a way to get across the, ahem, vomit train I think we are in. I suggested Myrtle now, but JSO/engineering thinks there may be something better. Stay tuned.
I’ll post later about how to get to downtown businesses while pre- and -post game. Maybe even do a map.
Oh, and pay attention if you park on Bay St. Don’t leave your car there the night before a game. Towage.
Oh. OH! they busted some news to us (new to me anyway) out at this meeting. I think it could be the biggest news I never heard of, that is funded!
If you think I’m going to post it in comments you don’t know the (current) best blogger alive (8 more days left!).
Sorry black kids for hijacking your post. Like you need more pub.
Tony-
couldn’t find your e-mail on your blog– i am sick and may be stupid…i have many stories i would love to share about how pissed the traffic makes me…..and, also, sorry to the african american children for hijacking this post….
Adam, et al. I sent an email to Tony this morning relaying my feelings on it. I know it was a DVI meeting, but Springfield is one of the most effected by these idiotic traffic pattern shifts. Tony immediately replied, and put my in touch with CM Redmans office, and DVI, and I told them my story. I also told them (and CM Gaffney) that Springfield wants a voice on this issue. DVI Responded, and said they would relay my story.
So, Springfield didnt go without a voice today, but I would encourage all of your who care about this issue to email CM Redman, (Redman@coj.net) and CM Gaffney, (Gaffney@coj.net), as well as DVI (http://www.downtownjacksonville.org/content/?page_id=52) with your stories.
Thanks Dan!
I say we build a giant concrete overpass from the stadium to I-95.
Make it fly-over the new I-95 fly-over.
We could call it the UsedtobecalledAlltell Stadium I-95 fly-over-over.
Yah!
theurbancore at the g mail dot to the com. I’ll have to put it on the new blog thing. I thought the meeting went well personally. They passed out printed copies of your story Dan. Look for a detailed update from DVI. Hopefully. They also broke some amazing news. Well it was news to me anyway.
my friends car got towed after leaving it on the corner or bay and liberty from a night at tsi, they bagged the meters in the morning for game day and towed it off… any suggestions?
park behind the court house.