Extreme Listening Mode!

Buzz. It’s an annoying concept. Flies buzz. Wasps buzz. Mobiles phone buzz. All of these things are deeply, deeply irritating, mini-plagues on my life. I don’t like buzz. I try to avoid it.

But California’s Black Kids are, we are told in the music press, causing something of a buzz. That’s music-industry speak for ‘hype’ and it is rarely a good thing. The new Coldplay album, for instance, has a ‘buzz’ about it and is highly unlikely to trouble the scorers in the Greatest Albums Ever polls. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong had a ‘buzz’ about them and frankly, I’d rather be operated on without anaesthetic than listen to them. Hype often covers a depressing fact; a lack of any real talent.

Black Kids, though, look like they might just make it. Unconventional looking, and certainly unlikely to be pin-ups, they bring on stage a real rush of energy and spirit. Their nirvana is clearly early-80′s British pop – on my notes the scrawled names ‘ABC’, ‘Lloyd Cole’, and ‘Aztec Camera’ are visible – suffused with an almost touching reverence of the poppier side of the Cure and a clear love of the Go! Team. It’s all trebly guitars and synth stabs. They do have some great songs too; ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm Again’ and new single ‘Hit The Heartbreaks’ are great pop songs, performed with an innocent glee that only bands on their first swing through are capable of. Black Kids are having fun, and it takes a real curmudgeon not to get swept up in it.

There is an argument which says that at the moment they are merely paying homage to the afore-mentioned bands. It’s a fair point, though at this early stage of their development a forgiveable one. Their potential is what is important, beautifully illustrated by ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Him How To Dance With You’, a fabulous, gender-confused slice of pure pop ecstasy. It’s music which should only be released on 45, a spiralling, lovely technicolour mess of a thing which is so cute and shabby it resembles a Dulux dog. If this is what they are capable of, then the future’s bright, the future’s black.

So, ignoring that irritating ‘buzz’ sound, there’s a lot behind the hype to like. One to keep an eye on.

Filed under: gigs Tagged: | 80's, abc, aztec camera, Black kids, hit the heartbreaks, i'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with yo, king Tuts, Lloyd Cole, synth