It's funny how quickly a
band's hype cycle can spin these days. A year ago, barely anyone had heard of
Black Kids, a Florida five-piece specializing in bald, fairly cute new-wave
rewrites. The band put a four-song EP on its MySpace page, which Pitchfork gave a glowing review,
and soon a number of web folks began debating its merits. An appearance at the
CMJ festival in New York prompted some sour notices about the band's live
abilities, but that didn't stop Black Kids from being signed to Columbia
Records. And without much fuss, they deliver: Partie Traumatic features 10 simple,
quickly accessible, cleanly recorded, decently performed songs that the group
and its producer, ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, buffed to a shine in the
studio. "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" and "Hurricane
Jane" were both UK indie hits, and it isn't hard to tell why: Singer and chief
songwriter Reggie Youngblood yelps away in Robert Smith mode over slaphappy
grooves, sloshed synths, and backing vocals (cheers, really) by the band's keyboardists,
Dawn Watley and Ali Youngblood (Reggie's sister). None of it is revolutionary,
and all of it is so steeped in early-'80s new wave that it's tempting to
dismiss Black Kids as mere revivalists. But their revisions have verve.
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