Via popmatters:If you go to Pitchfork for their review of the new record by Black Kids, you’ll see a SORRY message with two long-faced doggies. Cute but you have to wonder if they’re not tooting their own horn a bit here. True, they named Black Kids a phenom not long ago (hence the apology) but do they really think that they alone were responsible for the band’s ascendancy and now have to apologize about this because the group put out a crappy record? It’s not their fault that the band can’t follow-up a good EP. That’s like saying ‘we built them up and now they suck and so don’t get mad at us about it, OK?’ That’s a lot of assuming and even more chutzpah.
First things first, seriously Pitchfork, give the album a rating of 3.3 for all I care, but refusing to justify said ranking by writing a review, and instead leaving a bunch of pugs to fill in the space is kind of lame, disrespectful so to speak. Jeez…, pretentious much?
I first discovered the music of the Jacksonville quintet, Black Kids by way of another source, not surprisingly, from an online zine who’s often been said of owning the supremacy to make or break upcoming artists. This album is not a 3.3, I can assure you that, but given that you’re experiencing the desperate pangs of hunger to really need to give it a low score, it’s 5.5 and not an integer lower. Overall the frolicsome tunes throughout the record bears a thick sheen of 80s treatment, which served as the chief reason that initially drew me into the musical realms of this retro-pop five piece. Though admittedly, yes the album does contain a few hits and misses, and at some point it can get a tad bit annoying with frontman’s Reggie Youngblood’s discordant, uncaring wailings, coupled with lyrics that are often bleak and inane to the point of cringe inducing.
At the end of the day, Partie Traumatic remains as a fun and fairly enjoyable listen, plus the old-school riffage that adorns the corners of each track has already gotten me deeply fixated to the music. Surely, this tune is too overrated to be posted but no harm done, it’s the bubbly bass lines that really did it for me.
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