Media I Still Haven’t Heard the Black Kids…
posted by on October 22 at 11:03 AM
So I can only agree with the broad strokes and not the case sepecifics of this sharp rant against music blog hype posted today on (music hype blog) Idolator (emphasis mine):
One of the worst things about the earnest nature of music blogs at the moment—whether giants like Stereogum and Brooklyn Vegan or some kid happily posting up uncleared MP3s, where most copy amounts to recycled press releases or “OMG! Music is so awesome!” if it expresses any sort of opinion at all—is that it’s now gauche to call out a crock. You get called a “reactionary” or a “hater” and these pushovers want to know why you can’t just relax and enjoy the bounty of an era where every new band is more mindblowing than the last. But the wheels-within-wheels meta-coverage of Black Kids, the latest blog-crush turned (almost) real-world hype, has forced us to say something about this pathetic state of affairs. Because Black Kids are some bullshit. And it’s not even their fault. It’s our fault, which is to say the fault of bloggers and writers. Because right now no one should even know who Black Kids are.
I will now go listen to the Black Kids and report back.
Update: OMG! “Hit the Heartbrakes” and “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You” are actually pretty good, promising pop songs—the muffled synth horns and boy/girl vocals echo the best parts of Architecture in Helsinki or the Go! Team (how’s that for blog hype upon blog hype?). “Hurricane Jane” and “I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)” are less impressive. Of course, these are only first impressions. Just as a crazy, anachronistic experiment, I might actually stew on these songs for a minute before I form an opinion (!), I might wait until I hear a couple more tracks from the band or get a chance to see them play live.
I just want to know what SF-J thinks about their name.
And hey, they're getting KEXP airplay, so I would say the "real-world hype" has begun.
Well, they're not from Williamsburg so that makes me a little less suspicious. Then again, can anything good come out of Vegas (not yet) or Florida?
The truth about the web is that there are two camps for everything - lovers and haters. Try to find a place to get your haircut in Seattle, an MP3 player, a camcorder etc. You can't find a reliable opinion on anything. Either the person bought it 5 minutes ago and is estatic or is having a problem and giving it a zero.
For music at least, there's myspace, metacritic (although the hype hits before real reviews and ratings spike) or allmusic.
At least, NME is not dictating. "Black Kids sound like when you wake up after really good sex."
I guess it's been awhile, but I haven't the vaguest idea what that might sound like. I guess it sounds a lot like Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, although the lyrics seem to be a stretch, was there something about Jesus in Hurricane Jane?
The Allman Brothers are originally from Florida. They are real good. Ask Fits.
Saw the Black Kids in Athens GA this summer. They were totally amazing. Their demo SUCKS, but live they are stunning. We had never heard a word about them, they just came out of nowhere and took control!
I like their name.
I don't actually know, but I don't think The Allman Brothers are from FLA. Being a dork, I would have guessed Alabama.
On allmusic, it apears that they were formed in Macon Georgia. They have a museum there too. I don't blame them if they revised history out of embarassment though.
Funny to make the Allman brothers tie. Black Kids drummer Kevin Snow's father actually played in a Jacksonville, Florida band called The Vikings. Their drummer was Butch Trucks. Check wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Trucks
I've been liking that one song "I'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you (or something)" since Pitchfork told me to listen to it several weeks ago. Basically this band's name is so rad that pretty much everyone will give them 5 minutes of their time. and you know what? I think that song and a few of the others are actually pretty good. They could use a lot less reverb though. if it's true they can pull it off live, then they might actually be legit. Dudes voice kind of sounds like the Shins too, i hear that some people think the Shins are cool.
lol@ people pontificating on the gap between blogospherically famous and IRL famous music. nerds.
one world, people.
one life, one love.
black kids? yeah, i'll get around to that.
ndrw @9 - you use too many acronyms. IRL? for real?
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