BLK JKS: BEST MUSICIAN SXSW

23 March 2009

BEST MUSICIAN SXSW

Best Musician: The drummer for Blk Jks.

Holy crap. Blk Jks are four young men from South Africa, and each of them could have been the best musician I saw. I went with Tshepang Ramoba, from Soweto for the raw physicality he used to anchor Blk Jks sprawling rock fusion jams. These dudes have serious chops.

Bill Werde, Billboard

1 comment:

Shea Caruthers said...: Glad to see that the BLK JKS had quite the showing at SXSW. At the Empty Bottle show in Chicago, I felt like I'd stumbled upon gold - I was prepared for good, just not THAT good.

Hope you guys make it back to Chicago soon.; March 28, 2009 at 7:52 PM

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FOR / ABOUT THE "MYSTERY" EP

Now and then it’s easy to guess that Blk Jks, from Johannesburg, are an African band on their four-song “Mystery EP”. That’s when they go bounding into three-chord South African township grooves in “Lakeside” or overlay the reggae foundation of “Summertime” with syncopated guitars. But Blk Jks make their music in a global swirl of possibilities; they are an art-rock band...While the lyrics (mostly in English) ponder philosophical quandaries — “All the wise men ’round the world don’t know the answers” — the band’s quick-fingered, multilayered vamps well up out of murky echoes, piling jubilation atop the anxiety, before submerging again..........................via THE NEW YORK TIMES

SOMES BRIEF NOTES

Childhood friends Linda and Mpumi grew up on the same block in Johannesburg’s East Rand, where they taught themselves guitar. Forming a band in 2000, early BLK JKS shows and recordings were remarkable for their stacks of guitar drone and head nodding beats, but it was with the addition of bassist Molefi and drummer Tshepang—both of Soweto—that BLK JKS began work with a fresh approach and plunged into its current universe of sound. Heavy club dates and festival gigs followed as they band earned a loyal following across the country.

The November 2007 release of the “Lakeside” vinyl-only 10in marks the band’s international debut with a limited edition of 500 selling at some of the world's best record shops.

The cover of Fader magazine and trip to the US in the spring of 2008 sparked sessions at the famed Electric Lady Studios with Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines at the controls.

The MYSTERY EP that resulted is available now as a vinyl/digital release.

THIRD PARTY PROPAGANDA

What makes them hip is that they’re South African and damn it, they sound it. In fact listening to BLK JKS is kind of like taking a slow cruise through Jozi with your windows rolled down. Afro-jazz riffs segue into tribal rhythms, which swagger through street-level sociology before exploding into hardcore bursts of noise, kwaai kwaito beats and addictive rock hooks. It’s not funk rock. It’s not punk rock. It’s not indie rock. It’s just music, and it’ll infect your mind if you let it.

In many ways the BLK JKS ability to genre hop is reminiscent of South African 80s white rock bands like Via Afrika, whose avant-boere-jive fusion freak-ins and erotic shebeen dub multi-layered mbaqanga chants situated rock in direct opposition to the separate development strategies of Apartheid.

Miles Keylock "Between Rock And The Rainbow Nation"

* MYSTERY EP *

23 March 2009

BEST MUSICIAN SXSW

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MA LETS GO DUBBING W/ BLK JKS

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FOR / ABOUT THE "MYSTERY" EP

xxx2008 THROWBACKxxxx

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SOUND & VISION

SOMES BRIEF NOTES

"LAKESIDE" WORLD DEBUT

THE FUTURE

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THIRD PARTY PROPAGANDA

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