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black kids bring it home
Black Kids & Lo Fi Fnk at TSI
by christina wagner

      I’m reluctantly working on my birthday eve and it feels like 200 degrees packed inside TSI. I started off the night right by mistaking Kevin’s brother, for well, Kevin (Snow, the drummer). Feeling like a total jackass I make a bee-line toward the bar and wait for the magic to happen. It seems like yesterday when Reggie Youngblood was jamming with a Christian ska band in one corner and Owen Holmes was rocking the bass in a sweet blue mohawk with the Christian pop punk band Lugnut in the other corner. Fast forward to now and we have a very different scenario.
      A wall of energy erupted off the stage from the first chord and maintained throughout the entire set, boasting more stamina than a Ron Jeremy porno. Well, almost. It would be easy to compare Youngblood’s vocals to Robert Smith, but there’s so much more to it. With witty lyrics like, “It’s quite all right, you can stay the night/ But please be gone by next morning’s light/ It’s not me, it’s you.” You’ve gotta love someone who has the balls to sing something like that. The hooks are about as addictive as the live performance itself. Youngblood commands the audience to, “Dance, Dance Dance!”
      Black Kids shot up to underground stardom following their performance at the Athens Popfest, and the excitement doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. With a song on BBC Radio 1, an 8.4 rating from Pitchfork Media and a sold out upcoming CMJ performance, Black Kids seem to be entering a very busy and exciting year and I can’t think of a group of people that deserve it more.
      With what seems to be a new trend, their current EP, Wizard of Ahhhs, is available for download on myspace.com/blackkidsrock. The recorded stuff is well mixed, but the real treat is the live show with Dawn Watley and Ali Youngblood on the keys side by side, almost like the modern day Motown girls, egging on the crowd, even prompting the scene kids to clap. And gasp! They did! Owen Holmes’ usual bass genius was also present with Kevin Snow holding it all together.
      Next up was Low-Fi-Fnk, the duo from Stockholm, Sweden. Not bad, but not great. I might have been impressed if they opened, but my bar had been raised by the Black Kids’ performance. Although a blatant rip-off of New Order, I was drawn in by the velvety smooth voice that somehow made it through the bass-thumping organized chaos. Blend three parts catchy well-written disco pop and one part gay bar music.
      The best was Reggie’s little peep show: his zipper was down the entire set. I wonder if it was intentional. Rock stars.

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