Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

Almost Gold

Hopes were stratospheric for Black Kids’ debut album, after the sugarbomb delight of the single, the word count-devouring ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You’. Sad to say, there’s nothing here to match it, though a few tracks get close. The album as a whole smacks of a band being thrust towards a studio and name producer (in this case, Bernard Butler) before they are ready. Several songs, most notably ‘Love Me Already’, taste sickly-sweet, but the saccharine overproduction throughout is the biggest problem, and you can’t exactly blame the band for that. On the credit side, ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again)’ is a lovely slice of Spectorish Sixties pop, ‘I’m Making Eyes At You’ has a killer of a tear-smudged chorus and second single ‘Hurricane Jane’ does a good job of aping Chromeo’s retro-sleaze in the verses before exploding in a shower of melody when the chorus arrives. But it doesn’t quite shift the slightly cloying aftertaste. Maybe next time. Chris Jones

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DOWNLOAD: ‘I’M NOT GONNA TEACH YOUR BOYFRIEND HOW TO DANCE WITH YOU’, ‘I’VE UNDERESTIMATED MY CHARM (AGAIN)’, ‘PARTIE TRAUMATIC’.
FOR FANS OF: BLONDIE, DURAN DURAN, MYSTERY JETS.

Issue #51 - I Told You This Would Be A Good Issue

Featuring Biffy Clyro, Of Montreal, Duke Special, Frightened Rabbit, Cold War Kids, Jay Reatard, Pat Mills, and more.