Black Kids

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More About

• Jacksonville
• Reggie Youngblood
• Dawn Watley
• Science and Technology
• Internet

Last year Jacksonville quintet Black Kids released a free four-song EP full of electro-tinged dance songs addressing themes of incest and gender ambiguity. Girls went wild — well, bloggers did anyway — and somehow the group got signed to Columbia Records. The band's debut full-length, Partie Traumatic, contains all the songs from the EP plus six more that continue in the same party-starting-and-then-party-fouling vein. Nearly all the tracks boast immediately accessible progressions and sexual drama.

Lead singer Reggie Youngblood usually plays the undersexed protagonist, while keyboardists Ali Youngblood (Reggie's sister, of course) and Dawn Watley tend to play the unenthusiastic love interests. Album highlights such as "Look at Me (When I Rock Wichoo)" and "I'm Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You" practically out-Eighties the New Wave tracks being played at tribute nights around the nation. In fact Partie Traumatic could be the soundtrack to a film about a wild night at the clubs, one in which everyone got drunk, got their grooves on, but ultimately didn't get laid. Though it might seem strange for an album with such swaggering beats to tell such bleak tales, its blogging audience can probably identify with it. Call it blissful club music for nerds.