Tumbling out of the radio recently, Black Kids’ ‘I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You’ was a glorious, get-out-of-bed jolt that encouraged ‘Rocky’-style air-boxing across the land, such was its we-will-overcome, indie-pop grandeur. The problem is that said song, plus three others featured on the fuss-causing download EP, ‘Wizard of Ahhhs’, are the highlights of this rush-released LP. It prompts the question, have they already spunked their load?
Kind of. There are the added joys of ‘Love Me Already’, which displays the Brit-pop influence of producer Bernard Butler, and there’s the shape shifting, Go! Team-disco of closer ‘Look at Me…’. In certain quarters, ‘Partie Traumatic’ has even been dubbed Black Kids’ ‘Hot Fuss’. It’s not an unfair comparison given both Black Kids and The Killers’ penchant for ’80s synth-pop (the Casio plinky-plonkiness of The Cure in our Kids’ case) and patchy debut albums.
But where ‘Partie Traumatic’ pales next to The Killers’ first outing is the tweeness in their pop, which suggests, had they been given more time rather than being swept along in happy clappy fashion, they might have written more songs which live up to their early promise. For now, when Reggie Youngblood sings, ‘you’re too much sugar for my sweet tooth,’ it’s hard to believe that could be possible.
