BLK JKS’ highly anticipated full-length debut After Robots will be released September 8 on Secretly Canadian. Following the March release of their MYSTERY EP and return appearance at South by Southwest, South Africa’s BLK JKS are receiving critical praise from The New York Times, SPIN, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, LA Weekly, Time Out New York, New York Daily News and Under the Radar, among others.
Amidst all this critical praise the essence of BLK JKS’ music—a collision of township blues, fringe jazz and renegade dub, heard via the lens of prog—shines through. Music from Africa has never sounded like this, as BLK JKS bring the concept of afro-futurism into a new century.
After Robots was recorded January in Bloomington, IN as BLK JKS traded a South African summer for winter in America and burrowed in for marathon recording sessions of one live take after the next. Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines returned to join the band at the controls and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble appears on several tracks with the swagger of aggressive horn stabs, but throughout After Robots is an original BLK JKS affair—a distinctly South African vision of rock’s global travel and the possibility of what it can sound like from here on out.
BLK JKS first came to the U.S. in the spring of 2008 after a chance meeting with über-producer Diplo while he was on tour in South Africa. The band’s appearance on the cover of the Fader, as well as highly acclaimed sets at South by Southwest, sparked recording sessions at New York’s famed Electric Lady studios that resulted in the MYSTERY EP. They have gone on to share stages in North America and Europe with a celebrated and disparate array of artists including Femi Kuti, Santigold, Dirty Projectors, Michael Franti and Cody Chesnutt; they have played Sasquatch and Soweto Arts Festival; and drummer Tshepang Ramoba has been celebrated by Billboard as “the best musician” at SXSW.
BLK JKS consists of childhood friends Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata who grew up on the same block in Johannesburg’s East Rand where they taught themselves guitar. After the band’s current lineup took shape with the addition of bassist Molefi Makananise and drummer Tshepang Ramoba, both of Soweto, they embarked on a schedule of heavy touring throughout South Africa that earned them a loyal national following.
The first glimpse of the full length, “Mololatladi”(right click, save as) which literally means rainbow in Zulu, is available now as a free mp3.
BLK JKS Tour Dates
June 9 Philadelphia, PA Kungfu Necktie
June 11 Washington, DC The Black Cat
July 5 Brooklyn, NY Weeksville Heritage Center
“A movement unto themselves.”—Fader
“The band’s quick-fingered, multilayered vamps well up out of murky echoes, piling jubilation
atop the anxiety, before submerging again.”— The New York Times
Secretly Canadian is pleased to announce the signing of South Africa’s BLK JKS. After an action packed 2008 that found the band playing its first U.S. shows, receiving critical acclaim from the likes of The New York Times, Billboard, The Guardian and Dazed and Confused, the band is poised to build on their initial success with a March 10 release of their MYSTERY EP, which has been re-mastered and re-sequenced. As a preview for fans, MYSTERY will be available for free digital download from eMusic and Other Music Digital December 8 through January 5. In addition to the free digital preview of MYSTERY, a documentary about the band premieres on December 8 at www.digforfire.tv.
BLK JKS came to the U.S. in the spring of 2008 after a chance meeting with über-producer Diplo while he was on tour in South Africa. Landing on the cover of the Fader, as well as sets at the Fader issue release party and South by Southwest, sparked recording sessions at New York’s famed Electric Lady studios that resulted in the MYSTERY EP. The record was produced by Brandon Curtis of the Secret Machines, who came to BLK JKS as a fan of the band.
BLK JKS consists of childhood friends Linda and Mpumi who grew up on the same block in Johannesburg’s East Rand where they taught themselves guitar. They initially formed the band in 2000, and early BLK JKS shows and recordings garnered attention for their stacks of guitar drone and head-nodding beats. After the band’s current lineup took shape with the addition of bassist Molefi and drummer Tshepang, both of Soweto, they embarked on a schedule of heavy touring throughout South Africa that earned them a loyal national following. The limited edition release of BLK JKS’ now out-of-print 2007 “Lakeside” vinyl-only 10” marked the band’s international debut, selling at select record stores worldwide.
##
PLAY
