Black Kids - Partie Traumatic

“Most of the time, the speed with which this Florida fivesome graduated from basement-show anonymity to major-label renown works to a band’s disadvantage. But in Black Kids’ case, the group’s rocket ride appears to have preserved its more appealingly eccentric tendencies: frontman Reggie Youngblood’s ridiculous yelp of a singing voice, for instance, or Dawn Watley’s ultra-cheesy synth lines, which quote pretty much every new wave hit of the ’80s. Produced by Bernard Butler of Suede, “Partie Traumatic” could be Junior Senior covering the Cure; like Robert Smith, Youngblood describes the exquisite torment of having his heart broken again and again, while the other Black Kids (including Youngblood’s sister Ali on keys and backing vocals) throw down delirious disco-pop grooves that mock the singer for being so down in the mouth.—Mikael Wood”