Tonight:
4°c
Critic rating
, No kidding - they live up to the hype
Johnny Sharp, London Lite 13 Mar 2008
They're multi-racial (despite the name), brother-and-sister led, and would be stopped in the street by any self-respecting style mag photographer.
That may be part of the reason this Florida quintet have had half a rainforest's worth of excited press after only one limited edition single.
Most people here were probably wondering if their songs would live up to their style, but for the first four songs a muddy sound mix made it hard to tell.
Then the chorus of Hurricane Jane hit us. "It's Friday night and I ain't got nobody," yelped Reggie Youngblood, sounding like The Cure's Robert Smith and looking like a black Marc Bolan.
Even on a quiet Wednesday, he connected with something primal in every love-lorn pop picker.
They followed it up with I Wanna Be Your Limousine, a funky indie-pop groove laced with kitschy synth. Reggie's between-song banter with sister Ali won us over further, before the impossibly infectious, Cure-meets-Go-Team floor-filler I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You made resistance futile. It's official - Black Kids are all right.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (1)
The School/Pocketbooks/Sunny Street/The Give it Ups
Buffalo Bar March 12th, 2008
Twee pop is back in fashion - it's official. From the happy group singalongs of I'm from Barcelona to the grandiose 60's sounds of Lucky Soul, indiepop is back to rule the music blogosphere, if not quite yet the charts. Tonight's line-up is a glorious array of cutie pop favourites, and support acts Sunny Street and The Give it Ups both tinkle out pleasant enough sounding melodies to hum and sway to. But it is London band Pocketbooks who steal the show tonight - even from headliners The School. Their fab new single Waking Up sounds even richer live on stage, with ever-fast building piano lines and curling guitar licks perfectly complementing singer Emma's honeyed vocals. First single Cross the Line gets the crowd swaying and singing along, and handclaps are soon the order of the night. By contrast Cardiff band The School, led by platinum blonde Liz of The Loves, seem a little tired, and Liz admits that she's only just woken up from a sleep in their communal van. Recently signed to major independent label Elefant Records, the band are clearly working hard to promote their new pink vinyl single All I Wanna Do, and it shows. They plug somewhat methodically through their songs, although Shoulder and Valentine still sound fantastic in their own mini-Wall of Sound way. Judging by the excitement of the crowd - despite it being a Wednesday evening - indiepop is back to stay, you have been warned!
- Jessica French, Highgate, London, 13/03/2008 22:06
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