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 enlarge | Artist: Black Kids
Label: Red Int / Red Ink
Category: Music
List Price: $12.98
Buy New: $4.21
You Save: $8.77 (68%)
New (53) Used (18) from $3.95
Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 3421
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4
MPN: 731783
UPC: 886973178324
EAN: 0886973178324
ASIN: B001AZI1XC
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW IN SHRINK WRAP! NEVER OPENED FACTORY SEALED! All Day Low Prices! Buy From Us, Sell To Us, We Do it All!!
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Showing reviews 6-10 of 15
 A Little Bit Satanic July 26, 2008
Armin Tamzarian (Springfield, USA)
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
So pitchfork initially gave this album a 0.0 review but later changed it to 3.3 but didn't bother to even waste their time writing a review, but here's what doesn't make any sense, When the Wizard of ahhhs EP came out they gave it an 8.3. A few months later they release Partie Traumatic which is essentially the same exact album with 2 new songs, the only difference is that there is better production value which to me makes the songs sound better, but then again, who really cares what pitchfork thinks anyway? They're nothing but a bunch of elitist hipster snobs who generally dislike everything and the things that usually get good reviews are garbage. Screw Pitchfork, try this album for yourself.
Partie Non Stop! August 8, 2008
Burnt Fur (Boston MA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
www.pitchforkmedia.com, a website I regularly go to for music news, couldn't even review this album but posted a score of 3.3 out of 10 and a cutesy picture of pugs where the review would be. It pretty much made me sick (except the pugs were there to stop me).
Over the past decade we've come to a point where a lot of people think they are alternative, but they just wear some of the clothes and buy some of the music some of the time. Then they make music themselves and things get really confusing. There are an equal number of people that latch on to indie bands like it's a cult, expecting each one to follow a pretentious code of indie conduct or be severed as unworthy. There's an identity crisis going on that leads to the pitchfork review--an inability to let go of definition and just have a good time. This is exactly what Black Kids do with their music. They don't appear to care if they are a geeky blend of new wave, Motown and Brit-pop set in Florida of all places. They sing unabashedly of teenage lust and getting out on the dance floor. They are not afraid to play simple melodies on their keyboards alongside their more complex rhythm section maneuvers. Like another band from the south I love, The B-52's, they sound like they are doing this because the songs are fun, without any pretention. This band is the real thing, but it isn't designed to blow your mind away because of it. They certainly are not looking to turn off the indie crowd in the process, but to look to their debut to fulfill any indie precedents of clever intellect, instrument use, or production is futile. They can't hear you from the dance floor and excuse me I need to join them.
The band didn't rise up through years of calculated self released material, contacting and negotiating with labels, promoters, etc. They were at the right place and time. The attraction was having a download only EP containing early versions of four of their best songs. They toured Europe building anticipation for their debut. By the time they were ready to record Partie Traumatic the band need not cater to every label whim--they were wanted as is, so to mess with the formula would be a mistake. It's a freedom most bands never get. Another mistake would be to try to write songs that prove the worth of the band to the indie crowd.
The new songs on the album are just as good as the four songs they reworked from their debut EP and blend into the album arrangement seamlessly. The same blend of influences is there, with maybe a little more emphasis on their obvious love for '80s pop from The Cure. I can easily pick out two or three new songs that could be released as singles. But nothing on the release shows they are intending to take over as indie rock gods. The band isn't seeking to play big arenas with their songs, or to bring everyone together for some collective experience. They just want to have fun, so they do.
So to have the opportunity to do what they want, then follow through with an honest release that contains seriously fun and well executed material is much, much more refreshing than reading some jerk go on and on about how the album didn't "wow" him so it must not be any good. I can dance alone if I have to and still have a good time. I guess that's the point.
 Hardly Traumatic, Could Be Better July 23, 2008
Page Scott (San Francisco, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I totally fell in love with the Black Kids' EP, which contained "Hit the Heartbrakes", "Hurricane Jane", "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend...", and "I've Underestimated My Charm". I think these are all great songs, so I was psyched to pick up the Black Kids' debut album. From my initial listenings, I was impressed with this band's potential. However, I think their debut could have been better.
Like the other reviewers mentioned, the production is a bit different, but I didn't think the change was drastic. However, there's no new song on the album that's any better than "Teach Your Boyfriend", my favorite track, or any other of their previous songs. I was hoping they'd build on what we'd heard before, rather than giving us more of the same. Partie Traumatic is much too short and ends abruptly. It has no "arc" or songs that differ in dynamics much, which gives the album the impression of being thrown together quickly. I can't blame the Black Kids' label for wanting to get their music out there, as it could potentially be a "next big thing". But at a mere 38 minutes, the party hardly has a chance to get started.
Black Kids - Partie Traumatic 5.5/10 July 24, 2008
Rudy Klapper (Los Angeles / Orlando)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Black Kids are the latest in a long line of "next-big-thing" bands trumpeted by musical tastemakers such as NME and Pitchfork, with their EP Wizard of Ahhs featured on numerous "Best New Music" lists. Copping heavily from the `80s, with a vocalist in the best Robert Smith tradition, and a deep bag of sugary melodies at their disposal, Black Kids seemed to have all the ingredients to make it big in the indie world. They're even from (Jacksonville!!!) Florida, and I have to give them credit for escaping that cultural black hole.
But as many bands do when the bullet train of Internet publicity hits them, smart decisions and good artistic choices tend to go out the window (see: Some Loud Thunder) in favor of cashing in on the hype. And so we have Partie Traumatic, Black Kids' debut album released almost a year after their EP but consisting of no less than four songs (all of them, in other words) from that record. That's 40% of this disc of "new" material. Sure, they've been "re-recorded," but honestly, everyone knows it's the same bleepin' song.
But wait, the songs are good, aren't they? After all, didn't Rolling Stone name Black Kids one of their "artists to watch" for 2008? Yes, the songs are good. They were good when everyone first heard them back in August '07. Catchy and irrepressibly urgent, the tunes bounce along on cheap synths and singer Reggie Youngblood's Cure-ish yearning yelp.
"I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" is the best of these four, although "Hit The Heartbrakes" comes in at a close second. Both cash in on quirky, appealing choruses and playful boy-girl vocal interplay. The sexy cowbell on "Heartbrakes" doesn't hurt, either.
Of the new songs, however, Black Kids doesn't seem to live up to much of the hype. To begin with, all of the songs sound pretty much the same to those on the EP, all four-on-the-floor beats and squeaky keyboards. Songs like "Listen To Your Body Tonight" and the title track seem practically interchangeable with the four from the EP, with only slight distinctions, such as a slightly more obnoxious synthesizer line than usual, to separate them from the pack.
Unfortunately, Partie Traumatic tends to coast along on cruise control for the majority of the album. Youngblood's voice goes from cute to tolerable to annoying by the middle of the album. That same needling `80s synth pops up in nearly every song, and virtually every tune skips along at the same vaguely dance-y tempo. And the lyrics are ridiculously inane, from "my girl's been a real whore / spending her time with Theodore" on "Love Me Already" to the unbelievable line "cuz it's so sticky in the Dirty South / it's hot as balls" on "Hit The Heartbrakes." Much like Youngblood's voice, the youthful charm quickly wears off with repetition.
At the end of the day, what Black Kids have offered up is a serviceable indie pop album that does present a number of viable singles and a glimpse at actual talent buried under a cloying affection for the `80s. One can only hope they survive long enough in the oversaturated world of Internet hype long enough to realize it.
I adore the Black Kids! July 28, 2008
Jacquelyn St Aubyn (Lawrence, KS, USA)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This album is absolutely charming, even though it's mainly a rehash of previously released music. It doesn't matter to me - I can't get enough of them. Their energy is addictive!
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