Black Kids – Wizard of Ahhhs

You know what sucks?

I mean aside from house fires, speeding tickets, and being mauled by bears.

Trying to stay on a diet.

Not to say I’m pushing maximum density or anything, I can still see my genitals and all, but I am heavier than I’d like and I have clothes that don’t fit as well as they did say…eight months ago. So I’m trying to buckle down and drop a few pounds.

The only obstacle seems to be my friends.

All I want to do is eat a healthy lunch, hit the gym for an hour, eat my Lean Cuisine and be done with it. But with my circle of friends it’s harder and harder to do so. Never mind the fact that I’m a partner in a Bar and Grill and therefore have access to free buffalo wings and burgers whenever I want. My friends always want to BBQ somewhere and always want to drink.

On Monday I was settling down when Billy called me (we were going over our new menu at the bar) and asked if I’d eaten. I told him I had and was taking it easy, but if he wanted to cook for himself on my grill he was welcome to.

The next thing I know, he shows up with four huge fresh sausages and two giant stuffed portobello mushrooms. Then, the next night he showed up with fresh foccacia and olive tapenade and two excellent cheeses as well as some wine!

I know this doesn’t sound like something to complain about, but fucking-A! How’s a man going to stay thin with shit like this going down on a nightly basis?

Well, the one thing I don’t have a problem doing is listening to The Black Kid’s album from last year, the highly acclaimed “Wizard of Ahhhs.” This is what you’d hear on the radio if radio wasn’t a repetitive wasteland where hit’s go to die.

Formed in early 2006 in Jacksonville Florida, the band consists of siblings Reggie and Ali Youngblood on guitar, keyboard and vocals; Kevin Snow on drums, Owen Holmes an bass and Dawn Watly on keyboard and vocals too. That’s a lot of vocals and keyboards!

At first the band did pretty well as an opening act for larger bands that toured through the area, but soon hit it big after a stunning performance at the Athens Popfest in Georgia that August. With a flurry of favorable reviews and coverage they released this EP for free download off their MySpace page soon after, showing once again that giving away music for free isn’t the career suicide that it was once accused of being.

Their sound is kind of indie, but as I’ve said before it’s more good than anything else. Catchy and uplifting. Check out the awesome ‘I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You’ or my other favorite ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again).’ I find it no wonder that they were picked up by Quest management who also manages the equally badass Arcade Fire. 

(I’ve heard a lot of peolpe hating on their music lately, but I take it as a backlash to the overhype they’ve been getting as of late. This is pop music.  What do you want from it anyway?)

They’ve recently released their first full length album “Partie Traumatic” which is not up for free download, but you can still find “Wizard” online at their MySpace page. I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet, but I figure it probably rules.

Go get it, people.