By Chris Riemenschneider
"You're never going to see them again for the first time." So said Cedar Culutral Center volunteer Big Nick last night in his introduction of BLK JKS, after he got only one response asking who in the crowd had seen the South African band perform before (and that one responder was probably just stoned and wanted to hear his own voice).
Nick's statement proved to be a pretty profound thing to say for two reasons: A good chunk of the SRO crowd (about a quarter of it) left the venue by midshow, and thus they may choose to never see the band again. The exits might've had as much to do with the Cedar's ever-inadequate ventilation as it did the quartet's challenging appeal (also, some people were attending with passes for the entire Global Roots Fest and probably planned to just stay a while).
The other reason the "first time" statement hit home was because this was definitely a gig by a band still getting its wings. They're young guys (mid-20s) with a lot of big ideas and probably a wider range of musicial influence than us Americans can imagine. They could clearly afford to whittle down their music quite a bit, focus it in areas and add some things here and there (namely, more instruments/bandmates). The show lacked the tighter oomph of the album but showed off other sides of the band, too. For those of us who do plan to see them again, this show will be remembered as a fascinating starting-point.
How wild was it? I saw some fans doing the twirly hands dance you see at hippie jam-band fests in the same song that I saw some guys looking like they were ready to start a mosh pit. At times, it sounded like a free-form acid-jazz jam, at other times I thought the Butthole Surfers ("Lakeside") or Bad Brains ("Molalatadi") were trying on Afrobeat, and other points had the more obvious echoes of Fela Kuti, TV on the Radio and sped-up soukous music. The climax was the eerie "Tselane," which came off like as it built and built through varying sounds to a stormy finish.
I've put a moratorium on recounting Prince shout-outs from shows, but I got a good laugh out of the band members' exchange about him on stage: "I hear he's from here." "Is he here?" "Yeah, he's here, it's just dark you can't see him."
Also, a cool upcoming show that fans of this band might appreciate: The Afro-punk film/festival organization is presenting a tour with Saul Williams, the London Souls, Krak Attack and more, coming to the Varsity Theater on Oct. 25.
