back in march 2006, black kids was founded by reggie youngblood (guitar and vocals) and his sister ali youngblood (keyboards and vocals).  looking to round out the band, the siblings didn't have to search far.  in fact, they met other members owen holmes (bass guitar), kevin snow (drums), and dawn watley (keyboards and vocals) as children while attending sunday school. they started out playing shows in their hometown of jacksonville, often as support for more well-known bands passing through town.

their fate took a huge turn at the 2007 athens popfest.  it was on that day they were discovered by the almighty blogosphere.  soon after, nme, the guardian, the village voice, vice and pitchfork jumped onto the "black kids express".  next thing they knew, they were blowing up.  in fact only two months after the popfest performance, the band had to turn away hundreds of new fans who came to see them perform at the 2007 cmj music marathon.

after that, rolling stone called them one of ten bands to watch in 2008, and the band was listed at the number 8 position in the bbc sound of 2008 poll.  partie traumatic, released july 22, 2008, debuted at number 5 on the uk albums chart and number 17 on the billboard independent chart.

there is some great stuff available online.  click here for a may 16, 2008 show recorded in philadelphia with support from the band, does it offend you, yeah?  click here for a studio session recorded by wxpn's world café, july 17, 2008.  click here to watch a july 28, 2008 set/interview recorded by kcrw's morning becomes eclectic.  click here for a may 7, 2008 live performance from the current on minnesota public radio.  click here for a december 2007 gig recorded by colorbar factory at club tsi discothèque, in their hometown of jacksonville, florida.  finally, click here to watch as they make their u.s. network television debut on dave, july 24, 2008.

black kids have a ton of dates on the horizon. among many others, stops include tampa, d.c., new york, and chicago.  click here to find out if they are playing near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.