SA Rocks

The BLK JKS from an essay by SA writer miles keylock called “between rock and the rainbow nation”:

What makes them hip is that they’re South African and damn it, they sound it. In fact listening to BLK JKS is kind of like taking a slow cruise through Jozi with your windows rolled down. Afro-jazz riffs segue into tribal rhythms, which swagger through street-level sociology before exploding into hardcore bursts of noise, kwaai kwaito beats and addictive rock hooks. It’s not funk rock. It’s not punk rock. It’s not indie rock. It’s just music, and it’ll infect your mind if you let it.

In many ways the BLK JKS ability to genre hop is reminiscent of South African 80s white rock bands like Via Afrika, whose avant-boere-jive fusion freak-ins and erotic shebeen dub multi-layered mbaqanga chants situated rock in direct opposition to the separate development strategies of Apartheid.

They even posted an “mzabalazo” cut which is an update of the 80s toyi-toyi anthems, they posted it on their blog for madiba’s bday but its not specifically dedicated to him but rather all the cultural warriors past and present. Madiba Happy Happy!

You can find the BLK JKS via their website/blog or over at – RCRDLBL

via:Africa is a country

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