Africa always seems to be the neglected continent, so it is not surprising that the popularity of native musicians it is certainly muted on a global scale. Sure there are some acts that get noticed, most notably from the west African nations of Mali (Amadou & Miriam, Ali Farka Touré, and Toumani Diabaté) and Nigeria (Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Femi Kuti), but most bands are left high and dry when it comes to catching the ears of an international audience.

Well the South African group BLK JKS are trying to change this. Breaking onto the scene in 2007 and already having a Fader Magazine cover and feature to their credit, the BLK JKS certainly don’t have an issue with getting noticed. In fact, it seems like NPR has fallen head-over-heels for the band and are going to feature them in their stacked SXSW concert coverage.

Armed with a new Secretly Canadian released EP entitled Mystery, the BLK JKS are ready to take Austin by storm. Their sound, described by the erudite music writers at the New York Times as “more TV on the Radio than Ladysmith Black Mambazo”, is a complete 180 from the more popular “traditional” (I cringe) African bands.

“Lakeside” opens up with a calm sea-breeze guitar line before barreling head first into a more art-rock type of syncopation championed by the rhythmic swells of the percussion that turns your peaceful day at the beach into one caught inside a storm surge. The title track follows in similar psychedelic fashion of beginning slow before abruptly shifting into a whirlwind of guitar noise and verbal fulminations around the two minute mark. “Tinstaa”, the most interesting track of the lot, opens with an appeasement to typical world music fans by highlighting bluesy lines made from local instrumentation before *BAM* reverbed guitar enters the seemingly improvised jam session to annihilate the ear drums of the listener. While most might think this as a bastardization of the “world music” brand, I view it as progress ― the BLK JKS are breaking all preconceived notions of what “world music” is supposed to be and are thus freeing themselves of the inherent restrictions of being labeled an “African band”.

Let me pause for a second to get off my soapbox…

Well anyways, you can check out some of their songs below or, if you are one of the lucky ones, check them out at their only scheduled showcase at the Mohawk Patio March 19 at 10:30 pm. No doubt they will be very busy playing free day shows during the entirety of the festival, so look for them there as well!

BLK JKS // Lakeside

BLK JKS // Tinstaa