{"product_id":"blk-jks_abantu-before-humans_2021_mdl","title":"Abantu \/ Before Humans","description":"THE ICONIC SOUTH AFRICAN UNDERGROUND GROUP IS BACK WITH A 2ND ALBUM. A leading light of the South African underground scene, the band BLK JKS (pronounced BlackJacks), supported by The Mars Volta and TV On The Radio, is back with a new album for Glitterbeat after more than 10 years of absence. Conceived as a prequel to their album After Robots, Abantu \/ Before Humans features echoes of spiritual jazz, post-apocalyptic funk, as well as dub elements and smuggled kwaito. Guests on the album include Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and their Beastie Boys collaborator, Money Mark, on the track \"Maiga\". After jamming with The Roots, sharing the stage with Squarepusher, Femi Kuti, and Lou Reed, and recording their first EP Mystery at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady studio, they released their first album, After Robots, on Secretly Canadian in 2009. Their participation in the launch concert of the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Alicia Keys allowed them to play in front of two billion television viewers, and their single \"Lakeside\" appeared on the FIFA 10 soundtrack. But, just as suddenly as they appeared on the international scene, BLK JKS disappeared... In January 2018, they recorded a cover of a track by their mentor Hugh Masekela with his son on vocals and Tebogo Seitei on trumpet. BLK JKS invited the young trumpet virtuoso to complete the band, making it a quartet. They then locked themselves away for many weeks at the Soweto Theatre Orchestra Pit, which they transformed into a studio, and there they recorded their reinvention of a rock sound with diasporic African roots, focused on guitar and brass. But the studio was burgled and the hard drives on which the tracks were saved were stolen. The band returned to the studio a year later and re-recorded the album. In 2009, BLK JKS had explored the future with After Robots, and today the legacy of this first record now has a retro-futuristic name: afropunk. Often cited as an influence by Spoek Mathambo, Nakhane, Petite Noire, and Urban Village, it would not be far from the truth to say that BLK JKS lit the fuse that set fire to the nascent afropunk movement in their home country, South Africa.","brand":"BLK JKS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55311872754008,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0898\/4943\/0360\/files\/4030433610817.jpg?v=1760405263","url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en-us\/products\/blk-jks_abantu-before-humans_2021_mdl","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}