Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2009

If you believe certain quarters of the US music press, South African quartet Blk Jks is destined to be the biggest rock band of the next decade. That’s a curious claim—much as After Robots bristles with potential, it’s hard to imagine anyone whistling any of the group’s songs on their way to work. This is a distended sprawl of a record: as ambitious and stylistically diverse as it is maddeningly unfocused. Though the limber rhythms and brass arrangements of songs like “Molalatladi” proudly flaunt the musical influences of the band’s home continent, Blk Jks’ dubbed-out progressive rock more frequently recalls The Mars Volta. Like that band, they’re forever hurling ideas against the wall, never stopping for long enough to notice which ones stick.