The story of BLK JKS (pronounced Black Jacks) reads like a real life rock’n’roll legend. For a couple of years around the end of the 00’s, the enigmatic South African rock quartet was ascendant. “Discovered” by Diplo, they went on to befriend everyone from The Mars Volta to TV On The Radio. They jammed with The Roots and hung out with Lou Reed at SXSW. They played double bills with Squarepusher at South Bank (UK) and Femi Kuti at Irving Plaza (NYC). They recorded an EP named Mystery by chance at Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Electric Lady Studios. This and a Fader Magazine cover feature led to the band signing with Secretly Canadian in 2009.

Their debut album After Robots went on to blow down the walls of rock'n'roll Jericho with its heady mix of post-apocalyptic African funk rock, jazz, kwaito, renegade dub, psych-prog, mbaqanga, and soul. Confidently pushing one golden envelope through another, the band captivated a cult following worldwide. Dave Grohl declared After Robots his favourite album of 2009.  A live collaboration with Alicia Keys at the 2010 World Cup Kick-Off Concert to an estimated audience of two billion and their song “Lakeside” being synched on EA Sports’ FIFA10 soundtrack led to Rolling Stone dubbing BLK JKS “Africa’s best new band”.

BLK JKS finally re-enter the musical fray with their long-awaited new album Abantu / Before Humans. Their prequel to After Robots. Abantu is a surreal journey of an album, beaming with vision and power; yet it possesses a hauntingly vulnerable beauty.

We Are Busy Bodies will release the album in North America on May 21. Glitterbeat will release the album worldwide.