National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Just in case you've been living under a rock, one of the most talked-about bands to emerge anywhere last year was BLK JKS - a South African four-piece that took rock's classic guitars-drums-n-bass lineup to some very strange and intense new places; and re-imagined what it meant to be make "African music" in the bargain.

Formed by guitarists Lindani Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata - who grew up on the same block in Johannesburg's East Rand neighborhood - and rounded out by bassist Molefi Makananise and drummer Tshepang Ramoba, BLK JKS play new kind of post-prog guitar rock; full of dense textures, insistent rhythms and haunting, impressionistic lyrics, all filtered through a distinctly South African sensibility.

After the release of last year's Mystery EP they became indie rock heroes here in the States, knocking audiences flat at festivals all over the U.S. (most notably at Austin's SXSW conference earlier this Spring), and garnering critical acclaim from all comers.

Now BLK JKS are back with After Robots , the group's first full-length LP out this month on the Secretly Canadian label. Produced by Secret Machine's Brandon Flowers, and recorded in the chilly depths of an Indiana winter, After Robots finds BLK JKS at the top of their game, and ready to embrace whole new audiences.

So where does the new album's title, After Robots come from?

Lindani Buthelezi: In South Africa, a robot is what we call a traffic light, and when someone takes a minibus or a taxi, they tell the driver to stop 'after robot' to show where they want to get out. We just liked the way that it sounded.

So it's not an afro-futurist manifesto about what happens after intelligent robots take over the world?

Tshepang Ramoba: [laughs] Maybe if you want it to be. There's something for everybody.

Lindani Buthelezi: We like that it gets lost in translation a little bit. It's a very South African thing to say, but when you say "after robot" in a taxi in New York or London it sounds very funny, I promise you!

So what is After Robots all about?

Mpumi Mcata: I would say it's about a return to naturalness, about changing modes. The world is intersecting with itself, trying to shed the toxins and going back to organic ways of living and thinking... everything is connected... we're trying to get back to that state of naturalness.

Molefi Makananise: We have a very famous shaman in South Africa named Credo Mutwa, who says that children who get vaccinated are blocked from having visions later in life. This record was about unblocking our creative process, to recover things that have been lost and hidden.

Mpumi Mcata: In the Zulu language the world iZulu means the sky and the heavens and the Zulu are the people of the heavens. In the old days, Zulus could fly. We're trying to get back to that.

Through music?

Mpumi: Why not? [laughs]

Lindani: That naturalness translates into the new record waiting for moments of inspiration, recording the subconscious sound of Africa.

You guys recorded After Robots in Bloomington, IN, in the dead of winter. What was that like?

Tshepang: So cold! We went direct from summer to winter! Nobody told us how cold it was in Indiana! [laughs]

Mpumi: After Robots was recorded in three weeks. We could have taken longer and been more finicky with the recording, but we wanted to capture the moment and not lose the raw materials of inspiration.

Lindani: Time and space played a big factor in the recording of this record. Being away from the environment where the music was composed was an eye-opener and a very good move for the band. Really, we could have recorded it anywhere - in New York or London or Africa - but doing it in a small town really gave us focus.

Mpumi: Being in the studio this time was a little more visceral. We had more time to get into this album and be in the moment, but also more calculated. Mystery was recorded in a weekend, and this time we had room to stretch out - but not too much.

How was working with Brandon Flowers again?

Lindani: Really good, you know. Brandon is a great guy to work with for us. He can really flip and switch between two worlds; between Africa and the U.S. He knows how to get us excited, open us up, so that we can bring where we're from.

Mpumi: Brandon understands that we're all about vibes and naturalism and the energy of people. Brandon knows how to just let us be and not push us to get any particular sound. He just lets it all happen organically.

Brandon worked with you on Mystery, too, which was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NYC... was it a big change going from there to Bloomington?

Mpumi: It's not about what studio you're in, it's what state you're in as a band, as a unit. For Mystery we'd been living with those songs for so long that we just let them all come out in a rush. For After Robots we didn't live with those songs for as long, but our playing together as band had really grown after so much touring.

Lindani: I take nothing away from either of those studios; both were what we needed at that time. But Electric Lady does have this amazing legacy, and that can knock you dead sometimes. Like you'll be focusing on just getting a part down on tape and then you see, like, "oh, this guitar pedal was used by Jimi Hendrix, and it still works". It's like Ka-pow! You're possessed by the spirit of Mr. Jimi.

Mpumi: It definitely sneaks up on you. When my sister died in 2005, I never cried. But at Electric Lady, I had these feelings that I wasn't able to process. It was an emotional short circuit.