I went to a concert with my friend Kristen a few nights ago. She’s a fan of Kongos, and they were the headliners at 106.1 the Underground’s 2^nd Elfin Christmas show at New Orleans’ House of Blues.

About a month ago, when she asked me to go with her, my answer was a no-brainer. Even though I only knew one Kongos song—I’d heard “Come With Me Now” on Alt Nation ( it’s also been featured in a Dodge Ram truck commercial, The Expendables 3, and WWE’s Extreme Rules). But I like alternative rock as a rule, and Kristen would be coming into town (she lives about an hour away), and we’d get to spend a girl’s night out. On a school night, no less. So my no-brainer answer was yes.

It was a great show. As a newly-minted Kongos fan, I feel the need to share some of my Wikipedia (and Kristen)-gained knowledge. The band Kongos consists of four brothers whose last name is Kongos. Their father is the recording artist John Kongos. They’re from South Africa, though they’ve been in the U.S. (Arizona) for the past twenty years. They attended Arizona State, but I won’t hold that against them. (I’m an Arizona alum, and rivalries never die. Funny how fellow Wildcat Kristen failed to mention the Sun Devil affiliation to me).

One brother, Johnny, plays the accordion! (I love the accordion). There’s accordion in a lot of their songs—a very prominent sound in some, very subtle in others. There’s only a touch of it in one song in particular, which brings me back around to the title of this post. I had the rare and delightful experience of hearing a new favorite song performed live—by the composers—before ever hearing a recording.

The song is “Autocorrect.” I didn’t know that when I heard it live, because I could only make out a few lyrics here and there. It was the music that nabbed me. It has this crescendo cadence to it, and it builds to big drums as punctuation. They performed it late in their set, and it was past my bedtime. But when they played this song, my blood started flowing (in time to the beat). I knew the song was a keeper.

If the music caught me, the lyrics sealed the deal. I downloaded the song the next morning, and looked up the lyrics. They could be an outline to a science fiction story! There’s even a reference to The Matrix.

So if you like alternative rock, and drums, and keyboards, and building rhythms, and science fiction, I urge you to quit reading and give it a listen (there’s a link above). If you’re still not convinced, I’ll leave you with an excerpt of the lyrics (with expletives censored—I try to keep this blog PG-13.) 🙂

In the future
Will I need my mind?
Or will Google
Take over this grind?

I’m so tired
Of using my head
Just wanna be wired
Directly into this grid

I wanna get f***ed up
And then hit undo
Get my head hooked up
To download some kung fu
I wanna be free
Of all responsibility
I want a TV
Right on my retina please

And if it looks like sh**’s about to go down
I don’t think twice, it’s alright
And if, and if it looks like I’m about to hit the ground
I know that I won’t pay the price
I don’t care, I don’t care if trouble feels like coming around
Cause I got Autocorrect (for life)
Autocorrect for life