To celebrate playing the first ever World Cup kickoff concert in front of over 30,000 fans and billions more tuning in on TV, South Africa’s BLK JKS have released a generally uplifting new EP.

While the tracks on Zol! are new to most of the world, their countrymen shouldn’t be surprised with what they hear. Two of the six tracks are the band’s take on South African street anthems.

“Mzabalazo”, which has become one of the band’s live staples, is a demo of a 1980’s anti-apartheid protest chant that is riddled with raucous whistling and handclaps. BLK JKS use bass and deep vocals to turn the song’s melody into a powerful groove while guitarist Mpumi Mcata wails away in the background.

The title track is an updated version of a Johannesburg street chant (“Zol After Zol”), which the quartet actually recorded in Brooklyn, N.Y. During recording sessions, drummer, Tshepang Ramoba described Molefi Makananise’s bass line as “kind of, like, very cheesy.”

Ironically, it’s Ramoba’s own lead vocal that makes the track so catchy. The word “zol” is slang for “spliff,” and the song’s call and response hook declares, “I can roll and shoot at the same time.” While it’s hard to tell if they’re talking about futbol or drugs, both “Mzabalazo” and “Zol!” are testaments to the region’s rich tradition and troubled past. Still, the release is more than BLK JKS’s version of Jock Jams.

In less than thirty minutes, BLK JKS also prove that they’re worth every ounce of hype they received in 2009. The rest of Zol!’s tracks expand on a sound that won last year’s After Robots a SAMA (South Africa’s version of a Grammy) for best alternative music album, and almost unanimous praise from the music blogosphere.

“Bogobe” starts with atmospheric guitar, then slowly builds into a down tempo collection of guitar echo mixed behind Lindani Buthelezi’s voice; “Iietys” borrows the mood from “It’s In Everything You’ll See” (a track from their 2008 EP –Mystery), and even uses the song’s title as a lyric. The six-minute cut is a delightfully gloomy tip of the hat to prog-rock musings in the vein of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.

The EP might be frustrating to some; but if BLK JKS continue to expand their sound on their next LP, then fans shouldn’t mind settling for the five songs on Zol! while the band (and the rest of the globe) celebrates the world’s greatest sporting event.