| Page 2 of 2 < |
RECORDINGS Quick Spins
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Destroyer will perform at the Black Cat on April 25.
-- Jess Harvell
DOWNLOAD THESE:"Rivers," "Leopard of Honor"
MIDNIGHT BOOM
The Kills
Onstage, the Kills' garage rock is deadly. American Alison Mosshart stalks like a caged panther, singing with danger in her eyes and sex in her voice. Her partner in grime, British guitarist Jamie Hince, yanks clanging tones from his creative battle-ax. A drum machine clicks out metronomic beats. It helps to envision this raw, sparse dynamic while listening to the Kills' 34-minute new album, "Midnight Boom." Otherwise, the duo's edgy, punked-up assault may feel thin to listeners accustomed to full-band albums.
Laced with shades of glam, new wave, even hip-hop, the Kills' third disc is being hyped as a broader, "beat-driven" excursion. This description is dead-on, sometimes to a hand-clapping fault. "Sour Cherry" sounds like something Toni Basil trotted home from cheerleader camp. The same might be said for the better "Alphabet Pony," except Hince supercharges it with scraping, cool-ghoul guitar bursts. If it's impressive how hard two people can rock over a wimpy drum track during the chorus to "Tape Song," it's equally intriguing how the mechanized beats inject urgency. There's no stopping a song once it's begun, so the creators have but one option: keep pace.
Perhaps being controlled by a machine is what makes the Kills' human urges so palpable. By providing hipster-dude vocals during the duet "Getting Down," Hince amplifies the sinister sexual tension that permeates everything this platonic pair does. But if the Kills perpetually seem on the brink of a primal meltdown, Mosshart isn't about to resist. "I want you to be crazy," she suggests during the groovy chorus to "Cheap and Cheerful," " 'cuz you're boring, baby, when you're straight."
-- Michael Deeds
DOWNLOAD THESE: "Cheap and Cheerful," "Alphabet Pony," "What New York Used to Be"
