On Blood Pressures, The Kills have picked up exactly where they left off on 2008's Midnight Boom, creating tight pop songs hidden beneath layers of dirty digital magic. It's an album that feels like it is out to get you – that wants to cut you and is intent on raising your "blood pressure" – but its' malice is also contrasted with danceable beats and poppy hooks that create a wonderfully narcissistic experience. I will admit that with singer Alison Mosshart singing in The Dead Weather and guitarist Jamie Hince recently marrying Kate Moss, I was concerned that The Kills' development would somehow suffer. Blood Pressures shows no sign of neglect and instead sees the band returning focused, sexy, stylish and well… violent. The Kills seem to know that their sleazy brand of rock n' roll is best kept simple and have consequently delivered their best album yet.
The standouts are numerous on Blood Pressures. The album gets off to a roaring start with "Future Starts Slow" and single "Satellite.” The opening moments of "Future Starts Slow" feature a heavy drum beat and finds Hince fighting against his guitar, trying to pull the simplest of distorted notes from it. This combination creates a sense of tension that pulses throughout the album and is emphasized by the male/female vocal dynamic that sees the sexes set against each other. "Satellite" continues this tension with a throbbing groove that is part Tom Waits and part Gorillaz. If Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini were to have a True Romance rematch, this song would be the perfect soundtrack. "Baby Says" recalls Midnight Boom in its' simple bass and drums, again emphasizing the tension between Mosshart and Hince's personalities and between the poppiness of the melody and the disco gutter sound of the band. Relief from the assault comes in two quieter moments, first on "Wild Charms" with Hince sounding like Jason Pierce mixed with a little John Lennon (a la "Jealous Guy"), and later on Mosshart's fragile, solo piano track "The Last Goodbye.” Both tracks provide depth to the record, but essentially feel like solo tracks which, given the potency of their combined efforts, makes one hope that this isn't the start of the duo writing and recording separately.
There are only a few moments where the album stalls out. Both "Heart Is A Beating Drum” and "Nail in My Coffin" may have been welcome inclusions on a past effort but, on Blood Pressures, they pale in comparison to the other tracks. "Heart is a Beating Drum,” "You Don’t Own The Road" and "Satellite" also all strangely share very similar guitar solos, which is a shame as the solo worked wonderfully on "Satellite" but is less effective when it appears three spots on one record. Despite these flaws, Blood Pressures is a gripping and impressive offering from the duo and suggests that there is no end in sight, despite their involvement in other projects.
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Download:
The Kills – “DNA” – Blood Pressures
Album:
Blood Pressures comes out via Domino Records on April 5, 2011. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
Over the last couple of years a lot of noise has been made about singer/DJ MIA’s seemingly audacious and outrageous behavior, but all of those that make such claims have clearly not yet heard The Kills. Moaning, sighing and yowling like a more carnal incarnation of Boss Hog singer Cristina Martinez, Kills frontwoman Allison Mosshart gets wet from the orgasmic opening and stuttering groove of “U.R.A. Fever” and, because she’s left unsatisfied and hanging on the telephone as the dial tone drones, she takes out her frustration on listeners for the duration of the record; teasing and taunting them mercilessly.
It is by no stretch of the imagination an act of cruelty though. Now freed from the safety-conscious clutches of EMI, Mosshart and instrumental cohort Jamie Hince dive hip-deep into scruffy, Swans-esque beats and bass and wade through all manner of fetid affronts to good taste with the express purpose of titillating and delighting their listeners even if their means seem like a strange way to meet their desired end. “Cheap and Cheerful,” for example, is the most good-natured, groovy and sweetly venomous critical assassination in years (choice lyric: “I want you to be crazy cos you’re stupid baby when you’re sane”) while the angular guitars and clipped beats poke at condemning lyrics like, “Time ain’t gonna cure you honey / time don’t give a shit,” that are about as poetic as a two-by-four between the shoulders and make no concessions for the weary.
At no point during the proceedings does Mosshart ease up or give reprieves to her subjects along the way through Midnight Boom. Each track finds the singer huffing and puffing indignantly like a bitch in heat as she and Hince stutter their way through honking dirty-shirt electro-blues anthems like “Getting Down,” “Hook and Line” and “What New York Used To Be,” and don’t exactly break taboos as much as make it seem like the band is violating them by bouncing off of the constructed beats as if they’re the only barriers containing the chaos.
Without big brother on their backs to keep them in line, The Kills have finally reached their full potential. While they’re not the dirtiest players in the game by any means, Midnight Boom sets them up as the most fashionable dirty players—like that girl in the black patent leather miniskirt at the club that’s up for anything any night of the week—except Sunday when she’s at midnight mass. On Midnight Boom, The Kills give excellent, salacious returns for those gullible enough to think they’ll get to second base; this record is a great, infectious tease.
Midnight Boom is out now on Domino Records.
More on The Kills here: www.myspace.com/thekills
Related article: The Kills live in San Francisco – [photos]
