CD Review: The Kills * * * *
Midnight Boom (Domino)
The Kills - Midnight Boom
Friday March 07 2008
Up to now The Kills -- Anglo Hince and American Alison Mosshart -- have released two ordinary and highly over-rated albums. They looked great and made the right noises about the Velvet Underground and Suicide, but the music just wasn't there.
Midnight Boom changes all that. It's a giant leap from their previous efforts. The music is as pared down as before, although Hince is coaxing more interesting sounds from his guitar, but, crucially, there's a potency this time -- check out Tape Song, a tune so thrilling you wonder if the jokers behind the No Wow album really are responsible. Here -- and throughout the album -- Mosshart is in control, her edgy, sexy vocals as evocative as those of Karen O.
The songs are laced with sexual tension, not least Cheap And Cheerful, which revels in the following words from Mosshart: "I want you to be crazy, cause you're boring baby when you're straight." Are you listening, Kate?
Burn it: Tape Song; Cheap And Cheerful
