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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Jamie "Hotel" Hince might have become tabloid fodder thanks to his relationship with Kate Moss, but the third album by The Kills, his band with American vocalist Alison "VV" Mosshart, does relatively little to tidy itself up for mainstream consumption. Midnight Boom is a typically lean set of makeshift punk-blues characterised by Hince's raw, Nick Zinner-style guitar, and Alison's bad-attitude drawl: see the opening "U.R.A Fever", a beat-up call-and-response number reminiscent of Royal Trux than sees Hince and Mosshart swapping sour quips over loping bass and drum machine thud, while "Cheap and Cheerful" sees Mosshart declaring "I want you to be crazy/'Cos you're boring baby when you're straight". The presence of producer Armani XXXchange of Baltimore hip-hop outfit Spank Rock means there's a greater emphasis here on rhythm, often of a synthetic nature: "Alphabet Pony" bumps along on robust, lo-fi drum kicks and bursts of primitive electronics, while "Black Balloon" is a slow-burner that toys with layered percussion built from hand claps, scrapers, and tapped snare. The Kills still have problems with a big, memorable chorus–-assuming, indeed, that was ever their intention--but Midnight Boom is all about grit and grooves, and it does that just fine. –Louis Pattison
Review
When American Alison 'VV' Mosshart overheard Jamie 'Hotel' Hince thrashing his guitar in the hotel room above her a partnership was born. Leaving behind their pasts with Floridian punks, Discount, and British rock bands, Blyth Power and Scarfo, the pair started air mailing work tapes across the Atlantic. Overcome with frustration, Mosshartt upped sticks from sunny Florida to grey London and the Kills - a boy, a girl and a drum machine - were born.
Midnight Boom is the pair's third studio album. As ever, there are elements of PJ Harvey, LCD Sound System (use of the wood block and interesting percussion) but thanks to Spank Rocks' producer, Alex Epton, a more modern funky sound. Not surprisingly, for a rock girl/boy duo, the Kills have been compared to fellow garage minimalists, the White Stripes. However in this case it's the female who leads the vocals. If Brian Molko were a girl, he'd be VV. The first single to come off this, their 3rd album, U.R.A Fever, with it's heavy trip hop beats, only hints at the dirty grungy sound that is more present through. Getting Down and Cheap and Cheerful showcase their sparse, lo-fi, minimalist approach to songwritting as handclapping and drums are played in equal measure.
And yet, they give true noisy, dirty punk rock a run for its money with several fast and furious explosions such as M.E.X.I.C.O and Sour Cherry. The second single, Cheap And Cheerful, doesn't do justice to the album - but with lines like ''I want you to be crazy cos you're boring baby when you're straight'' it still hits all the right post-punk buttons. Much more melodic is the Velvet Underground-influenced Goodnight Bad Morning, all plucked acoustics and soulful vocals.
Like Detroit's Stripes they have taken an anti-careerist, anti-music industry stance leading to accusations of hypocrisy in the face of a recording deal with RCA in the States. In interviews they like to brazenly smoke. It seems they're a band who like to contradict - anti-smoking smokers, anti corporate label pushers - so it's no surprise that Midnight Boom is at once melodic AND screamingly loud. What it isn't however is anything new. That said, the band does a good job with post-Strokes, New York punk rock, and Midnight Boom will please any skinny jean, leather-jacket wearing indie rocker. --Susie Goldring
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Yup. It's Good. Very, very good in fact.
Genre-fretters have long been out to pin this fine little combo down.
Three albums in however and what we have here in essence
are twelve splendidly energetic pop songs.
The pared-down, edgy simplicity which has become
Mr Hince's and Ms Mosshart's calling card belies a finely
honed ability to create catchy and memorable material
of the finest calibre from the simplest musical building blocks.
'Getting Down' must surely have the ghost of Mr Bolan smiling in the wings.
'Cheap and Cheerful' could and should find a place in every discotheque in the land.
'Last Day Of Magic' romps along like there's no tomorrow - it's
killer hook chorus is utterly irresistible.
Darker moments intrude occasionally. Closing track 'Goodnight Bad Morning'
demonstrates a capacity for a more tender, reflective style but essentially
'Midnight Boom' is a stonkingly upbeat affair.
We will be unlikely to hear many more finer albums this year.
Highly recommended
Genre-fretters have long been out to pin this fine little combo down.
Three albums in however and what we have here in essence
are twelve splendidly energetic pop songs.
The pared-down, edgy simplicity which has become
Mr Hince's and Ms Mosshart's calling card belies a finely
honed ability to create catchy and memorable material
of the finest calibre from the simplest musical building blocks.
'Getting Down' must surely have the ghost of Mr Bolan smiling in the wings.
'Cheap and Cheerful' could and should find a place in every discotheque in the land.
'Last Day Of Magic' romps along like there's no tomorrow - it's
killer hook chorus is utterly irresistible.
Darker moments intrude occasionally. Closing track 'Goodnight Bad Morning'
demonstrates a capacity for a more tender, reflective style but essentially
'Midnight Boom' is a stonkingly upbeat affair.
We will be unlikely to hear many more finer albums this year.
Highly recommended
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I don't ever write reviews so I'm useless at it.. but this album is absolutly brilliant, has all the ingredients.. melodies, beats, dirty guitar, cooning and gnarling vocals.. I seen them live in Brighton also and they were incredible. Kind of hope they remain an underground secret though, is that bad?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Superb!
I stumbled across the Kills as a recommendation from Amazon, listened to a few tracks and loved what I heard!
Now a regular part of my playlist, excellent album!
Now a regular part of my playlist, excellent album!
Published 8 months ago by Bex
Beautiful and haunting from the first listen
Wow... completely exceeded my expectations. I was quite shocked at the beauty of this album considering I had only heard 3 The Kills songs before and I am so blown away, to the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by arcticmonkeys...
Nice for fans
Hooking and stunning songs, not as rough as on the debut album "keep on your mean side". But, admittedly, Alison Mosshart is the queen of garage punkrock. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by CK
The Idea of this album sounded great
You know what lets this album down? The terrible vocals from the clearly confused Jamie Hince. Stuck somewhere between Tom Petty and Robert Del Naja. Read more
Published on 2 Jun 2009 by Carlo_Von_Sexron
Boom boom!
In comparison to many bands around at the moment The Kills are deep, dark and brooding. This album is a grower - you need to appreciate the type of Bluesy Grungy music that the... Read more
Published on 23 Dec 2008 by M. Speller
Sounds good but not sure on its depth.
Have given this album a good 4/5 listens now and my concern is its lack of depth and lastability.
It is certainly very cool and with the times. Read more
It is certainly very cool and with the times. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2008 by Mr. D. Thompson
THE KILLS MIDNIGHT BOOM
THE KILLS ARE FANTASTIC. RECENTLY SAW THEM LIVE IN LEEDS AND THEY WERE AMAZING. THEY HAVE RAW EDGINESS THAT IS RARE IN BANDS THESE DAYS. THE ATMOSPHERE ON STAGE WAS ELECTRIC. Read more
Published on 20 April 2008 by NAT B
Brilliant
I completely agree with the first review, this album is absolutely packed full of tunes. Its one of those albums where you keep turning the stereo up with every song because each... Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2008 by Alexis Bulgarium
Superb
I dont have any of the bands other albums but I saw them perform on the album chart show so I went and got this in. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2008 by Andrew Jamieson
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