JennJoy's Full Review: Keep on Your Mean Side [PA] by The Kills
This review is part of the Three-Legged Writeoff, where members pair up to offer up as many reviews as they can handle on the 5th and 6th of July. Check out my partner in crime (er, music), teamfreak16's contributions or find the complete list of participants here: http://home.earthlink.net/~epskids.
While on amazon.com one day I was reading user reviews on one of my favorite bands of the moment, The Black Keys, and saw The Kills listed as a similar blues-based group. That’s all the push I needed to check out The Kills and their first full length album, Keep on Your Mean Side. With so many two person garage revival acts springing up all over the place, particularly those with the word “blues” tacked onto their sound in some way, it’s hard to pick out the truly great duos out of the Top 40 junk. I missed The Kills previous EP Black Rooster which was released on Dim Mak, but since this is a label I respect I figured this is one band that would deserve at least some of the praise bands like the White Stripes have been getting lately.
The Kills are a boy-girl duo consisting of VV (a.k.a. Alison Mossheart formerly of Discount) and Hotel (a.k.a. Jamie Hince). Both member share vocal and guitar duties while Hotel also plays the drums. As you would expect, their combined sound is rather lo-fi and fairly sparse. While the duo’s music is loosely rooted somewhere in the blues, The Kills are not a blues band in the way The Black Keys and similar artists are. Their sound comes from a darker place – more aggressive, louder, sexier, and with more than just a little sneering punk-rock infused throughout.
Three of the tracks on Keep on Your Mean Side are re-recorded version of songs that first appeared on The Kills’ Black Rooster EP, including that release’s title track, “Wait”, and “Cat Claw.” Though I’m not sure how they compare to their original versions, I can say that all three of these songs are great additions to this album. “Wait” shows the duo’s range by floating into acoustic alt.country territory and the other two tracks are harder numbers delivered with VV’s snarling vocals.
“Kissy Kissy” is one of the album’s bluesier songs, with some lovely tuned down guitar work and Hotel’s vocals featured a bit more prominently. “Hitched” is more upbeat with chugging guitars and sultry lyrics like, “Get your name stitched on my lips so you won’t get hitched.” “Fried My Little Brains” has a nice, distorted blues riff as its focal point and shows off VV and Hotel’s great back and forth vocal style. “Monkey 23” slows down to a rambling pace and ends the album on a superb note.
Though The Kills won’t make it into any list I might make of favorite albums of 2003, I really dig what they’re doing. VV and Hotel could stand to let their music retain a little more of the raw & gritty quality that some of their peers do, but Keep on Your Mean Side is far from being overproduced or too polished. The Kills’ style falls somewhere in the vein of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Jucifer, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all rolled up into one, so if you enjoy any of those artists this album may be right up your alley. I imagine Keep on Your Mean Side will only continue to grow on me, but already its proven to be an intriguing and solid album. I’m definitely looking forward to their next release and I hope The Kills let out the reins just a little more on their next effort.
Track Listing:
Superstition
Cat Claw
Pull A U
Kissy Kissy
Fried My Little Brains
Gypsy Death & You
Hand
Hitched
Black Rooster
Wait
F.u.ck the People
Monkey 23
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