The Kills consist of Jamie "Hotel" Hince who plays guitar with the harsh blues reminiscent of Jack White's (The White Stripes) signature guitar style. Hince's playing is a bit more textured, and the band's whole sound centers around its rhytmic sexual pulse, which is fueled by American vocalist, Alison "VV" Mosshart. She purrs like she's the love-child of PJ Harvey and Debbie Harry; I definitely hear echos of PJ Harvey's album, To Bring You My Love in her vocal style. It doesn't get much more bare bones than this band, and they prove you don't need a six piece band to get a huge sound, this is definitely a band I could picture opening for The Stooges (if they actually get around to doing this elusive tour I've heard hints of.)
Featured Album: Keep On Your Mean Side by The Kills (2003) The Kills’ debut is a stark 21st Century blues album, the sort of thing
that would have struggled to find an audience before the White Stripes
broke into the mainstream. So it’s lucky for them--and us--that they
had such respectable coattails to ride on. The duo--Alison Mosshart,
a.k.a. VV, and Hotel--play a music that’s blues influenced with a
garage rock edge, and that’s where the similarities end. Sure, the
Kills use a drum machine instead of a live drummer, but the differences
run much deeper than that: The Kills’s blues rock is dirtier and more
sex-drenched version of blues rock, a result of the shared vocal duties
of Hotel and VV. The sultry "Hitched" says it all ("I’ll get my name
stitched on your lips so you won’t get hitched"). These are songs that
sweat sexual menace, recalling Boss Hogg or early PJ Harvey
(on "Superstition" and "Wait," VV’s voice is a dead ringer for young
Polly Jean’s). Best of all, these songs are stuffed with hooks. In a
sea of pretenders, the Kills are capable of providing some genuine
competition for the White Stripes.--Robert Burrow
RN1 June 15, 2008 02:00 AM PDT www.rock-no1.com free mp3, dvd, dvdrip, lyric, rock+metal and more...
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Kristy January 22, 2007 01:12 AM PST I thought you might get into the Kills. Allison Mosshart definitely has a kick ass Peej vocal style...plus gotta love that gritty blues guitarwork. Here's more songs that I think you would enjoy based on your preference for the song featured in the youtube.com video (so download them if possible):
"The Good Ones"
"Murdermile"
"Cat Claw"
"Pull a U"
"Love is a Deserter"
"Fuck the People"
"Fried My Little Brains"
Aimee January 21, 2007 02:03 PM PST Well, I must say I really like the sounds of that song.
I listened to their other one you have in the sidebar too, but like this youtube one better. Will have to listen to some others :) I need more female voices to listen to anyway.. so far Tori, PJ and Björk are the only ones that've really stuck.
There has been much coming and going of the authors here at Vintage Rock. If you have not posted an entry in over two months, I'm either deleting you from Vintage Rock or marking you as inactive on the side-bar. I don't think its fair to give authors credit here if they don't post any entries. Its nothing personal, I'm sure you all understand.
Kristy (founder)
Aims (co-founder)
Shay (non active co-founder)
Jess (non active co-founder)
Morgan (non active co-founder)
Kerry
What Is "Vintage Rock" About?
Vintage Rock has officially been on the internet in various forms for about five years now. I started it on a whim of boredom at the terrible, bolt.com. I met some great friends there, and we ended up forming a super-group; a forum where it was okay to speak our minds about anything and everything music. And since there were multiple authors here, we were able to learn about an eclectic variety of music news, recommendations, and bands.
In the last few years, many of the authors who helped co-found this blog quit posting entries. I'm not bitter about their absence, because I know it takes a lot of time and dedication to write quality articles and posts. I will never forget them, but I think its time I quit expecting them to come back. I'd really like to see Vintage Rock turn back into the place it once was. I really don't forsee that happening though. I do however think it is valid for me to keep up this blog in hopes I can inspire even one person to realize that MTV is not the only way to define one's musical tastes. I know its difficult, and takes a lot of research, but there are amazing bands out there just waiting to be discovered. And that is the purpose of this blog. I've never made one penny for running Vintage Rock, and that's okay. Its worth all the hard work when I hear one person say, "Hey, that band kicks ass!" So yes, if you like Vintage Rock and what we stand for, don't be afraid to comment on an entry or say hi on the tag-board. The more input from you readers, the more likely I am to be inspired to post more entries.
Anyway, I'm off my soap-box for today. I just thought I'd let you know that things are going to be a bit different here. I'm taking the focus off the side bar and deleting a lot of things I don't find relevant anymore.
Album:
Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart closed with Lowery singing about how "Life Is Grand" in pointed response to "those of you who have appointed yourselves to expect us to say something darker." So when Key Lime Pie came out, its moodier music and imagery, not to mention that soon after the fact the band fell apart on the tour for the album, led more than one person to think those darker times had finally arrived. As it is, the group had already gone through one major shake-up between the two albums -- founding member Segel had taken a powder to concentrate on other efforts, with Morgan Fichter brought in as a replacement violinist. Her abilities were certainly praiseworthy, as the album-starting instrumental "Opening Theme" shows quite well. However, it's definitely not the same band that did Telephone Free Landslide Victory a mere four years previous -- things are more straightforwardly rock here most of the time, perhaps not too surprising in light of Lowery's subsequent work in Cracker. As it is, though, it's excellently conceived rock, with space, moodiness, and more to spare. Consider "Jack Ruby," with its wordless backing vocals, tense rhythms, and thick soloing, or "Laundromat" and its steady but unnerving crunch. It's not all potential melancholia, though -- "June" in particular is an underrated number, celebrating the early summer with sweetness and love (at least up to the increasingly stranger ending). Lowery's singing is his best yet, perhaps a little less prone to wackiness but an emergent, distinct voice all the same, and certainly prone to sing a quirky lyric or two still. The oddest thing of all was that the band actually gained a little mainstream attention on MTV and radio via a cover of Status Quo's psych-era nugget "Pictures of Matchstick Men."--- Ned Raggett
