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