rebellious jukebox: the kills

I heard about The Kills and read about The Kills way before I ever listened to a single note of their music and from the interviews and the articles on the music I knew that I was going to dig their sound, like their aesthetic: buy the whole package.

I was off to interview for some high-paying job that halfway down the road to getting it I knew I didn\’t want it. The night before the interview I was drinking amaretto and listening to The Kills Keep On Your Mean Side and my intuition had been right: they were great. They came along at a point where I really needed something fresh musically to reinvigorate my music collection.

For some reason they are associated in my head with The Raveonettes. I think that this could be partly down to the fact that I heard about them at around the same time but I also think they have a similar kind of spirit. They have a no nonsense approach to the music they make, an unstudied rock\’n\’ roll spirit that does what you are supposed to do with influences, does what you are supposed to do with cultural touchstones — uses them as reference points and tries to forge something new from them.

They sidestep the mistakes that a whole slew of bands make — to become entrenched in a backward looking philosophy that seeks only to recapture the glory of some musical golden age. They have their own sound though — you can hear one of their songs and you know it\’s by them.

Keep On Your Mean Side and No Wow are great albums: albums that age well. Cool, energetic, punchy and punky.