The Kills Album Reviews

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Keep On Your Mean Side (2003)

Keep On Your Mean Side (2003)

6.5

Superstition / Cat Claw / Pull a U / Kissy Kissy / Fried My Little Brains / Hand / Hitched / Black Rooster / Wait / Fuck the People / Monkey 23 / Gypsy Death and You

Keep on your mean side The Kills are a London-based duo with quite silly nicknames (she’s ‘VV’, he’s ‘Hotel’), a lot of hype-potential and a ‘we-don’t-give-a-fuck’-attitude. Fortunately they’re not all image and have some songs (or at least, a sound) to back it up. The comparison with The White Stripes is unavoidable, with the looks, the basic sound and the striking line-up: she sings and plays guitar, while he plays guitar and also drums (but not on stage, where those duties are taken over by a drum computer) and occasionally adds his unimpressive vocals. Ultimately, the comparison doesn’t do justice to either band though, as The Kills have a different approach, that’s rawer, trashier, and a bit heavier than The White Stripes’. It’s not that their songs are faster (in fact, they’re almost all a dragging mid-tempo), or that they enter metal-territory, no, it’s just that they’re scruffier, and due to their limited variety, they have to rely more on the sonic force of their art. Like I said, there’s nothing new or original about them, but if there’s one aspect that should be pointed out, it is VV’s voice. Sounding somewhat similar to both Patti Smith and PJ Harvey, she might very well have the sexiest voice since Elastica’s Justine Frischmann at her disposal, the main difference being that it’s even more deliberately outplayed, as also the majority of the songs dwells on sex, drugs, or hedonism in general.

But let’s focus on the music: The Kills are all about chugging riffs, fuzz-drenched guitar parts and Velvet Underground-inspired drones. Keep On You Mean Side starts off quite unremarkable with “Superstition,” which is entirely dominated by VV’s yelping. The next track, “Cat Claw”, is the unquestionable highlight of the album: driven by powerful guitar parts, a strutting rhythm and the provoking vocals of VV (the repeated “You got it, I want it” is guaranteed to quicken your imagination), it’s a prime slab of sleaze rock and already The Kills’ raison d’être. Other highlights (though none of them half as good as “Cat Claw”) are “Fried My Little Brains” and “Fuck the People,” which is actually cooler than its title suggests. Both are dependent on a single bluesy lick, but luckily it’s a good one, as the songs almost reach a hypnotic effect that was previously reserved for Fat Possum-artists. Also noteworthy is “Black Rooster,” the title track of their EP, which sounds like a VU-song covered by a sloppy garage band (uh), while the call-and-response and the repeated “fuck and fight” are enjoyable, while it lasts. Besides a few interesting tracks, the album also contains a share of tracks that I would call “decent” on a good day (like today): “Pull a U” has a great sound and the best PJ Harvey-imitation ever, the quieter “Monkey 23” harmlessly meanders along and the acoustic “Gypsy Death and You” actually has a nice melody. The remaining songs are less interesting, “Kissy Kissy” and “Hitched” once again reminds me of that legendary NY-band that sang about drugs and Jesus, but they just go on for too long (and Hotel’s Lou Reed-impression isn’t exactly mesmerizing either). And finally, there is “Wait”, which simply never really takes off. So what we have here is definitely an interesting debut that has some captivating aspects about it: the overall sound and the seductive vocals of VV. They’ve got to come up with something more inspired/inspiring to turn me into a fan, as they seem to lack a bit of personality – despite the hard living and the two packs a day, but why not give them another chance? The debut album by The Carpenters wasn’t a masterpiece either.

Note: the back cover has a song order that slightly differs from the actual song order on the album (it’s probably the order of the vinyl-version). Naughty kids.