Album Reviews

Red Norvo and Mildred Bailey, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Karen and Richard Carpenter, The White Stripes, The Fiery Furnaces and The Kills. Husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfried, brother/sister duos have been with us for as long as there's been recorded music.

The latest bunch share a stripped down, neo-primitive sound, with The Kills being perhaps the most hard-assed and dangerous-sounding, but also the most clear-headed about cleanly recorded sound.

Simple backing tracks of drum machines and fuzz-tone guitars, handclaps and the like somehow fill the backdrop spaces above which the female singer combines sweet sensuality with a snarl reminiscent of Chryssie Hynde and/or P.J. Harvey as she sings mostly about being out of and disappointed in love. Her partner joins her on a few tunes.

Who these people are, or where they come from, I don't know. No names are included in the album's notes (such that there are), but there are some pictures of the duo and we learn that with the exception of one of them, the songs were written at Key Club, Benton Harbor, Michigan in two days, 2004.

“This ain't no wow now,” she informs her former lover in the set's opener and title tune. “This dead road leads down that dead road and back,” go the lyrics to the next song.

Side one ends with her repeating a tuneful refrain of “I hate the way you love,” just to give you an idea of the unsentimental sentiments expressed on the album.

Side two begins with an encounter that started “At the Back of the Shell,” but which “..ain't such a thrill,” in case you mistakenly thing hot happy fireworks ensued.

This is one of those records best not overanalyzed or described because it quickly becomes a pointless exercise, but one thing I'll say about this duo is that they leaven their bleak view of love with sweet sound. They recorded and mixed this set at Sear Sound in NY, known for its vintage tube gear and analog recording gear and they chose Greg Calbi to master at Sterling Sound, with the vinyl cut at Sterling by “RJ,” whoever that is. I know “TJ” (Ted Jensen) but not “RJ.”

So while the instrumental backdrop is mostly electric guitars and cheap drum machines, the recorded sound is full-bodied, transparent and dynamic.

Meanwhile, all I can tell you is that despite the primitive backdrop and the bleak viewpoint, (“If I'm so evil, why are you satisfied”), these folks have produced one slashingly sweet sounding album. If you need to start with a strong tune, go directly to side two's “Rodeo Town,” otherwise start at the beginning and by the time you get there, you'll be hooked on the first play.

Whoever The Kills are, wherever they're from, they've debuted with one helluva great album. And a great, grungy sounding one too. I loved the way it ends!