Opening with a throat-clearing cough and a hip-shaking lo-fi drum-loop, new single “Cheap And Cheerful” sees the return of Atlantic-spanning bo-ho duo The Kills.
It’s not immediately clear is what The Kills are playing at with this record. “Cheap And Cheerful” (and indeed the whole of Midnight Boom, the forthcoming album this single is taken from) allegedly takes its inspiration from a sixties documentary about inner-city school kids in the US – more specifically from the playground rhymes of the kids in question.
The sound, however, is based on the electro and hip-hop sounds of the late seventies, albeit updated and polished a little with the hindsight of modern studio trickery; The Kills are clearly continuing their progression away from the raw punk-blues hybrid of their early material.
True to its title, “Cheap And Cheerful” doesn’t lack for sleaze. Over the top of the sparse yet groovy beats, some synth bass and slices of guitar fill out the sound-field while Mosshart delivers vague hipster aphorisms in a stoned drawl. You can picture her stood on a street corner, chewing gum, looking artfully bored and way too cool for your up-town neighbourhood.
I’m not entirely convinced by it, though. The Kills sounded more authentically cheap beforehand, and here they come across like middle class kids slumming it for kicks by making a leap for the tailgate of the the electro-rock bandwagon. I hope they don’t dilute themselves beyond my range of interest by broadening their appeal.
Then again, at two and a half minutes in length “Cheap And Cheerful” isn’t much longer than a lazy mugging or a backstreet drug score, and it’s a welcome contrast to the neon stupidity of most contemporary dancefloor-friendly material. The Kills are still playing their own game – it only remains to be seen what the new rules are.
Related articles:
Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: Cheap And Cheerful, electro-rock, sleaze, The Kills
