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Epicurus.com - Midnight Boom
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List Price: $13.98
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 0.99 ( 7% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Domino
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0801390016424
Label: Domino
Manufacturer: Domino
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Domino
Release Date: 2008-03-18
Studio: Domino
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Editorial Reviews:
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This duo subtly and organically fuses pop, glam, blues, art-punk, and hip-hop in a manner that flits between light and dark, funny and morbid, experimental and cute. The result is a short, sharp twelve track album of sensual, fresh, and atmospheric songs. A reminder that no one on earth makes rock 'n' roll quite like The Kills. Previous albums "No Wow" and "Keep On Your Mean Side" have sold over 70,000.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: An absolutely stunning album
Comment: I liked both of the Kills earlier albums -- KEEP ON YOUR MEAN SIDE and NO WOW -- but didn't think that they were so excellent that I needed another one. Lord, was I ever wrong. MIDNIGHT BLOOM is not merely a huge leap forward, but is one of the best rock albums of 2008. While the first two albums were excellent in every way, there was a bit of monotonous sameness that crept in as you listened to them in their entirety. They were best listened to in hunks, not wholes. MIDNIGHT BLOOM is diversely textured from beginning to end, with far more nuance to the arrangements and a wonderful diversity to the songs, without losing any of their hard edge.
The Kills are a duo like the White Stripes, except that they rely on recordings of Hotel aka Jamie Hince drumming with VV aka Alison Mosshart doing the bulk of the vocals. But they don't sound anything like White Stripes. They frequently have moments that remind me of PJ Harvey or the Pixies. Live they are extremely minimalistic, but MIDNIGHT BLOOM is deeply layered with a host of bells and whistles that can only exist in a studio. In listening to many of the album's cuts you might think that there would be no way that they could translate many of the songs to a stage performance, but it is amazing how completely they make the transition.
I could -- and will -- tick off what I think are the album's best songs, but what impresses me is that it really is a good album. The various cuts reinforce each other. I won't say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, but all the parts do their work. For instance, "Black Balloon" is almost delicate and meditative compared to what precedes it, but the next cut, "M.E.X.I.C.O.," is a hard driving rocker. "Sour Cherry" is a masterpiece of rock minimalism combined with unorthodox percussion, with a sassy attitude ("I'm the only sour cherry on the fruit stand"). The first two cuts on the album, "U.R.A. Fever" and "Cheap and Cheerful" are great singles that set the tone for everything that comes. The song that follows, "The Tape Song," might objectively be as great a song, but I enjoyed it perhaps just as much. "What New York Used to Be" is a killer penultimate cut leading into the soft-edged "Goodnight Bad Morning" puts the album to bed.
If you love indie rock you have to have this album. That's all there is to it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: All I know is that...
Comment: The Kills previous album was just OK to me (great songs beside boring ones), so when a hip hop DJ recommended this one to me, naturally I was a bit confused. However, I bought it after hearing the sound clips, and the second I pressed play It was like punk rock dance time all the way to the end. Midnight Boom makes CSS and Le Tigre (among others) look like they might have missed the point somewhere along the way. Le Tigre interrupt the party by trying to have a "message," like Christian metal stopping to preach, and CSS can sometimes turn into the South American equivalent of Ween at times when their meaningless lyrics become painful. Midnight Boom is more filled with lyrics that might mean something, but mostly keep their meanings to themselves. Also, I think it's really cool to finally hear that "after-tone" Fugazi-ish guitar style actually enjoying time spent with a drum machine. Hopefully it will work for you, because for me it's a contender for album-of-the-year.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stop Me Before I Do Something Desperate!
Comment: I can't help myself. I need to get in to a 12-step program to stop listening to the Kills latest offering, "Midnight Boom." I'm becoming a crazed zealot who wants to take hostages, tie them up in my basement and force them to listen to "Getting Down" over and over until the get the "big picture." Know what I mean?
The Kills have been around about 5 years and have released two first rate albums on Rough Trade but their latest release "Midnight Boom" is the deal closer for the Kills. As of late the Kills have matured into a ramshakle, kinetic force of nature capable of explosive live performances.
Now I'm waiting for the Kills to sell out so I can act snarky and give them a good flogging for going mainstream. I must be a seriously demented person to harbor such a negative attitude.
Their song lyrics are often clever and funny. Their sense of vintage thrift shop style has earned them a couple of fashion spreads in major fashion magazines. That being said, the Kills are not bloodless posuers. There is a gritty and electrifying substance that triumphs over the Kills' keen sense of style.
I spend a lot of time listening to new music and reviewing groups but the Kills stood right up a grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I've always gone for quirky musical types with strange and often sinister agendas. The Kills music is an eccentric hybrid of 2nd generation punk, delta blues, funk, garage rock fused with eletronic beats and pop hooks.
The Kills were right up my alley. Of course my musical "alley" is strewn with old Rev. Gary Davis 45 RPM records, a first pressing of the Lyres not so big hit "Don't Give It Up" and countless yard sale mark-down musical treasures by the such cornerstones of obscurity as Ray Condo and the Hardrock Goners, Lou Miami and the Kozmetix, and Joe Bird and his Field Hippies.
Jamie Hinson's slashing and often dissonant guitar rythyms sound like that of many of the earliest post-punk, anti-guitar heroes like Andy Gill of Gang of Four, Keith Levine of Public Image and Roger Miller of Mission of Burma. The object of the game is to use the guitar more as a percussion instrument to wrap the music in sonic wall of rhythym.
The duo sings a lot of songs in loose harmony which recall the full throttled, take-no-prisoners vocal harmonies of John Doe and Exene Cervenka in the glory days of X, Los Angeles' premier punk band. Female vocalist Alison Mosshart has done her homework in musicology and would be equally comfortable singing an old blues/jazz standard like "St. James Infirmary", as she would be singing an old Velvet Underground tune like "Waiting for the Man." The added harmonies by Jamie are just icing on the cake and just one more thing that adds up to the Kill's distinctive trademark sound.
I've always disliked the sound of prepared riddims of a drum machine. The overall effect usually sounds like a metronome, but the Kills intergrate the electronic beats into their arrangements with such organic care that it actually enhances their sound.
Okay that's it. You've been given fair warning. This album isn't for the feint of heart and I'm an object lesson of just how one innocuous music purchase can transform you into an abuser on the fast track to a musical detox, in a matter of days.
RECOMMENDED TUNES: URA Fever, Getting Down, Cheap and Cheerful, New York Used to Be & Black Ballon.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: the art of empty
Comment: Stealing left and right from Joan Jett to PJ Harvey, this is utterly boring and uninventive. It's pathetic how little one has to do nowadays to sell "music" (hint: date a faded model).
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Kills New Album Simply Rocks!
Comment: The Kills have really created something awesome with their latest album Midnight Boom. There are about 10 songs out of the 12 on the album that have definite potential to be huge singles. Not since MGMT's Oracular Spectacular has an album had so many huge tracks. Yet unlike MGMT's album, which has songs that stand great on their own but maybe aren't ordered well, this new album can really be listened to nonstop and you've got almost a perfect ecclectic playlist of awesome music. Electronic, rock, punk, experimental, indie; this album has it all.
"URA Fever" feels like a blend between the coolness of INXS and the smoothness of the Waifs. This album definitely gets started off right with this track. And then it goes on a roller coaster, with just about each song offering something different. They never really miss a beat on this album.
"Tape Song" reminds me of why I loved Luscious Jackson on albums like Fever In Fever Out. Just a cool song delivered with tons of edge. "Mexicoco" is a similar type of song, catchy as anything but still a great song. And then even take it to a punkie edge with "Alphabet Pony."
"Last Day of Magic" is an AWESOME song too. Definitely has that electronic rock vibe. And "What New York Used to Be" also shows their electronic infused chops. But then on "Hook and Line" they just rock out. It's amazing that they can blend between so many styles, and not skip a beat. All of these cool songs blend well with my MGMT playlist.
Some of the songs are a little soft, "Getting Down" being one of them. Still a great song, but probably works best within the album and not so much on its own. They they show they can deliver ultra mellow with the final track, " Goodnight Bad Morning."
This is on my short list for 2008. You should definitely check this out.
Enjoy!!!
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