Record Exchange Boise

Reviews:

With just a guitar, a cheap drum machine, a couple of voices and a passel of bleak songs, the Kills have made a second album of eerie, edgy songs that still sound sultry and seductive. This time out the U.K.-based duo hunkered down amidst the blight of tiny Benton Harbor, Michigan, tapping into the palpable desperation there and turning it into 11 tracks of whacked-out post-post-New Wave sleaze 'n' grit. The sound, courtesy of Jamie "Hotel" Hince's guitar, is dry but never brittle, with forceful and occasionally fuzzed-up riffs coursing over the programmed beats of "The Good Ones" and the title track. In different hands "Rodeo Town" could be a pop hit; the Kills' austere treatment still showcases its melodic veracity and killer chorus. "Sweet Cloud" and "Murdermile" build with intense ferocity, while "Ticket Man" closes No Wow on a rootsy, blues/soul note. If Hince gives No Wow its pulse, Alison "VV" Mosshart's vocals give the album its heart; she sings with a kind of urbane detachment that belies the passion and urgency at the songs' core.