#108 The Kills

I just caught VV and Hotel Kill play live at Amoeba. Their album Keep On Your Mean Side is a stripped-down, blues-influenced rocker. Hearing it for the first time reminded me of my first exposure to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (for its punk via the Delta sound) and PJ Harvey (for the rough-hewn, female vocals). Onstage The Kills are likely to conjure, in some, comparisons to The White Stripes. Hotel plays his guitar over a drum machine, while VV sings. That's it. Though both acts play roots-inspired material and rock very, very hard, their music exists in two very different places.