#2 The Kills: Blood Pressures
Words by Dirk Calloway
Blood Pressures is the album I wish Radiohead's King of Limbs had been. It's the album I wish Arctic Monkeys' Suck It And See had been. Both records have their fans, but they didn't grab me by the throat in the way I wanted them to. In my book, rock music should shake you around, shove you, rattle your core and baffle you into a state where it is just you, the song, and the band. With Blood Pressures, The Kills have managed to do all of the above. It's a violent, sulky blast. It's sexy as hell:
Gone are the scandals and Kate Moss tabloid stories. They've outlived The White Stripes (their perpetual "sounds like" foil). They've survived their lead singer's dalliance with The Dead Weather. The Kills have made another good album, and it rips the roof off whenever you play it. I heard it first in JB Hi-Fi, and its first track made their shoppers jump in fright. Three songs in and everyone in the store was grooving:
At that point, I knew I had to have this album. Heart Is A Beating Drum is a fantastic track. Allison Mosshart (the lead singer) turns in a performance that is actually quite restrained, keeping the melody simmering, while guitarist Jamie Hince pushes his style to the brink and then turns everything 'up to 11' for the solo. And that riff! It's more hummable than the verses. In a day and age where shoe-gazing twaddle counts as 'indie rock' and the rest that isn't is performed on a keyboard by tweens wearing cardigans and ill-fitting sunglasses, it's a relief to hear a guitar riff this good, played by a man. This is the thinking man's not-guilty pleasure of 2011.
The first line of the above song says it all: "You can holler, you can wail, you can swing, you can flail / You can fuck like a broken sail / But I'll never give you up / If I ever give you up, my heart will surely fail." This is rock music for adults, so all you young pups step aside and watch the pros hit this sucker out of the park.
Gorgeous music. As described by UnderTheRadar: "for the most part Blood Pressures reeks of whiskey and sex—a taste that lingers like secondhand smoke." As far as rock music goes, that's the highest compliment I can imagine one being given. You can stream it, care of Rolling Stone.
Cheers for reading, yo. Check back tomorrow for the last review in this series. Click this link here if you want to find out what the other 18 best albums of 2011 were.
Preface: We're 18 reviews into my retrospective on the 20 best albums of 2011. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading these. If you missed some, click this link here to catch up.
Blood Pressures is the album I wish Radiohead's King of Limbs had been. It's the album I wish Arctic Monkeys' Suck It And See had been. Both records have their fans, but they didn't grab me by the throat in the way I wanted them to. In my book, rock music should shake you around, shove you, rattle your core and baffle you into a state where it is just you, the song, and the band. With Blood Pressures, The Kills have managed to do all of the above. It's a violent, sulky blast. It's sexy as hell:
Gone are the scandals and Kate Moss tabloid stories. They've outlived The White Stripes (their perpetual "sounds like" foil). They've survived their lead singer's dalliance with The Dead Weather. The Kills have made another good album, and it rips the roof off whenever you play it. I heard it first in JB Hi-Fi, and its first track made their shoppers jump in fright. Three songs in and everyone in the store was grooving:
At that point, I knew I had to have this album. Heart Is A Beating Drum is a fantastic track. Allison Mosshart (the lead singer) turns in a performance that is actually quite restrained, keeping the melody simmering, while guitarist Jamie Hince pushes his style to the brink and then turns everything 'up to 11' for the solo. And that riff! It's more hummable than the verses. In a day and age where shoe-gazing twaddle counts as 'indie rock' and the rest that isn't is performed on a keyboard by tweens wearing cardigans and ill-fitting sunglasses, it's a relief to hear a guitar riff this good, played by a man. This is the thinking man's not-guilty pleasure of 2011.
The first line of the above song says it all: "You can holler, you can wail, you can swing, you can flail / You can fuck like a broken sail / But I'll never give you up / If I ever give you up, my heart will surely fail." This is rock music for adults, so all you young pups step aside and watch the pros hit this sucker out of the park.
Gorgeous music. As described by UnderTheRadar: "for the most part Blood Pressures reeks of whiskey and sex—a taste that lingers like secondhand smoke." As far as rock music goes, that's the highest compliment I can imagine one being given. You can stream it, care of Rolling Stone.
Cheers for reading, yo. Check back tomorrow for the last review in this series. Click this link here if you want to find out what the other 18 best albums of 2011 were.
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