THE KILLS (namely HOTEL and VV - don't ask!) are immediately being thrust to the forefront of the garage rock explosion, which - in principle - W&H have been largely happy to endorse.
And it's instantly clear that THE KILLS have been buffing up the correct credentials, having already supported like-minded, raw-throated, whippet-thin bassless rockers like Jon Spencer and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, not to mention gaining further credibility points for recording at Liam Watson's Toerag Studios in London's East End: the already much-venerated scene of The White Stripes album sessions.
But, to be brutally honest, this writer's finding it dificult to whip himself into a frenzy over these four brevity-fuelled, bitten-off sleazebag anthems, and while THE KILLS will surely be touted in the same breath as, say, The Cramps and the aforementioned Jon Spencer because of their sneery attitude and bass-dissing sound, well..to these ears they're not in the same league.
That said, the best things on this four-tracker (possibly only a promo in this form) run rings around those other current quick-fix merchants the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and certainly this hack can see the vicarious attraction of the menacingly cocksure "Fried My Little Brains" and the closing (previous 7" single) "Fuck The People," where their suck-on-this attitude is allied to rattling rhythms and dirty-dog Hubert Sumlin riffing (ask your Dad) to really rather fine effect.
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"Cat Claw" and "Pull AU", though, are where we part company. Possibly in the case of "Cat Claw" it's down to over-familiarity as the track's also on the recent "Rough Trade Rock'n'Roll" compilation, although the identikit Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound of it may also be a factor. "Pull AU", meanwhile, is little more than much ado about bugger all.
This writer will reserve greater judgement until the (very) imminent KILLS album, but so far their compressed, grunge-y garage racket seems too derivative by far and little more than the sum of its' parts.
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