No Wow

Si le premier album etait base sur le son brut et violent, l'instantaneite couple a la puissance, No Wow se presente de prime abord comme plus travaille, moins spontane, et plus profond. L'ouverture sur le titre eponyme voit se poser les guitares grincantes et energique de Hotel sur un beat a faire plier les genoux, laissant filer quelques instants pour laisser placer le grain de voix insinuant et plaintif de la somptueuse VV. Le propos se tient bien.
The Kills maitisent parfaitement leur sujet en assenant quelques coups rudes a son auditeur par le biais du theme eternel de l'amour ( "Love is a deserter" et "I Hate The Way You Love 1 & 2" ) sur des melodies entrainantes hypnotiques assimile a la voix entetante de VV, ponctues de rifs nets et tranchants de Hotel. Tout est base sur cet entente, cette mise en scene, cette thetralisation, cette opposition, cette guitare parlante et cette voix vive.
D'autant plus surprenant, l'assimiliation postpunk des Kills a leur musique, l'introduction de l'aspect dansant a leur melodies abrupt, cassante et forte. Ce qui donne des raisons de plus a VV de se tortiller, comme emprise de spasmes lors de morceaux melant un beat pique a Bronsky Beat a un duo des deux Kills ( "The Good Ones" ) ou a un beat prenant faisant contrepoids a la guitare lourde mene crescendo tambour battant par VV entrecoupe de dualises pop ( "Murdermile" ). Le tres electrique "At The Back Of The Shell" et intimiste "Dead Road 7" viennent s'ajouter au tableau.

"Ticket Man" conclut cet album tel un concert des Kills, retour au calme, a la realite, a la creation, a la liberte simple.


Very good...but fails to capture the live experience   Mars 15, 2005
Michael (Chester-le-Street, County Durham United Kingdom)
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I first got turned on to the Kills after seeing them support Primal Scream a couple of years ago - their on stage chemistry, dirty blues riffs and stripped down sound hitting all the right buttons for me. I've since seen them live numerous times, and their live shows are incendiary. However, The Kills have always suffered the problem many excellent live bands have - capturing the essence of their live shows on CDs.

No Wow builds on their somewhat disappointing first album by stripping their sound down even further - the guitar at times sounds primal, almost like a savage heartbeat, and the breathless urgency of the vocals gives tracks like "No Wow", "Love is a Deserter", "The Good Ones" and "I Hate the Way You Love" real emotional power. If you're looking for melody, or song structure, don't bother. If you're looking for songs about seedy crack dens, late night drugs benders and seedy sex in dank motel rooms, you've come to the right place. Early PJ Harvey, and to a lesser extent, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees seem to be heavy influences.

It's not all good - the latter half of the album tails off badly, with several tracks descending into tedium, and the slower songs generally not working. Also, you're not getting the rawness and passion of their live dynamic. Other than that, recommended!