The Kills

Three years after first slinging their sexy, strung out blues punk, the Kills are back to get even dirtier on their second long player. No Wow finds the Anglo-American married couple of VV (aka Alison Mosshart) and Hotel (aka Jamie Hince) walking the same line as their debut, but with much more control over their tendency to extend a jam or finish a song with wiretapped noise. It’s still just the two of them with drum machine in tow, obviously living by the creed of "if it ain’t broke…” Written and recorded in a mere 47 days, No Wow finds the sinister love within the duo developing into an even more stripped down affair, with the chop’n’roll riffs providing a real slashing feel to the boogie rock. VV’s voice is still sexy as fuck, evoking the spirit of Polly Harvey’s seductive intonation, but it’s not exactly the case of mistaken identity many claim it to be. Hotel’s fixation on the top string provides the Kills with most of their riffs, filtered through a fuzzed-up amp on the verge of exploding. And the sexual chemistry of theirs is electrifying, bettering the likes of Boss Hog and Royal Trux on magical duets such as the groove-based "The Good Ones” and "At the Back of the Shell,” which comes complete with a fantastically sparse handclap beat. No Wow is the sound of the Kills spreading their cool like a nasty virus, only this bug is something you definitely want to be struck down by.