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Intense doesn't begin to describe Midnight Boom, but loop the Russian roulette sequence from "The Deer Hunter," splice in some grainy security-cam voyeur-porn, pop it in the Videodrome VCR, and you'll at least get the picture.
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Florida-bred singer Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince built new tracks around the same sing-song rhythms. Their dark, sexy electro-rock sounds sharper and more memorable as a result.
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The results--notably 'Cheap And Cheerful,' which suggests that Britney Spears' 'Toxic' made quite an impact on them and the chaotic 'Alphabet Pony'--are a revelation.
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The duo's relentless cool never quite tips over into White Stripes-style heat, giving Midnight Boom the unapproachable, icy allure of a runway model. [Mar 2008, p.104]
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It's a record that certainly stands up to comparison with their previous outings - sometimes bettering them--and, if you've been seduced by their charms in the past, be prepared to fall in lust all over again.
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It’s the instant gratification--the sheer consistency of fun--that makes Midnight Boom so irresistible to begin with. It is what it is, basically.
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An album one suspects will age extremely well. [Mar/Apr 2008, p.106]
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Entertainment WeeklyWhile thw band's deliberate nihilism can come off as a little overdone, Boom's nicotine sting--and the pair's push-me-pull-you chemistry--is still ridiculously sexy. [21 Mar 2008, p.59]
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PJ Harvey fans disappointed by last year's meditative "White Chalk" should find Midnight Boom a sick little delight.
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The Kills most remarkable record to date.
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Even listeners previously resistant to The Kills' studied cool may have to concede that Midnight Boom is a record of considerable energy and excitement.
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Midnight Boom is the Kills' most consistent, varied, and inventive album yet, and proof that passion and creativity trump cool any day.
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Most of the dozen songs on Midnight Boom are driven more by looped beats. As a result, the melodies on such tracks as "Getting Down," "Cheap and Cheerful" and the hand-clapping "Sour Cherry" are framed with spare urgency, while "U.R.A. Fever" and "Alphabet Pony" boast an urban, nearly hip-hop ambience.
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Not only have The Kills delivered a rock'n'roll album of note, it's one that achieves the rare trick of weaving timelines and timelessness with indecent ease.
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Thanks, in no small part to Spank Rock producer Armani XXXchange, Midnight Boom also possesses of this air of modernity and experimentation which is never less than startling.
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MojoThe Kills sound and feel like no other band--nocturnal, wayout, untouchable. [Apr 2008, p.100]
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If there's one thing that defines Midnight Boom, it's the new sense of fun that The Kills seem to have discovered.
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It's a great trick of rearranging that pulls back the curtain dramatically, but nearly every other song on Midnight Boom seems to be waiting for this kind of moment, losing it to a pile on the cutting-room floor.
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It’s immediately catchy, and as the rhyme above shows, they’re looser than ever, too.
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Midnight Boom" opens with its excellent first two singles, "U.R.A. Fever" and the danceable "Cheap And Cheerful," and from there things get pretty sleepy until the cheerfully blown-out "M.E.X.I.C.O.," a 97-second anthem so catchy that you'll get a callous on your thumb from skipping back to it.
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In less talented hands, the dozen songs on this record easily could have sounded like a failed, high-concept art thesis, and to be perfectly objective, not every track really kills.
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More glamorous but less versatile, the Kills are the easier listen, particularly if their superficiality is taken to be deliberate.
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Everything about Midnight Boom is impeccably executed.
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As vision, still somewhere between narrow and ignant. Yet not a boho archetype for nothing.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 40 out of 43
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Mixed: 2 out of 43
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Negative: 1 out of 43
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Jul 28, 2023
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Feb 15, 2012
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Jul 27, 2011This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.