With their brand new album Ash & Ice just released and plenty of prior hits from their previous four studio efforts in their back catalogue, hard rocking British-American duo Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, known collectively as The Kills, rolled into Sydney last week to play one of their two headline sideshows following a barnstorming set at this year’s Splendour In The Grass.
We were lucky enough to be on hand to catch them in the slightly more intimate setting of the iconic Enmore Theatre to take a few happy snaps up close and personal:
Images: Danielle Hansen/Howl & Echoes
If you’ve been to Splendour In The Grass before, chances are you might have been lucky enough to have attended one of the legendary pre-parties at Byron Bay’s institutional The Northern.
Just announced today, this year’s edition promises to be quite possibly the largest in pre-party history, with homecoming heroes The Avalanches set to headline the event. The trio have just released Wildflower (read our review), their first record since Since I Left You a whopping 16 years ago, and Splendour In The Grass marks their triumphant return to the stage.
With their headline slot at Splendour having previously been their only Australian show this year, you can expect The Northern to be an absolute sardine tin as people try and catch them.
Joining The Avalanches on the night will be power duo and another huge name in The Kills. They too have a brand new album out in the rollicking Ash And Ice to unleash upon their many Australian fans, the first time they’ve seen them in five years.
Perth trio Methyl Ethyl are on the bill as well. Fresh home off a jaunt in Europe and with their star shooting skyward off the back of their debut LP Oh Inhuman Spectacle and its massive singles Rogue and Twilight Driving, expect a blinder of a reception for one of Australia’s best young bands when they take to the stage.
Rounding out the onstage talent will be the Prince-endorsed Harts out of Melbourne. Insanely talented on each one of the many instruments he’s capable of playing, he’ll be turning the classic funk vibes all the way up.
With a DJ set from Melbourne duo Kllo in there as well, the 2016 Official Splendour In The Grass Pre Party is looking absolutely off the wall. As you can imagine given all this talent squeezed into one limited capacity venue, tickets are going to sell out like crack-flavoured hotcakes.
If you want in to this extravaganza then you’ll need to have your fingers hovering over your keyboards for either presale tickets available this Wednesday at 9am or general tickets, on sale Thursday from 9am as well. Head to secretsoundstouring.com for more information.
If you’re in Brisbane and can’t make it to Byron then you’re covered as well, tickets to the after party at The Triffid (featuring Years And Years, Lido, Moonbase Commander and Twinsy) are on sale now.
Splendour in the Grass is taking place from Friday July 22 – Sunday July 24. Full details can be found here.
Image: Supplied
In 2011, cross-continental duo The Kills (Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince) gave us Blood Pressures, a distinctly minimalist venture further into the crunchy, gutsy side of blues-tinged modern rock the duo are renowned for. Of all their four offerings to that point, it was their standout – sexy, gritty and dangerous. It was The Kills: personified in sound. It served them well, too catapulting them into the Top 40 for the first time in both the US and the UK. Then, just as the band began working on their follow-up, Hince suffered an injury that derailed The Kills completely.
Having broken his finger, he was given a cortisone shot, to which he had what can only be described as a devastatingly adverse reaction. The reaction was so bad that it saw Hince undergo five operations, including a tendon replacement, after which he had to relearn to play guitar without his middle finger. In the meantime, Mosshart undertook other projects, most notably as frontwoman for The Dead Weather and her visual artwork. Given that The Kills’ sound relies so heavily on Hince’s accommodatingly crunchy guitar riffs which Mosshart’s voice plays off, there is little wonder their latest offering comes five years after Blood Pressures.
Still, in the wake of all their time working on other projects and relearning their craft, respectively, it is a little disappointing to find that Ash & Ice is not quite the triumphant return from The Kills that the first three singles lead us to believe it would be. There are certain things one comes to expect from an album by The Kills and while Ash & Ice delivers them, it seems to do so without the guts and gusto once synonymous with the UK-US duo.
Opening the album, Doing It To Death starts things off strong, frenetic synthesisers and crunchy guitars. Mosshart’s distinct vocals are a brilliant wake-up, as they always are. As Heart Of A Dog follows, things are looking up. Then, we come to Hard Habit To Break and it would seem that we are now tip-toeing into tepid water. Bitter Fruit, with its fuzzy riffs and duelling vocals, confirms this and on through the record we go, as though wading through the motions until we get to the other side. We find relief in Days Of Why And How and Echo Home, a pair of darker, more considered and particularly commanding tracks placed at the middle and near the album’s close respectively.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=498zUzNGQxY
As they sing on Echo Home, it seems that The Kills “got lost” along their journey to make a new record. There is little to connect to throughout this latest offering. Given the first few tracks, it is disappointing come down. On the whole, Ash & Ice feels neither particularly inspired nor invigorating. Rather, it is an album from The Kills which possesses all the right ingredients but very little of the guts.
Despite the introduction of instruments and techniques new to the band, it comes across as formulaic. The songs are good, but we have heard (better versions of) them before from the band. There is nothing wrong with having a distinct sound, but they don’t really go anywhere here: the sounds and themes throughout are ones that have been done to death throughout the band’s 15-odd year career and they come across as lacking any of the gritty, urgent desire they once did so well.
There are a few standouts that are ready-cut for live performance, with Doing It To Death, Impossible Tracks, Heart Of A Dog and Echo Home taking us where we want to go (that is, somewhere we want to be, rather than simply through the motions of getting there) and the record itself is certain to keep Splendour In The Grass’ punters happy as with Mosshart’s vocals, it remains distinctly The Kills. Still, that small handful of tracks aside, Ash & Ice is unfortunately little more than the sum of its parts.
Image: supplied
With the follow up to 2011’s Blood Pressure dropping on June 3rd, garage duo The Kills have now teased fans with a second video clip from the forthcoming LP.
Heart of A Dog continues with the classic Kills formula. Allison Mossheart’s slow burning vocals echo throughout the mix while Jamie Hince’s distorted rock chords sit unopposed, front and centre. Underscored by a booming drum pattern, the track showcases the pair’s talent for drawing forth unmitigated rock swagger from their stripped back band dynamic. “I’m loyal/ I’ve got the heart of a dog,” Mosshart growls, perhaps reflecting on the pair’s longstanding collaboration.
Shot with the help of veteran music director Sophie Muller, the visuals feature a collage of imagery taken from the pair’s galavant around LA. Half eaten nachos and backflipping over cars abound as general rock antics ensue. Providing the literal take on the dog motif, there are more than few dogs featured throughout. Again there’s a clear focus on the easygoing nature of the pair’s relationship, which has no doubt contributed to their longstanding collaboration.
For Australian fans looking to catch the band live, The Kills will be taking to the stage on the first night of Splendour in the Grass on Friday July 22.
https://youtu.be/urPxe4jxdt8
Image: DIYMag
Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese’s HBO series Vinyl is set to end in just over a month. To celebrate, the second volume of the show’s soundtrack will be released just before the finale on April 15th. During the run of the series, mini-soundtracks have been released every Friday. The fifth and most recent one was released on Friday and features covers from Iggy Pop, the Arcs, the Kills’ Alison Mosshart and The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.
Set in the 70s, the series follows music executive Richie Finestra who is focused on saving his record company as rock and roll starts to take a backseat in the wake of other genres. Its soundtrack has an incredibly strong, significant rock and roll sound (as you can guess by Jagger’s involvement). The acclaimed show stars Bobby Cannavale, Olivia Wilde, Juno Temple, Ray Romano, Paul Ben-Victor and P.J. Byrne. Jagger’s son James also has a role as Kip Stevens, the lead singer of the Nasty Bits.
The mini-soundtrack consists of five tracks: Casablancas has covered The Velvet Underground’s White Light White Heat, while Iggy smashes Nervous Breakdowns’ I Dig You Mind. Mosshart quickens the pace of The Punks’ My Time’s Coming and The Arcs take on Bobby Packer’s Watch Your Step.
Listen to these four incredible renditions below and take a trip back in time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_C2pxz5p5A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf-1QgWRqs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpWz_CdXCNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNjlR65IneE
Vinyl Volume 1.5 is available now via iTunes. Vinyl Volume 2 will be released on April 15th.
Image: Spin
It’s video roundup time! Once again, Howl And Echoes are coming in hot with the freshest, most eyeball stimulating music videos to be dropped by the artists you love and some of the artists you don’t know you love yet, of this week. We do all the dirty work and herd them all into one convenient web-based location for you to enjoy every Friday so that you don’t have to. Have yourself a good old gander at the latest offerings from:
Spring King – Rectifier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONyEewXraU
We’re starting out the gate with a bang this week, not being ones to be here to fuck spiders of course. It’s Rectifier, the new single from UK noisemakers Spring King. Punchy, heavy and, like all good garage rock, the amps turned up to 11 on everything., Rectifier is a track bristling with raw power and energy and will have you hooked as soon as you hear it.
The music video follows drummer and vocalist (boy do we have a whole lot of respect for those guys) Tarek Musa as he fleshes out the song in his basement before taking it to the jam room and eventually the stage playing to a huge sweaty crowd.
We’re hoping for a whole lot more outstanding stuff like this from Spring King in 2016.
Gideon Bensen – Talk Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqFbYI-M1dA
Also making some noise this week is Gideon Bensen, well-known for his duties on guitar and backing vocals for The Preatures but currently enjoying a stellar run as a solo artist. We loved his first track and its accompanying video last year and we had the chance for a great old chat with him earlier this year. This week he’s released his second single and music video for Talk Talk.
It’s a short and sharp smashing together of rock and roll with some deliciously new wave synth flavour, Bensen’s smoky baritone snaking its way around the track, showing a pretty remarkable vocal range as well. The video is lo-fi cool and features Bensen’s head replicated and warped in front of a travelling background, the bursts of red and blue complementing the bursts of different noise sparking off throughout the song.
The Kills – Doing It To Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=498zUzNGQxY
Hard rocking duo The Kills have put out a brand new single and music video this week in anticipation of their next album Ash And Ice that’s scheduled for release in June of this year. Doing It To Death is the title, the riffs gigantic, the rhythm deliberate and a definite touch of ice behind the vocals of frontwoman Alison Mosshart.
The music video wins the title of Best Funeral Procession ever. There’s rap squats atop hearse hoods, a parade of black clad pallbearers dabbing their way through a Los Angeles cemetery, Mosshart giving a eulogy with a durry in hand. It’s a song and video combination that kicks so much ass, do yourself a favour and watch it.
Ash And Ice is out June 3rd via Domino.
Bad Vision – Goons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DEBvHq9lgc
This next one comes from Melbourne rockers Bad Vision, who have this week released the first single from their upcoming album Turn Out Your Sockets. Titled Goons, it’s fantastically dance-y and jangly rock and roll with shouted choruses about looking for good times and verses about Miley Cyrus eating at shopping malls. Glorious.
The video is a nifty one-taker, so picture that scene in Goodfellas where Henry Hill takes Karen on a whirlwind tour through the back door of his nightclub, only replace gangsters with the titular ‘goons’ and the nightclub with a suburban share house and you’ve just about got it.
Turn Out Your Sockets is out May 2016 via Adagio 830 Records.
Boys Noize – Overthrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQD_WpsYtiU&feature=youtu.be
The latest single from German producer Boys Noize is Overthrow. Dark and twisting and starkly industrial, pulsating rhythms building up before a confronting and harsh drop full of squealing synths mid-song.
The music video, directed by Lil Internet and Boys Noize himself, takes the industrial tones of the track and visualises them. Shot mainly in black and white, it focuses on street life in Los Angeles after dark and the intersecting of a pair of rival gangs. Apparently no actors were used in the video, upping the authenticity of the video entirely.
There’ll be more to come from Boys Noize this year.
Le Pie – Up All Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3rRe2D23us
Sydney singer-songwriter Le Pie goes full badass on her latest single and video for Up All Night. Combining punk rock with pop hooks while losing none of the edge of the former, the track is as catchy as the flu, full of clever lyrics too.
The video does it justice and then some, shot in beautiful black and white and opening with Le Pie tagging a brick wall before her and her gang of greaser girls legs it from ‘the fuzz’. From there they wander the streets looking like a more menacing version of the T-Birds, boozing it up, swinging baseball bats and golf clubs and raising general hell.
You can catch Le Pie and the Sha La Las on the Up All Night tour this weekend, where they’ll be rolling in to rough up the Lass O’Gowrie in Newcastle on Saturday night. Look out!
NxWorries – Link Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsXaSRBO5kM&feature=youtu.be
If NxWorries is a name that’s still unfamiliar to you then it won’t be for long. It’s a super-duo made up of producer Knxwledge and vocalist Anderson .Paak. Link Up is their newest single, the second from their debut EP Link Up And Suede that capped off a massive 2015 for both men.
The song is funky as all hell, smooth vocals from Anderson .Paak layered masterfully over some lights out production from Knxwledge. The music video is fantastic, featuring a very disgruntled Eric Andre confronting Knxwledge the convenience store attendant and wondering aloud how he’s supposed to get fucked up on only three pinots (before being knocked the FUCK out).
The rest of the clip features an impossibly cool dance party hosted by .Paak and Knxwledge in the chilled section by aisle three, the duo turning all kinds of up. None other than Earl Sweatshirt shows up at one point (apparently he does sometimes like going outside) to buy a 40.
We need an album out of these two real soon.
DMA’s – Step Up The Morphine (Live Acoustic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe9Tn9n50sg
The sky is presently the limit for DMA’s. They’re a week post the release of their debut album Hills End, which landed to rave reviews across the board. The band are going on tour both in Australia and internationally, with a guest spot on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that promises to see their star rise even higher.
This week they’ve released a brand new video for one of the standout tracks on Hills End, the stunning Step Up The Morphine. They’ve reworked it into a stripped back acoustic version recorded live on a sunny afternoon in Kings Cross that will take your breath away. The steel guitar from Matt Mason adding some very welcome extra smoke to the song.
Catch DMA’s on their Hills End tour across Australia in May and June.
The Kills have announced the release of their follow up to 2011’s Blood Pressure. Making the announcement via their various social media accounts, they have shared the news that their fifth album Ash & Ice will be coming out on June 3rd. The announcement also reveals that a brand new music video for Doing It To Death is available now.
Dearest friends, family, fans, simpaticos, strangers…
Doing It To Death: https://t.co/sfZuloroQZ pic.twitter.com/0dKT392bZl— The Kills (@TheKills) March 1, 2016
The video depicts a progression of black Lincoln Continentals driving through a graveyard, with black-clad men dancing and carrying coffins behind them. The band, meanwhile, are rocking out on top of one of the cars. In the middle of the video, we cut to a small church where we find Alison Mosshart standing at the front, singing into the microphone with a cigarette in hand as the coffins are carried inside. In spite of the beautiful weather, the video is gloomy and creepy, matching the overall feel perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=498zUzNGQxY
According to Pitchfork, the album was recorded between LA and the famed Electric Lady Studios in New York City. It was produced by the band’s guitarist Jamie Hince with the help of producer John O’Mahoney.
The band have also just extended their US and European tour dates, so fingers crossed an Australian visit is on the cards!
The Kills Ash & Ice track list
Doing It To Death
Heart Of A Dog
Hard Habit To Break
Bitter Fruit
Days Of Why And How
Let It Drop
Hum For Your Buzz
Siberian Nights
That Love
Impossible Tracks
Black Tar
Echo Home
Whirling Eye
Ash & Ice will be released on June 3rd via Domino.
Featured Image: Pitchfork
Album Cover Art: NME