All Of The Drama And All Of The Fuss

The Kills “LA Hex”

The Kills have been away for quite some time now, but have returned with a couple songs that sound as though we’ve missed some of their creative evolution in the meantime. Jamie Hince’s arrangement on “LA Hex,” as well as its double A side counterpart “New York,” feels deliberately lopsided and hobbled. The beat lurches a bit, the music generally feels like a hole has been shot through it but it wasn’t enough to kill the song. Hince and Alison Mosshart sound like they’re muttering just out of synch with each other while making their way through a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, the main synth part bearing down on them like hot dry air. Hince keeps the song in the Kills comfort zone by tossing in that signature guitar effect that sounds sorta like a car engine, but then pushes in the opposite direction by adding a choir near the end. The choir part really makes the song, adding an unexpected dignity and grace to a song that feels like it could suddenly collapse at any moment.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee featuring James Murphy “Los Angeles”

Here’s an interesting mix of characters – the drummer of the most classic iteration of The Cure, the drummer from Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the producer of late period works by R.E.M. and U2, with the guy who does nearly everything on LCD Soundsystem records as a guest on vocals. James Murphy’s presence is pretty overwhelming on this song, to the point that the arrangement just sounds like something he would do left to his own devices – imagine Suicide doing a shuffle, but with a classic New York City guy singing about Los Angeles as if it’s a city full of literal monsters. I like how crazed Murphy sounds here, like he’s hamming it up just enough to make it clear he’s kinda joking, but not completely.

Buy it from the band.