the kills have been going for ten years. ten years. that’s quite a long time. i love the kills. they’ve got in hollywood start samantha morton to direct the video for the beautiful ‘the last goodbye’. it starts with alison in a photo booth. about two minutes in, jamie pops up as well. not just is alison looking very helena bonham carter, but jamie is looking very noah taylor. it’s uncanny.
saturday was the something annual record store day. i’m pretty sure anybody who reads this blog knows what it’s all about. but in case you don’t (or you just happened to come across us after a google search for “asparagus” brought you to this page) it is a day when loads of special editions and shit are released to celebrate the wonder that is going to a record store. it’s all quite good fun really.
my plan for the day was to get down to a couple of the stores and get my hands on a carefully chosen selection from the exclusive product list. top of my list was the roxy music special edition. a double a-side of ‘virginia plain’ and my personal favourite ‘pyjamarama’, limited to just 500 copies. after a slight delay in leaving due to enjoying the comfort of my bed a little too much i was off.
first stop flashback records on essex road. the bus journey may have been short, but all it did was emphasise the need for the coffee industry and the tfl to stop their ridiculous conflict and come together as one.
after wandering about flashback for a while pretending i really was interested in that 1971 spring triple gatefold at just £500 i thought that maybe i’d got the wrong day and it was just a normal saturday. just as i was ready to leave i noticed a small whiteboard with their rsd2011 (as the cool kids call it) releases listed. it wasn’t huge, but i got the toro y moi / cloud nothings double a-side that was midway down on my shopping list.
it was all about rough trade today though, and that was exactly where i was heading next. the queue was long, but fast moving. i was in within ten minutes and ready to find my roxy music amongst the literally zillions of records. obviously, this being me, i failed. i did however end up with the ‘satellite’ 10″ from the kills and a limited edition cajun dance party that had nothing to do with rsd2011. it’s cajun dance party though and you never need an excuse to buy anything by cajun dance party.
as i left i realised i hadn’t eaten all day, but it is worth mentioning the burger and potato wedges i had for two reasons. firstly, i sat next to a young couple who were revising for their a-levels. if you’re reading this, i think you’ll do pretty well because i didn’t understand a thing you were talking about, so assume you’re correct. secondly, i burnt my tongue on the potato wedges and now have a red mark on it. actual red mark.
as i was leaving i suddenly realised i hadn’t taken any photos. so i took one. this is it.
you see the fella with this guy pointing towards him? i got in one of those awkward situations when you walk at the same speed as somebody but you’ve left it too late to speed up or slow down without looking strange. we stayed walking side by side until he carried straight on down commercial street and i turned right up brushfield street to get my bus.
so, my record store day conclusions? i should have got to rough trade earlier. i failed to get roxy music, the white stripes and the beach boys. i turned down saint etienne and ed banger for being too expensive. i bought the kills and toro y moi / cloud nothings. my favourite purchase though was cajun dance party. it was fun. i’ll get up earlier next year.
oh, and i took this photo when i got home.
update: on sunday afternoon, rough trade tweeted that they’d found 30 copies of the clash cd upstairs. i rushed over and picked one up, along with the metronomy 7″, bringing my rsd haul to five.
after my recent posts about kate jackson and the kills i felt the need to talk women. my favourite frontwomen of all time. before we start, i need to bring two parts of that last sentence to your attention. firstly the word “favourite”. i will have missed out loads (i’ve only done my top five after all) and there are ladies that i am sure are better than the five below, but these are my favourites. secondly, i’m not counting solo artists. this is all about those that women that take the lead of a band. sorry pj harvey. sorry lykke li and natasha khan. i’m not counting solo artists in this.
5: alice glass
have you ever seen her live? she is actually mental. it’s fucking brilliant and it is her energy that makes up a big part of why crystal castles are so exciting.
4: kate jackson
nobody epitomises library cool like miss jackson. not only did she lead he band on stage and off stage, but she even painted the cover art for their albums. the long blondes may be no more, but she frontwomaned (real word) them with such style that they’ll be present on my ipod for a long time yet.
3: karen o
with her unique look and powerful recognisable voice, karen o was made to front a band. she complements the sound of yeah yeah yeahs and you can’t imagine anybody else in her role.
2: debbie harry
do i really need to explain this one? she’s the mother of all frontwomen. she has the songs. she had the looks. blondie were debbie harry.
1: alison mosshart
pipping blondie to the post, alison mosshart is perfect. sexy, strong, edgy. she has everything. not just that but she fronts two bands. the kills and the dead weather. she is equally amazing in both and fully deserves her top spot.
many more could be here. shirley manson and nina from the cardigans were considered. stevie nicks only just missed out but i imagine would make it onto most lists. there are new challengers as well. elizabeth sankey, for example, has everything in place to join the list.
that was fun. expect more lists coming up soon.
album review: the kills. blood pressures. 4 april 2011. domino records
(buy here)
anybody who has heard the two tracks to precede the fourth album from the kills should already be suitably excited. ‘dna’ is a great example of the work they’ve done over the previous three albums, but ‘satellite’ hinted at a slightly changed sound. slower and with (this might just be me) slight west indian influences.
blood pressures follows suit with a perfect mixture of the old and the new. very much the kills, but at the same time touching on new ground. opener ‘future starts slow’ gets you off to a great start and reassures you that this is going to be a top quality record. whether letting jamie hince take the lead on ‘wild dreams’ or alison mosshart being so fucking cool on ‘nail in my coffin’, this showcases all their talents wonderfully.
when ‘pots and pans’ has closed the album you are thoroughly satisfied, but still want to go back to the beginning and start all over again. ‘midnight boom’ is up there in my top albums of all time. this more than deserves its place on the same discography.
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