Every Monday, Add of the Week unveils all the new songs going into the 88Nine on-air playlist, with one hand-picked selection put in the spotlight by a member of our music team.
For a while there, Alison Mosshart was running herself ragged. During an eight-year run starting in 2008, she released three albums as one-half of The Kills and another three as one-fourth of The Dead Weather (alongside Jack White).
Then, for seven years, nothing — or rather nothing brand new. The Kills released an album of B-side and demos in 2020, keeping fans sated until the duo came through with a couple fresh tracks at the end of July: “LA Hex” and “New York,” the latter of which is this week’s featured addition to the 88Nine playlist.
Whereas the West Coast single has a meandering quality to it, “New York” is a pointedly thudding track with appropriately thumping visuals courtesy of the accompanying pugilistic video. As the two large gentlemen pummel each other — then Mosshart and Kills-mate Jamie Hince (through telekinesis or something?) — low-end horns and percussion lay down a halting but somehow also driving foundation that made this an immediate add to my workout playlist.
Mosshart’s smokey vocals take it from there with fittingly punishing lyrics to go along with Hince’s grungy guitarwork:
Eh, you taste just like New York
Before a storm takes hold
You were raised like you were high and armed
And I'm alone
But eh, I bust my lips on yours
How sweet, the night is dark enough
We're only seeing stars
You can listen to “New York” above (and “LA Hex” here if you’re curious how the left coast lives), in the 88Nine rotation and in a variety of formats on The Kills’ Bandcamp page.
This week’s other adds
- Mayer Hawthorne, "The Pool"
- Wilco, "Evicted"
- Σtella, "Girl Supreme"
- The National, "Eucalyptus"
