Little Bastards (Double Gatefold LP)

The Kills have compiled an extraordinary career spanning b-sides and rarities album titled, appropriately, Little Bastards. The songs date back from the band's first 7-inch singles in 2002 through to 2009. All of the material has been newly remastered for release on 2 x LP, CD & Digital and marks the first ever vinyl pressing for some of these tracks.

The compilation includes the unreleased and never-before-heard demo "Raise Me" from the 2008-2009 Midnight Boom era. Other highlights include "I Call It Art" from the Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited covers compilation, the brilliant Midnight Boom digital bonus track "Night Train", a blistering performance of "Love Is A Deserter" from an XFM radio session and a handful of classic American roots songs performed with the kind of bruising delivery they're famous for: Howlin' Wolfs' "Forty Four", Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell on You" and Dock Boggs' "Sugar Baby".

First ignited over trans-Atlantic mixtapes shared between two kindred spirits at the turn of the Millennium, the past two decades have seen The Kills master a savage balance, unleashing artful detonation and subtle vocal and guitar violence. That's five albums and four EPs where Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince reimagined the possibilities of modern duality - alchemizing garage rock, punk, and blues into smoke clouds, psychic carnage, and a smouldering nocturnal slink into a northwest passage between Outkast and Suicide. Their last album, Ash & Ice (2016), was universally lauded, and their most recent release - a 2018 cover of Saul Williams' "List Of Demands" b/w Peter Tosh's "Stepping Razor" - marked 15 years since their first album as The Kills, 2003's Keep On Your Mean Side. As performers, their chemistry is unmatched and unfettered; magnetic and enthralling whether drenched in guitar feedback or delivering a piano-led torch song under a single spotlight. The Kills have transcended whatever genres first claimed them and inhabit an entirely unique place in music culture. They are themselves. Inimitable and unparalleled, Little Bastards is a musical refresher manifest as a shot of pure adrenaline. Enjoy the memories. Long may they blaze.