I can't help myself. I need to get in to a 12-step program to stop listening to the Kills latest offering, "Midnight Boom." I'm becoming a crazed zealot who wants to take hostages, tie them up in my basement and force them to listen to "Getting Down" over and over until the get the "big picture." Know what I mean?The Kills have been around about 5 years and have released two first rate albums on Rough Trade but their latest release "Midnight Boom" is the deal closer for the Kills. As of late the Kills have matured into a ramshakle, kinetic force of nature capable of explosive live performances.Now I'm waiting for the Kills to sell out so I can act snarky and give them a good flogging for going mainstream. I must be a seriously demented person to harbor such a negative attitude.Their song lyrics are often clever and funny. Their sense of vintage thrift shop style has earned them a couple of fashion spreads in major fashion magazines. That being said, the Kills are not bloodless posuers. There is a gritty and electrifying substance that triumphs over the Kills' keen sense of style.I spend a lot of time listening to new music and reviewing groups but the Kills stood right up a grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I've always gone for quirky musical types with strange and often sinister agendas. The Kills music is an eccentric hybrid of 2nd generation punk, delta blues, funk, garage rock fused with eletronic beats and pop hooks.The Kills were right up my alley. Of course my musical "alley" is strewn with old Rev. Gary Davis 45 RPM records, a first pressing of the Lyres not so big hit "Don't Give It Up" and countless yard sale mark-down musical treasures by the such cornerstones of obscurity as Ray Condo and the Hardrock Goners, Lou Miami and the Kozmetix, and Joe Bird and his Field Hippies.Jamie Hinson's slashing and often dissonant guitar rythyms sound like that of many of the earliest post-punk, anti-guitar heroes like Andy Gill of Gang of Four, Keith Levine of Public Image and Roger Miller of Mission of Burma. The object of the game is to use the guitar more as a percussion instrument to wrap the music in sonic wall of rhythym.The duo sings a lot of songs in loose harmony which recall the full throttled, take-no-prisoners vocal harmonies of John Doe and Exene Cervenka in the glory days of X, Los Angeles' premier punk band. Female vocalist Alison Mosshart has done her homework in musicology and would be equally comfortable singing an old blues/jazz standard like "St. James Infirmary", as she would be singing an old Velvet Underground tune like "Waiting for the Man." The added harmonies by Jamie are just icing on the cake and just one more thing that adds up to the Kill's distinctive trademark sound.I've always disliked the sound of prepared riddims of a drum machine. The overall effect usually sounds like a metronome, but the Kills intergrate the electronic beats into their arrangements with such organic care that it actually enhances their sound.Okay that's it. You've been given fair warning. This album isn't for the feint of heart and I'm an object lesson of just how one innocuous music purchase can transform you into an abuser on the fast track to a musical detox, in a matter of days.RECOMMENDED TUNES: URA Fever, Getting Down, Cheap and Cheerful, New York Used to Be & Black Ballon.