Album: The Kills, Blood Pressures (Domino)

Since 2008's Midnight Boom, The Kills' profile has risen sharply thanks to Jamie Hince becoming Kate Moss's beau, and Kate Mosshart's stint fronting The Dead Weather.

Understandably, the latter has made the most impact on their sound: "Satellite", the first single from Blood Pressures, sounds like Balkan polka done by The White Stripes, while the brutal beat and swaggering guitar riff of opener "Future Starts Slow" has a gritty presence also reminiscent of Jack White, Mosshart delivering the lines "You can holler, you can wail, you can swing, you can flail" with typical flick-knife sass. They're at their best when they stick closest to this delinquent minimalist rock, as on the galloping "Nail in My Coffin"; but when they drift in the direction of electropop ("Baby Says") or balladry ("The Last Goodbye"), the formula falls apart.

DOWNLOAD THIS Future Starts Slow; Satellite; DNA