SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT – SPOOKY TRICKS

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Spooky Tricks      
Rykodisc Records 

I was walking down the street when the atmosphere around me suddenly shifted. Over the course of the next few minutes my reality was contorted and rearranged in a way that I never thought possible; there is Room on The Moon, this much I was sure of.

Artistically speaking, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult is still pushing the boundaries of acceptance. Spooky Tricks, the title of The Thrill Kill Kult’s 11th full length studio album and their first in five years, is a loaded gun primed with elements of a galactic acid jungle, infused with just the right balance of desire for overindulgence and a misplaced childhood sense of adventure. That being said, there are a few key elements that I feel have been altered for the worse.

At times I feel as though I’m at a German rave in a cement cellar during late 1996, not that this is necessarily a bad thing but it seems too static. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t at the clubs in ’96 but that isn’t required to know that TKK were ahead of their time during that era. Synth technologies, for example, have come a long way in 18 years and while Lo-Fi is cool and all with the rest of the art form progressing so healthily, it makes it feel out of context and, at times, redundant. I have to be honest, the first time I walked through Spooky Tricks I wasn’t exactly impressed. I think it felt a bit cheesy and somewhat hasty, especially compared to much of TKK’s earlier work. However, I felt there could be something there and sure enough, somewhere around the middle of my second go it hit me; this album is great. Most of those elements that are out of context in other genres come together in this magnificent collage with such effortless passion, enticing you on with each beat and further note. What a beautiful piece. After consideration, I believe that more work of this calibre and artistic conviction is required for this art and industry to succeed and evolve. My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult demonstrates, with exquisite vibrancy, why they deserve to be a classic in any self- respecting music aficionado’s catalogue.Taylor Kerr

Taylor Kerr

mylifewiththethrillkillkult.com/