| Kill the Vultures | |
| Type: | Studio |
| Artist: | Kill the Vultures |
| Cover: | Kill_the_Vultures_self-titled_album_cover.jpeg |
| Released: | April 19, 2005 |
| Genre: | Alternative hip hop |
| Length: | 31:45 |
| Label: | Jib Door |
| Next Title: | The Careless Flame |
| Next Year: | 2006 |
Kill the Vultures is the debut album by Minnesota alternative hip hop group Kill the Vultures. It was released in 2005 by Jib Door.
Kill the Vultures was a spinoff of hip-hop quintet Oddjobs, consisting of four of its five members who had moved home to Minnesota from California after Oddjobs' breakup. Taking a new artistic direction from Oddjobs' more mainstream rap sound, Kill the Vultures pursued riskier material influenced by film noir and jazz.[1]
Christopher Weingarten of CMJ New Music Monthly compared the album favorably to Tom Waits' Real Gone, calling it a "dark, brooding mess that clatters with the clanking toys stolen from the Bone Machine."[2] Music website Oddboll called the album "hip hop for John Cage and free jazz fans."[3]
The A.V. Club named Kill The Vultures one of the best Minnesota-made albums of 2005, praising its "raw, experimental hip-hop" and the performances of the three MCs, especially the "intense, wild, biting delivery" of Crescent Moon.[4]
The album received positive critical attention in Europe, leading to a string of concerts across the continent and a steady European following.[5] French website Fake For Real wrote positively about Kill the Vultures, calling it "urgent and accusatory hardcore rap" that serves as "a denunciation of our industrial and mechanical society. ... a series of devastating sax volleys, dismembered pianos and relentless percussion, and punk is never far away."
In its hometown, Kill the Vultures was named 2005's Best Hip-Hop Artist in Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages annual music poll.[6] The group also placed third in City Pages annual "Picked To Click" band poll the same year.[7]