"I'm bored of cheap and cheerful," Alison "VV" Mosshart sings on the Kills' third album—as if cheap and cheerful have ever been part of the Anglo-British duo's MO. "Midnight Boom" travels the same darkly kinky and sexually tense terrain as its predecessors, with Mosshart and platonic partner Jamie Hince teasing listeners with what sure sound like lascivious exchanges and duets. This time, however, the Kills have found a new kind of beat. Inspired by a documentary about the rhythmic playground patter in America during the '60s, most of the dozen songs on "Midnight Boom" are driven more by looped beats. As a result, the melodies on such tracks as "Getting Down," "Cheap and Cheerful" and the hand-clapping "Sour Cherry" are framed with spare urgency, while "U.R.A. Fever" and "Alphabet Pony" boast an urban, nearly hip-hop ambience.—Gary Graff