[3] Let's Get Killed was Holmes's first album release in the United States, following the domestic acclaim of his debut long-player This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats.

[5] When he was 17, Holmes visited New York City, spending time in the South Bronx, Washington Square and Central Park areas.

The record contains a wide variety of styles within the electronica spectrum, including techno, breakbeats, trip hop and drum 'n' bass.

[citation needed] The NME said, "Holmes both evokes the endless possibilities, claustrophobia and madness of The Big Apple and offers a critique ... Not bad at all for a trendy DJ",[20] and placed it number 40 in the 1997 Critics Poll.

[3][10] Entertainment Weekly rated the album A-minus, saying "Holmes loves airy cinematic beauty, but he tempers it with frisky Latin percussion, gritty electric guitar ... , sound-collage effects, and snippets of crazed street people.".

David Holmes wrote and produced the majority of the album, apart from "Radio 7", which is a cover of Monty Norman's James Bond Theme, and "Don't Die Just Yet", which is based on samples of songs by Serge Gainsbourg.