Everyone has that one band that they will do literally anything to see in concert. For some, it’s Yellow Card (ahhh, autumn 2003 was a good one. JK.) For those with musical tastes and an ear for well-produced tunes, it may be something closer to The Black Keys.
Someone once told me punk was dead. And they were right. That same person also told me that the blues were dead. And, up until I discovered this raucous duo, I thought the same thing.
For our late Music Monday post, I will be telling you all about The Black Key’s new album Brothers, which comes out today.
Simple, yet to the point. Like my secret notebooks full of poetry
Now some of our more loyal fans may notice a similarity between myself, The Duckman, and Black Keys musicians Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. I being the more attractive one, of course. But do not be confused. If we were making room-filling guitar-shredding white boy blues, I assure you this website would have never seen the light of day. And the world would have been better off.
This picture may rival the Slapshot one we have on the site
The Black Key’s last album, Attack and Release, came out two years ago. It was produced with the help of musical mastermind DJ Dangermouse, guaranteeing that the album would be a success. Yet both musicians have been incredibly busy since then. Not only have they each produced an album on their own side projects, they both worked together to create Blakroc, an enigmatic hip-hop/blues rock corroboration.
Like previous albums, Brothers begins with a moderate intro. Immediately after is ‘Next Girl’, a The Black Keys typical (but still wonderful) bluesy track. Like all good blues, the songs focus on women, love, relationships, and the occasionally crazy girlfriend. Then comes another impressive single ‘Tighten Up’, which you can watch below.
The album starts off with large amounts of gusto. But by the end, you may be left wondering where it all went. Brothers doesn’t give off the hard, raw sound that previous albums proudly displayed. I’d have to say that Auerbach and Carney lean more heavily towards mellower blues on this album, which most likely has its roots in Auerbach’s Keep it Hid. It’s not their best work. Yet it is still a pretty good album to add to The Black Keys canon.
I give it 3.5 Hall out of 5 Oates.
The kids in the video ‘Tighten Up’ can lip sync better than any Jonas Brother. I wont be surprised if they get ‘The Black Keys bump’ and end up on Disney Channel in a few weeks. Also, Patrick’s glasses are pretty hip. Just sayin’.
You can download from itunes for $11.99.
The Black Keys “Tighten Up”
The Black Keys | MySpace Music Videos‘
Pickles & Coffee
05/19/2010
I fucking love black keys, my only other more favorite band (in the last 10ish years) is the white stripes, and pretty much anything jack does is up there… this album is awesome, i like earlier raw stuff more but this works for me as well… i saw em live at electric factory like 3 years ago, awesome, i mean i killed half a bottle of hennesy and dont fully remember the whole night, but they were good. not white stripes (saw at bonaroo, jesus christ amazing good) but still damn good. oh and blakroc was the shit too.
Charles
05/19/2010
well said good sir