Aside from the odd backing vocal by Nicole Wray “Brothers” is Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney from beginning to end, and as such the title is a fitting one. The Black Keys are known for their Blues Rock but on their new album there’s a whole lotta funk and soul going on as well. Auerbach eases up on the guitar for a heavier bass and organ driven sound. He even employs a sweet falsetto on a couple tracks. All the while though Carney’s drums are the glue that holds the whole thing together. I defy you to listen to this album and not stomp, tap, rap or hit whatever’s nearby to Carney’s beat. Gone are the days of their straight up guitar/drum songs, most of the tracks here are effect heavy, but not so much that it gets in the way of the spirit of the band. Like I said, it’s still just two guys, and compared to most acts that’s pretty damn stripped down. So don’t let opener Everlasting Light fool you, The Black Keys get down and dirty pretty much from track 2 through to the excellent excellent closing track These Days.
The first single off the album, Tighten Up, is produced by Danger Mouse and while it took me a couple listens to warm up to it, it’s definitely the first single for a reason. The band also put out a video for Next Girl (see below), which is one of the other standout tracks. But I could easily list almost every song on this one as being great so I’m not gonna bother much with giving you more of my favorites. Get the album and see what I mean.
Nonesuch Records is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. so I guess this is by default a major label release, but don’t’ let that deter you either as Nonesuch without doubt put out a quality product. The vinyl comes as a double LP and includes a CD copy of the album as well as a huge fold out poster with all the lyrics. Honestly though while it’s nice that they included the CD, I’d rather just get the download code, especially if it means them knocking a little off the price. If I take the album anywhere it’s gonna be on my iPod and if I’m home I’m gonna be spinning the vinyl no doubt. So the CD is just overkill, I’ll probably end up giving it away to reduce my already cluttered music library.
If there’s one lesson that can be learned by listening to The Black Keys it’s that never judge a book by it’s cover. I mean look at the picture above of these guys. Do they scream soul? Flava? Funk? Blues? And yet Auerbach is known as “White Hendrix” and Carney is a walking beat laboratory. So yeah, they do scream all these things even if they look like twerpy hipsters. And why shouldn’t they in this day and age? In case you didn’t notice we got a black President now. Let’s continue to blur racial lines until we can’t see them anymore. I want to live to see the day where an all girl Chinese Death Metal band can open for a bunch of 70 year old West Africans with a penchant for 90s Alt Shoegaze. A whole world of people straight getting down with whatever sound freaks them out the most regardless of whether or not society tells them it should. So play on funk soul brothers. Play on.
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