Last year, when Dan Auerbach released his solo album, Keep It Hid, we pretty much assumed it was the end of the Black Keys. And it should be said that there was much discussion in favor of that. We've loved the Black Keys since their early Fat Possum days, banging out Junior Kimbrough covers and reviving basement rock. But recently we feared they'd run their course. Thankfully, we were wrong.
The Black Keys are Auerbach and Patrick Carney, a small band with a big sound from Akron, Ohio. Their music has always been a sonic representation of the industrial roots of their city — once known as "the Rubber Capital of the World" — but it is also revolutionary in these days of slick, over-produced, studio-fabricated pop. Their albums are rampant with unique guitar timbres which, along with some heavy drumming, create a seriously thick, powerful sound.
Every Black Keys album is full of groove and guitar trickery, but in recent years, this has become their Achilles heel. Listening to their more recent albums, one senses the band's desire to break out of their simple rock structure, but they've found little purchase in their meandering experiments, making it difficult to discern which track belongs to which album. Brothers, their newest release, has solved this problem.
The solo efforts of Auerbach and Carney, as well as their sessions with New York City's' rap coterie (Mos Def, Raekwon, Q-Tip, and RZA) on last fall's Blakroc, must have expanded the Black Keys' dynamic and tonal palate, helping them create an album that is simultaneously innovative and unmistakably the Black Keys. As an aural experience, it is a triumph. Gone are the harsh, overpowering dynamics of previous efforts and in their place are more subtle but effective musical developments. The foundation of Brothers is great mature melodies combined with creative instrumentation. And plenty of honest, rejuvenated soul.
For this project, the duo plumbed their own dark funk in Alabama's famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio where such artists as Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, and Wilson Pickett have gone to get their rocks off. The aural experience of this album fully achieves what they've been grasping to create. They've produced some of their most memorable grooves, and stories, on this album, demonstrating that the Black Keys do not have to dip into the same well but can continue to be a cutting edge musical institution.
It should also be said that this album is packaged with equal care. From the stark but effective cover to the color-changing disc, one can tell this album is not a place-holder for the Black Keys, but one that proves the band will live on. If, like us, your faith in the Keys has begun to waver, Brothers will be your salvation, and if you are new to the band, this is the perfect album to begin your journey.
Enjoy this sample from their soulful dark odyssey....
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