New Music Tuesday - The Black Keys

The Black Keys - Attack & Release
3.5 out of 5


I love supporting Ohio music/sports/agricultural superiority, so nothing gives me more pleasure than the way the Black Keys have exploded out of Akron, Ohio over the past few years. They were under the radar for a few years, but their latest album, Attack & Release, was produced by none other than Danger Mouse (of "the Grey Album" and Gnarls Barkley fame) and was actually written as an album for Ike Turner to sing. So I'm gonna go ahead and say that they are no longer under the radar.

So how did their collaboration with the Mouse go? I'm not going to lie to you: this is not the Black Keys as you know them. They have moved out of the garage, away from the one guitar/one drum set mindset, and away from straight blues+punk rock. But just because they have expanded their sound away from a formula that has worked outstandingly in the past, it doesn't mean they haven't made a great CD. It might take you a few listens to get used to the cleaned up sound, but there is a lot to love here.

The first single, "Strange Times," starts out as very straight-forward blues rock, standard Keys stuff here. But when Dan Auerbach starts to sing, you notice a lot more reverb and distance in his voice, rather than the right-next-to-you-rock sound. Once you get to the refrain, any Black Keys fan might be a little lost: is that a choir? As I said, different doesn't equal bad. This album the keys have added choirs, keys, banjo, and yes, even a flute. The next song, "Psychotic Girl," gets even more trippier than "Strange Times," with plenty of "spacey" sounding stuff going on, but the Black Keys wear all this new flash well.

The first few times I heard the CD, the more straightforward rockers ("I Got Mine," "Remember When (Side B)") were the songs I considered to be the best. After more listens, though, the trippy "Psychotic Girl," the nearly hip-hop drum and flute infused "Same Old Thing," and the sweet, bluegrass backing vocals and slow organ crawl of "Things Ain't Like They Used to Be," have turned out to be just as good, if not better, than the garage rock that got me into the Black Keys in the first place. Dan's guitar, despite being mixed much lower than usual, is still superb, but what really makes the new songs compelling are the beautiful bluesy lyrics crooned throughout, combined with great songcraft.

While there are some forgettable songs (generally the slower songs with less of a distinct melody) the Black Keys have proven they are no one-trick pony, with a little production help from Danger Mouse. While the album as a whole doesn't reach the near perfection of their album Rubber Factory, there are plenty of great songs to make this one worth your while. If the Black Keys can take some of these newer styled songs and put them on an album that leans a little more heavily on their traditional sound, their name might be more well known than the other little guitar/drum duo with a color in the name.

Black Keys Homepage
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MP3: The Black Keys - I Got Mine
MP3: The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl