It was love at first guitar riff when I listened to "Attack and Release" the last Black Keys album. Dan Auerbach's guitar is dirty-retro-blues-rock at it's best. He's all about big hollow body guitars and overdriven tube amps, it was great stuff. Patrick Carney is also a fantastic drummer. His beats are more difficult than they originally appear and he plays with a lot of power (all the best drummers do) without being show-y. "Attack and Release" is a great album and probably the band's best, so I was pumped when I got their newest album "Brothers".
*Side note- Is there a better name for an album by a 2-man band than "Brothers"? It tells you everything you need to know about these guys. This is just 2 best friends making music*
I was a little disappointed initially with "Brothers". Where were all the rockers? Where were those big guitar riffs? There wasn't a song as strong as "I Got Mine" (just a full on blast of guitar and drums; they do more with 2 instruments than most band's do with 5) and most of the songs were more R&B than Rock n Roll. I wasn't very happy, especially since I thought the Keys were on the verge of becoming a new favorite of mine.
But, I thought, give it another spin, hang in there with it. I think a lot of the time, when an album is so different from what you were expecting, you need to listen to it a few times. Stop expecting it to be something it isn't and listen to it for what it is. So I did that, and there are some really good songs on here. Arguably the two strongest songs both feature Dan Auerbach doing some falsetto singing (which is an odd thing for a guy who sounds like Kermit the frog doing BB King) "Everlasting Light" and "The Only One" are both as good as anything The Keys have done.
While nothing rocks as hard as "Attack and Release" "Next Girl" and "Tighten Up" are both standouts as well. Both are becoming favorites of mine. "Next Girl" has this weird fuzzy guitar sound that's really cool and "Tighten Up" is suprisingly catchy. Plus, I'm a big fan of any song that opens with whistling. "She's Long Gone" is probably the album's biggest rocker and another really good song.
I'm still not a big fan "Howlin' for You" and "10 Cent Pistol" is a little too dark for me. But still, there's some really good stuff here. It's not as solid over all as "Attack and Release" but still has good songs. Carney's drums really steal the show on most of the album.
I guess the moral here is not to jump to conclusions. A band can surprise you, and just because an album is softer than you had originally hoped for, you should still stick with it and give it a fair chance.
Hey look! I learned how to put in a video! Wow I hope I did this right.
