The Black Keys
thickfreakness
Fat Possum
Just when the “new wave” of garage rawk (e.g. The White Stripes and The Vines) seems to have ended, The Black Keys, a blues-punk (yes!) duo from Akron, Ohio, release their second album thickfreakness.
The Black Keys keep to their blues and soul roots while fiddling with rock and punk. Dan Auerback, guitarist and vocalist, plays like a straggling old man sittin’ on the corner store porch. “midnight in her eyes” is heartbreakingly tender, distributing and brilliant. On “hard row” and “set you free,” Patrick Carney, drummer and producer, plays with a reserved abandonment that can only be heard on a great blues record: he contorts along side Auerback’s guitar and leaps every once in awhile to make himself known.
The Black Keys get it right with thickfreakness, bridging that gap between American blues and rock ‘n roll as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin did three decades ago.
Fat Possum Records: http://www.fatpossum.com/ • The Black Keys: http://www.theblackkeys.com/
