Pop music should no longer feel so comfortable sitting atop the musical hierarchy. The Black Keys have injected enough life back into garage rock to rattle the royalty from the Kings of Leon. With their latest studio album “Brothers,” The Black Keys have the goods to make rawness cool again. I’m even considering skipping my ritualistic scouring of the Internet for free downloads and paying the $1.29 per track for the collection on iTunes. Either way, I definitely plan on adding “Brothers” to my current play list. Bieber-fever is wearing off anyway.
The Black Keys have really outdone themselves with this number. Though not quite up to the minimalist garage rock of The White Stripes, The Black Keys are in the same neighborhood, which is not a bad area at all. If The White Stripes were the band that planted the alternative, bluesy rock tree closer to the mainstream, The Black Keys are stepping up to prime the branches, pat down the fertilizer and water the roots.
Released May 18 on Nonesuch Records, “Brothers” is the sixth studio album from the rock and roll duo made up of singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. The duo remains consistent with what they did in the past five recording sessions with their latest release.
This one, however, has the soulful edge and song variety that is a lot less apparent in previous albums such as “Attack & Release” and “Thickfreakness.” With this seemingly minor upgrade instilled in their sound, The Black Keys may finally begin to appeal to a demographic other than hipsters with a self-concept of superiority and middle-aged blues mongers.
The biggest relief on this 15-track disc is the clear distinction between where songs begin and end – a used-to-be cloudy area for the twosome. With the help of standout tracks such as “Howlin’ For You,” the record is the first out of their six albums that doesn’t sound like one 55-minute song. Even more impressively, none of the individual tracks even remotely resemble throwaways. All steak, no coleslaw.
The new release earned a worthy four out of five stars from Rolling Stone and was deemed “a good, thick, dirty racket, never overstuffed.” Recommended tracks “Tighten Up” and “Next Girl” don’t seem to change between reviews, and for good reason. The eerie “The Only One” is an almost uncharacteristically psychedelic listen that has yet to earn a mention in any articles, but it proves that the two-man team learned something beyond garage band simplicity and predictability. The ballad closing out the album, “These Days,” is another dark horse; out of nowhere, a ballad, and surprise! Dan and Pat are capable of quite the fantastic little slow jam.
If they weren’t already, the booking teams for Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza are patting themselves on the back for printing this duo’s pseudonym on their cotton, lineup tees. The Black Keys will draw a substantial crowd thanks to “Brothers,” and the drunk, aging Mick Jagger and Keith Richards fans might not be the only guys along the front bars this time.