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One-upping all other comers with the "hey, guess what we're releasing RIGHT NOW" game is the Jack White / Brendan Benson-led Detroit combo The Raconteurs. The group announced today's release of their new album Consolers Of The Lonely exactly one week ago, and the album is available both digitally and is physically -- both CDs and vinyl versions -- in stores. We have no idea how a) they kept the whole thing quiet this long and b) how they wrangled the physical distribution so quickly. This is just another example of a band attempting yet another new approach to counter the failing business model plaguing the music industry at large.
But what about the album? The first disc was a playful melange of White glues fury and Benson's unflappable pop chops, but we admit that by that disc's end we had grown a bit weary. It was almost as if a bunch of our pals put together a party band but played their first show before putting together a full set of material. Consolers Of The Lonely comes after the band has gotten a fair amount of touring under their belt and the progress is staggering. Expanded instrumentation is layered on intelligent yet scrappy melodies, and right when you think the group must be about to run out of steam they power back up and continue charging on. Honestly, we are enjoying this disc much more than we have the last Benson solo joint or the last couple White Stripes albums. The Raconteurs prove innovation across all boundaries can be ultimately good for both the art and the business sides of music.
Photo courtesy the band
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Definitely good stuff. Their Austin City Limits performance was pretty great as well.
The new Gnarls Barkley record was randomly moved up several weeks for release. Between these two examples and Radiohead's surprise announcement of In Rainbows back in the fall, it seems bands are trying to find a way to get the music to fans quicker.
Or the labels are just getting that desperate to avoid leaks.
There really needs to be a new style of music called "glues fury." I want to hear it.
Yeah their ACL performance was great, but it was all material off the last album! My impression of this one is that it has 2-3 good songs, maybe. To me, Jack's vocals and guitar seem forced and out of place on a lot of songs. Just let a pop song be a pop song, and Brendan can do that just fine.
Just my opinion. Perhaps it will grow on me, I hope so. I think that the bar was set too high by the last one.
I still want these guys to come to Lollapalooza!
considering the way Jack White freaked out on that dj at 93xrt last year for playing icky thump before its release, its no wonder he kept the album release so quiet...
mich, I believe you're thinking of Q101's DJ.
They were at lolla in 2006, but I would love if they came back again too... especially since I chose to see My Morning Jacket instead of them. Damn, choices.
ah damn. I stand corrected :)
Raconteurs or MMJ? Bad scheduling by Lolla but an easy choice. Good decision.
i saw the raconteurs, and was absolutely delighted. i was wary, given that i knew one song and kind of thought they pretty much had one song to their catalog, as it were. but their performance was really captivating. it was just some good old rock-n-roll/pop, but sometimes, that's what a grrl needs.
It wasn't exactly a 'quiet' release - it's been listed for quite a while.
LOL @ the thought of quietly releasing anything these days. The album format is dead. If you're going to release something, give it as much pub as possible. Embrace change...
I'll stop now before I go off on a Bob Lefsetz type rant. And if you don't read Lefsetz, you clearly don't have an interest in the industry....
amazing... jack white is the coolest guy on earth - it has to be genius.