Rockin' Our Turntable: The Black Keys

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 18, 2010 5:40PM

The Black Keys is one of those bands that won us over through their live shows. The duo had a knack for putting out solid albums rooted in their stripped down attack of the blues, but the electricity was missing. Some of the fire would smoke from between the grooves from time to time, but the sexiness and the soul just wasn’t there. To be honest after their somnambulant Danger Mouse produced disc and their unfortunate BlakRoc hip-hop side project we were afraid the two-man demolition crew had succeeded in destroying itself.

Imagine our surprise as "Everlasting Light," the first track of their new album Brothers, began to snake its way out of our speakers and sent chills down our spine. Anf then the disc continues down that path. Brothers is sultry, dangerous, smoky, adventurous, primal, simple and complex; all at the same time. Harpsichord trickles along the backside of “Too Afraid to Love You” to underscore the song’s creepy longing. “Tighten Up” does just that, choking the guitar and increasing the tension until the drums blast across the terrain powered by an undulating melody.

With Brothers The Black Keys have produced the album we always wanted to hear from them. They’ve taken the studio finesse they’ve been accumulating over the years and finally figured out how to create progressive songs that are, deep down, still powered by the gut-punch power they display onstage.

The Black Keys play Lollapalooza on August 6 and The Metro on August 7