Rockin' Our Turntable: The Raconteurs

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 25, 2008 3:55PM

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