If The White Stripes (i.e. the other Midwest-based blues-influenced duo) are channeling Robert Johnson via Led Zep via Hank Williams, then the Black Keys are taking the delta blues into the swamps of Mississippi, heading directly north to someone’s garage in Ohio and then heading up to the home of The Stooges and MC5. It’s a very heavy and rugged blues-based sound, and it seems to have that late-night weariness to many of the songs. And while it might be unfair to compare these guys to The White Stripes, the truth is that they both do similar things, with completely different results. The swampy sound that The Keys produce is chock full o’ soul, authentic to their world and incredibly excellent. In the end, it’s just great rock n roll, great songwriting, and great guitar playing. Their most recent album with Dangermouse took things in a different direction and it still came out on top. This is a great band and I think “10 a.m. Automatic” is probably the best introduction to their sound. Check it out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment