COLUMN: Keys produce masterful rock
Have you ever heard of The Black Keys? The Ohio band has been releasing music since the early 2000s. Ever since their “Brothers” album release in 2010, they have been a frequent visitor of Billboard’s Top 100 list. Their album “El Camino” was released early in December 2011, bringing their American blend of bluesy rock to listeners once again.
As you listen to guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer-producer Patrick Carney play, it’s hard to believe it’s a two-piece band. Like the White Stripes, the explosive, heart-bleeding songs are worth the listen, and one could argue they are keeping American rock alive — and well. But that argument is for another time, as today we sit back and listen to “El Camino.”
The album starts off like an MI-6 member with a vengeance and storms in with the song “Lonely Boy.” The guitar, like a Heckler and Koch UMP submachine gun, speedily chugs along with feverish rhythm. The catchy single is the perfect way to start an album. It’s like a movie starting with a fast car-chase scene or foot chase through some third-world country. Auerbach continues to caress the listener with the rhythmic guitar, at the same time making the listener want to get up and move around.
The album chills out for a moment with “Little Black Submarines,” as Auerbach shows you how to properly love a guitar. It starts off a little slow and then takes you on a wild excursion with a little friendly distortion. The drums feature each chord with perfect cymbal hits and Carney brings out his inner drummer.
Every track seems to have this awe-inspiring energy to it. There is a perfect synergy of fitting drum parts to every guitar line and rhythmic chug. The real talent of The Black Keys is to play off each other and really craft a masterful rock. It’s not extreme, it’s not intense, but it’s amazingly heavy and soulful. The semi-minimalistic rock is great for just about anything, a party, driving around in an Aston Martin, playing poker at Casino Royale, blowing up a Soviet chemical weapons base or hanging out at an ice hotel with Halle Berry. This album pumps up the mood.
The evil Alex, the one with a balaclava who wears glasses sometimes, really feels like this is just a rehash of stuff from “Brothers” and their earlier releases. Sure, they’ve matured a lot since “Rubber Factory,” the only other album he’s familiar with but, like “Lonely Boy,” could easily be on the same album as “Howlin’ for You,” or “Tighten Up.” Evil Alex also thinks that the hits from all of the Black Keys’ albums are really similar, maybe it’s for the sake of the curators of greatest hits albums, but maybe the Black Keys have already peaked a couple of albums back. Maybe “El Camino” is more like “Octopussy” than “Casino Royale.”
Taking that into consideration, “El Camino” keeps the heat in the music better than a lot of albums, but really shifts into a 1970s beat-and-guitar style, which is like watching an old kung fu film or MacGuyver, but the intensity is high and the Black Keys keep jamming out. Finishing strong with “Mind Eraser,” the album goes down smooth and enjoyable — like an Arnold Palmer, southern style.
The bottom line is if you enjoy blues rock or older-style rock like the White Stripes, the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, then The Black Keys is a modern mix of that style. With great melodic synergy and beats to shoot, “El Camino” is a get-up-and-go kind of album that is sure to please. My favorite tracks are “Lonely Boy,” “Stop Stop,” “Gold on the Ceiling” and “Money Maker,” but all of them are pretty solid. It loses steam about three-quarters of the way through, so I rate the album 8 out of 10.
– alexander.h.van_oene@aggiemail.usu.edu