The Black Keys - Brothers

Yeah, the cover art is fucking stupid. Don't let that fool you, though: this is a good Black Keys album. If you've never quite been into The Black Keys, you probably won't like this, but you might, because they've really fucked a bit around with their sound here, creating something else altogether. Indie-soul-funk-blues-rock, if you will. Take a listen to their single, Tighten Up, for an example of the sound on this album.

On their last effort, Attack & Release, they brought the experimentation, with the aid of Danger Mouse, who you may have noticed gets mentioned a bit in my reviews. And while that album was good, it all didn't seem to . . . gel. This time, it seems to have worked out. Given that they pretty much perfected their minimalist singular drums-and-guitar on 2004s stellar effort, Rubber Soul, a change was due to come. And they seem to have finally pulled it off with this release. Danger Mouse only produces one track here, the aforementioned Tighten Up, so the experimentation is largely coming from The Black Keys themselves, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. Which seems to have worked out.

Basically, it's good. Best thing they've done in a while, honestly. They're going in a good direction.

Get it.

-K

Blakroc - Blakroc

You might not know Blakroc. I'm not gonna do a big wordy pretentious review for them, so this is gonna be short and sweet. Blakroc is a project between The Black Keys and a bunch of A-list hip hop artists, marrying blues rock beats to off-the-cuff rapping. Yes, it's rap rock. But this project largely avoids the pitfalls of that much maligned genre by forgetting to be shitty as hell.

Featuring rappers like Mos Def, Ludacris, Pharaohe Monch, Raekwon and Q-Tip, not to mention NOE from Byrdgang doing the most earnest impression of Jay-Z I've heard in a long time. And considering Jay-Z's project with Linkin Park, he's probably better at being Jay-Z than Jay-Z is right now. Oh, about that potential: it works out, for the most part. The Black Keys largely remain in the background, banging out the beats, apart from a few background vocals from Dan Auerbach and a few gratuitous shouts of "Black Keys!!" in one or two tracks. Don't worry, it's not disruptive. This project mostly's about the rappers, and a good thing for it.

Common subjects in the album include typical blues and rap subjects as loose women, down payment blues and shitty relationships, and, on Raekwon's guest track Stay Off The Fucking Flowers, one of the best tracks on the album, staying off the fucking flowers. None of the tracks fall flat; they're all fun. Whether the album has lasting power is up to you, I guess. I still listen to it from time to time. 85 Bitches Out of 100 Ain't Shit.

Get it.

-K