Tag Archives: Black Keys

Rock & Roll Salvation: Jack White, The Black Keys and The Strypes

This summer we can look forward to new albums by two of today’s giants of rock & roll, and we can expect to here a lot about a young Irish band.

Jack White is scheduled to release his second solo album “Lazaretto” in June, and a couple of weeks ago he put out the video for the instrumental “High Ball Stepper”, the album’s first single.  The Huffington Post claims that you will be watching a physics demonstration of non-Newtonian fluids and the operation of a Chladini plate as you listen to Jack’s blistering soundscape.   Physicists out there, feel free to comment.

The Black Keys have announced that “Turn Blue” will be out in May.  The title track and “Fever” have been released in advance and seem to be preparing us for a bit of a different album than 2013 Rock Album of the Year “El Camino”.  Danger Mouse helped produce the new album, just as he did “El Camino”, and the track below carries his influence.

While Jack White and the Black Keys are digging into all the corners of rock & roll, The Strypes tunnel right down the middle.  The young Irishmen have been on all the late night TV shows following last summer’s major label debut “Snapshot”.   The tracks “Blue Collar Jane” and “What a Shame” leave no doubt where this band’s heart is at.  They are fun to watch, and that drummer – wow.

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Dan Auerbach: Black Keys Frontman’s Production Efforts Are Unmistakable

Dan Auerbach must be one of the busiest men in the music business.  In addition to doing his part to keep bluesy rock & roll vital with the Black Keys, he’s been a very active record producer.  When you listen to some of the work he’s produced, you can clearly hear that he’s not afraid to infuse it with his own style.

Later this summer Valerie June will release “Pushing Against a Stone” in the U.S., with Auerbach as co-producer and co-writer of a number of songs. June is just getting noticed, playing festivals all over Europe this summer after opening for Jake Bugg earlier in the year (see our recent post Jake Bugg). Listen to “Raindance” from June’s self-released album “Valerie June and the Tennessee Express”, then listen to “You Can’t be Told” from the upcoming album. The latter pretty much screams Black Keys.

Another of Auerbach’s recent production efforts is “Nomad” by African guitar wizard, Omara “Bombino” Moctar. The subject of Ron Wyman’s documentary “Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion”, Bombino is touring the world this year including a month in the U.S.  Listen to “Mehegagh” (What Shall I Do) from “Agadez”, then listen to “Amidinine” from “Nomad” to hear Auerbach’s influence.

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