The Black Keys' Brothers is here!

Posted: 19 May, 2010

To say we've been holding our breath for this one for quite a while would be an understatement. But today it's finally arrived: The Black Keys' mighty new lp, Brothers. The duo's sixth full length, Brothers was laid down in just over 10 days in August last year at the mighty Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama. 

'Dan [Auerbach] had lyrics ready, and every day we recorded one song,' drummer Patrick Carney told Interview Magazine of the recording process. 'We just made the music, and if the song sucked, we would move on. 15 songs made it.'

After finishing 2008's Attack & Release and two years of relentless touring, Carney said the duo 'came into this one as stronger musicians. We could see more clearly how to complete a song, how to achieve a desired effect without overdoing it.'

The album's title alludes to the strong relationship between Auerbach and Carney, who have been playing together since they were teens in provincial Ohio.

'Dan and I grew up a lot as individuals and musicians prior to making this album,' Carney said recently. 'Our relationship was tested in many ways but at the end of the day, we’re brothers, and I think these songs reflect that.'

Critics are unanimous in their praise of the record. 'An album that works as both a blisteringly smart genre study that combines classic and contemporary perspectives on blues, soul, and R&B and as just one hell of a rock record, Brothers reaffirms that the Black Keys belong in any serious conversation about America's finest bands,' Slant Magazine wrote.

The Onion A.V. Club agreed. 'Brothers is actively engaged in exploring how to make beloved old sounds relevant to now, and the result is that even classic Black Keys howlers like “Black Mud” and “Ten Cent Pistol” come off more vital in the new context.' Here in Melbourne, The Age dubbed Brothers 'a modern-soul masterpiece.' They're not exaggerating.

To coincide with the launch, the Keys today released the video for the record's first single, Tighten Up. Tighten Up was produced by Danger Mouse, who manned the boards on Attack & Release, and who The Keys now consider a 'third brother... who’s sort of a bully. Like Chet from Weird Science.'

In the clip, which you can watch below, two generations of Auerbachs and Carneys duke it out in the playground for the affections of various women.

 

The Black Keys, as you can see, are two tough dudes. Which should make anyone thinking of picking up Brothers record without paying for it think twice.

'I know that if somebody downloaded our record illegally and then didn’t buy it in stores or talked shit about it to somebody I’d crack their head in if i saw them on the street...' Auerbach jested recently in an interview with The Line Of Best Fit. 'Do you know what the top three internet searches are in America?  I’ll tell you – naked girls, music, and cats. In that order.' Be warned.

Brothers is out now through Shock.

Pete : 19 May, 2010

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