Akron, Ohio, July 2002: Two young men, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, Akron natives and college dropouts the both of them formed the The Black Keys, the band named in honor of a schizophrenic Akron artist, who called the boys “black keys”, his phrase for people who weren’t quite right.

In 2001, Dan had booked some time to record with his current band in Patrick’s primitive basement recording studio. When the group didn’t show, Dan and Patrick banged out the first Black Keys songs off the cuff. The demos recorded that serendipitous afternoon secured them a deal with Alive Records for their debut, The Big Come Up.

So the boys get busy. They rehearse non-stop in Patrick’s rat-infested basement. They undertake a punishing tour schedule, and in 2003, they record their colossal-sounding sophomore album, Thickfreakness, in Patrick’s basement studio for their new record label, Fat Possum, in one furious twelve-hour session.

Later that year, the band takes up residence on the second floor of a cavernous former tire factory in a desolate section of East Akron. Putting together an ad hoc studio of second-hand equipment and old magnetic tape recycled from not-quite-right recordings of Mississippi fried chicken joint commercials, sessions for Rubber Factory, the band’s third record in as many years, begin in January and last until April 2004. Rubber Factory isn’t slick; it’s raw and it’s beautiful in a ragged way.

The Black Keys return to the basement (Patrick’s new, rat-free studio, Audio Eagle) to record Magic Potion, their fourth full-length album for new label Nonesuch. Despite its title, Magic Potion is ironically the sound of The Black Keys getting their signature sound down to a science; it’s the band at their heaviest, grittiest and most powerfully stripped down.

In 2008, the Black Keys return with Attack & Release, their fifth and most ambitious lp. Recorded with the help of Gnarls Barkley producer Danger Mouse, the record finds the duo expanding their sound into more hazy, dreamy sonic territory, with the riffs, as an allmusic reviewer wrote, used as ‘paint brushes instead of blunt objects.’ Which isn't to say the songs don't still grab you by the neck. Attack & Release is the sound of a band unafraid to try their hand; a band unwilling to settle and stay put.