Mar 06 2007
The Black Keys – 10 A.M. Automatic
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Continuing with the Pitchfork-mediaesque music review theme I’ve got going this week, I’m posting about yet another unappreciated favorite of us “music snob” folks – The Black Keys.
Although this retro, lo-fi, southern-fried blues/rock band has achieved critical acclaim and recognition among the musical elite, they have yet to achieve the mainstream recognition they deserve. This too, will probably soon change, given their song “When the Lights Go Out” is featured in the upcoming pseudo-blacksploitation movie, “Black Snake Moan” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci. |
In this regard, they may become briefly popular due to the movie’s expected high visibility. However, thankfully I don’t foresee them ever becoming truly popular with the neo-hipster, frappuccino crowd. Despite the fact the band has softened their sound on their latest album, they’re still just a bit too raw for Starbucks. Indeed, as aptly noted by Pitchfork in their review of the band’s latest release:
“The Black Keys were never meant to be classy. For one, they’re from Akron. For another, they’re playing blues-rock in 2006 — no irony, no kind of pretense to authority or being some new band of purists, just a blues-rock band. But even if their so-called “raw” panache had been recycled a few times over, they had the kind of songs (“10 a.m. Automatic” chief among them) that demand the car windows be cranked down and the volume knob twisted firmly to the right for anyone weaned on classic rock radio.”
The band is often times reminiscent of many of the beloved hard-blues and rock bands of the late 1970′s, including Molly Hatchet, (early) Bad Company, Cream, Deep Purple, and, of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
One of The Black Keys trademarks is their “lo-fi(delity)” sound, including the use of tape recorders, analog effects, and retro-grade production techniques. Moreover, the band does most of the recording, producing, and mixing themselves. The majority of their second album, “Thickfreakness,” for example, was recorded over 14 hours in the drummer’s basement on an old 8-track recorder, and “Rubber Factory” was similarly recorded in an abandoned warehouse.
This first song, off the band’s 2004 album Rubber Factory, is easily one of their best.
The Black Keys — 10 AM Automatic
Now compare that with the band’s latest release off of their latest 2006 album Magic Potion.
The Black Keys — Your Touch
5 Responses to “The Black Keys – 10 A.M. Automatic”
Totally off topic: Have you seen this blog?
http://iwillfuckingtearyouapart.blogspot.com/
Be safe…
They’ve even got the slight variation on the White Stripes’ name for fuck’s sake.
What the world really needs is more bands that take a basic knowledge of two instruments, a four-track recorder, and a garage and somehow get a record deal and great press about how they’re the next big minimalist thing and the overall saviors of rock n’roll.
Jesus our expectations are low these days.
Oh yes – another reason to upset the neighbours. I’ll be getting this album. Maybe I can call myself a “music snob” as well.
L, No, haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll take a look, thanks.
Coach, Glad you like it; go bust some eardrums for me.
Chez, I gotta disagree with you to some extent. Yes, I think our expectations have been lowered beyond recognition due to the industry trash produced today. And yes, the idea of a 2 piece band is a bit “oversimplified.” But so is a “band” made up of a singer and a DJ mixing together tunes made on a fucking computer. For fuck’s sake, tho – good music is good music.
As for these guys, I know they’ve been compared to the White Stripes, but I honestly think they’re much more talented. The Stripes are all about total minimalism, simply because they don’t have anything more. I have little doubt that, had the Whites been swingers, they would have pulled in another band member.
In this regard, the Keys have to be respected for their respect to the music, not the industry. With the Keys, the singer sounds like Paul Rogers did in his early days. They also have a good drummer and guitarist, which means they don’t need a bass guitar to put together a full sound (a sound which the Stripes could never pull off).
Admittedly, both bands came out when the whole “wi-fi” scene came down about the same time (2000-2001), but the Stripes got more recognition due to the factor of an apparent “brother-sister” act (fuck, even the Brady Bunch got good press for their albums).
Moreover, their name – The Black Keys – is an apparent coincidence. From Wikipedia: “The band’s name was inspired by an artist friend of the band in Akron with schizophrenia, who used the term “black keys” to describe things he disliked or people he did not trust. A double meaning lies in the fact that the black keys of a piano comprise a pentatonic minor scale when starting on A#, which is often associated with blues and rock music.”
Thus, whereas these guys took their name from the type of music they make, the White Stripes took their name from the made up name of their lead singer and drummer, who they lied about and said was his “sister.” Now THAT is true fulfillment of recording industry low expectations.
So c’mon, let’s give props where props are due. That is all.
Huh. I always thought the name was just a piano reference. I love this band – I have Rubber Factory and The Big Come Up, and they’re both excellent.
Also, The Black Keys are more of a blues-driven band. You probably won’t find them on the cover of Blender any time soon. The White Stripes… they have their good points, but overall they bug me. But don’t mind Chez, he’s just grumpy because of the weather, and because of the unpleasant surprise he found in his last Krispy Kreme.