You hear a Black Keys song, and you can be forgiven if your first thought is, "I could play that." Yeah, but would you think of that? Elemental riffs, fuzzy chords, and a voice that exudes heaviosity drive this Akron-based, lo-fi, blues-rock duo that plays the Electric Factory Saturday night.
These childhood neighbors get as much sound from their guitar and drum attack any band this side of the White Stripes. You can stream a load of Black Keys songs at their Web site, and it's worth it just to launch their music player, a vintage reel-to-reel tape deck. More at their MySpace page, including some smoking video. Literally.
The band - guitarist/singer/sometimes Vox player Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney - recently opened for Radiohead on their U.S tour, and have released the full-length Magic Potion, recorded in Carney's basement studio. Paste Magazine calls it the band's best. Pop Matters gave it an 8/10:
the Black Keys continue to go down the only road they’ve ever known, and that is one filled with bluesy bumps, rocky ridges, and soul-saturated potholes that you can’t really get sick of.
The winning description comes from the music blogger Bon Ton:
The Black Keys’ve somehow created a stadium sound in my headphones, and if you add in the bluesy vocals and the bangin’ drums, you have music that hearkens back to the days when music was more than just how many people could be in the band and whether bandmembers are wearing wings or singing about the Napoleonic era. This music is strong and black, like coffee you could stand a spoon in.
