The Black Keys – Brothers (2010)

The year 2010 was quite a significant year for my music listening habits. I had always listened to a lot of music and my knowledge of obscure bands was probably a bit better than average Joe's, but I wasn't actively trying to find new music. I just happened to have lots of friends who were really into indie music and I heard most of my new music from them. In 2010 something changed. I started reading music blogs, going through annual greatest album lists by record shops etc. A whole new world opened up to me. I realised that there is an infinite amount of great music out there if you are just ready to use a bit of time to find it. Of course, getting Spotify around the same time really helped as well, because I was able to listen to pretty much all the music in the world. The Black Keys was one of the bands I found around that time from some of the greatest new albums lists.



I remember going to Stupido record shop in Helsinki when they had their sale with a list of new albums I was interested in and I bought about 10 new albums by bands I had not even heard of before than maybe a week earlier. Brothers was one of those albums. The album had a slightly more soulful sounds than the music I was used to at that time, but it had similar kinds of garage elements that I had been listening to for years. Anyway, this music sounded very retro, but at the same time really fresh and new. After a while, I really started listening to this album a lot. This album may even have been my gateway to 70's soul rock that I hadn't really listened to before.

More recently, The Black Keys started making more generic indie rock music, of which the best example is their hit song Lonely Boy. As much as I liked that song, it geared the band away from their original and very interesting sound found on this album. It made them sound like everyone else. This is why I still think Brothers was the highlight of their career. It uses many retro elements from blues, soul, rock, garage rock and 60's psychedelia but their music sounds unique and original.

The album starts with excellent raunchy and rough guitar riffs in a song Everlasting Light. The vocals are high and remind me of 70's soul. Next Girl is a garage blues song with brilliantly buzzing guitars. Tighten Up has this amazing lazy groove that is familiar from other albums produced by Danger Mouse. Howlin' for You is like a modernised garage version of old 50's blues songs. It also reminds me of some White Stripes songs that I was really into about five years earlier. She's Long Gone has heavy overdriven electric guitars that almost remind me of Black Sabbath. The melody, however, is this lazy bluesy rock melody that makes you want to nod along. Black Mud is a total retro rock song with hippy psychedelia guitars. The organs almost sound like some African funk artists like William Onyeabor. Mentioning the connection to Onyeabor, the next song The Only One actually sounds exactly like him. Too Afraid to Love has some excellent bass lines and steady groovy beat on the drums. This bluesy song almost reminds me of some melancholic songs by Amy Winehouse. Ten Cent Pistol has some great funky electric guitars that sound like they were just played on a vacuum tube amplifiers right in front of you. Sinister Kid is like an old school blues song that's been mixed with some hip hop aesthetics. I'm kind of reminded of TV on the Radio in this song. Never Gonna Give You Up is an outright rip off of many 70's soul classics. If I just heard this song on the radio, I would actually think it's from the 70's.

The Black Keys have some phenomenal film quality music videos. The music video for Tighten Up shows events at the playground where two small boys start singing the song to girls. The boys start fighting each other over the girls' attention and the band members who are their fathers in the video go and break them up. But at the same time, one of the girls' mothers shows up to get her daughter away from the fight and the two band members start showing off their musical skills to the mother and finally they end up fighting like their kids earlier in the video.

This is a great example of an album that uses merely retro elements in the music, but by mixing up different styles it manages to sound completely unique and fresh. At a time when it's almost impossible to come up with anything completely original, embracing retro sounds is really a way to go.

Listen to the album on Spotify.