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ChickSpeak hearts The Black Keys

posted by ChickSpeak
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 7:48pm CDT

You would probably never guess it by looking at them, but blues rock band The Black Keys are subtly ushering in a new age of musical genius.The seemingly nondescript pair, never wearing much more than their own jeans and Converse in videos, effortlessly blend blues and soul and rock and everything in between, and stand amazingly separate from their contemporaries with not only their talent, but with their organic presentation.

There are no facades of bravado or machismo or attempts to vaunt coolness. No, drummer Patrick Carney and singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach are too busy focusing on what most artists seem to have forgotten about nowadays - life.

The Akron, Ohio neighbors who grew to be high school friends formed The Black Keys in 2001, the name an ode to a local artist, released their first album in 2002, and have been capturing hearts ever since. Their sixth album, Brothers, was released in May and marked their highest Billboard 200 charting to date - number 3.

Their first single from the album, “Tighten Up,” features a chirpy melody underlying a thumping bassline with Auerbach crooning about the lows of heartache with lyrics like, “Living just to keep going/Going just to be sane/All the while I know/It’s such a shame.” With The Black Keys, it’s all but commonplace to feel like a part of the conversation. Auerbach sings from the depths of his soul and directly to listeners’, a skill that requires a vulnerability most artists nowadays aren’t willing to showcase.

Auerbach puts his heart on his sleeve many a time throughout the album, like on “Next Girl,” a ditty with a rockabilly sound and gospel-like passion, where he coos softly between introspective lyrics like, “I wanted love/But not for myself/But for the girl/So she could love herself.”

With influences like blues legend Junior Kimbrough, it’s no wonder that the 31-year-old Auerbach, who dropped out of college to pursue music more seriously, makes music the way he does. His voice - at times haunting, but always stirring - is classic and timeless, channeling greats like Otis Redding and Sam Cooke as if he had spent his youth learning all the tricks of the soul trade. (Check out I’ll Be Your Man for a trip back to the 60s with The Black Keys.)

But for all their heavy sound and heavy lyrics, The Black Keys are a lighthearted duo.

In the video for “Next Girl,” a crawler runs along the bottom of the screen, reading, “This is an attempt by their record label to attract attention to the band using a ridiculous dinosaur puppet. The label thinks it is hilarious. The Black Keys hate this video and don’t find it funny at all. The Black Keys feel the dinosaur puppet lip syncing to their song is demeaning to the soul of their new record.”

It’s just that type of wit and cheekiness that pervades everything The Black Keys do. They are a seriously talented band who don’t take themselves too seriously. The charm is instant and irresistible, which likely has something to do with the countless media appearances their music has made.

The band have been featured on teen drama staples like The O.C., One Tree Hill, and Gossip Girl and in major films like School of Rock, RocknRolla, I Love You, Man, and most recently, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, just to name a few.

It shouldn’t be much longer before they make an appearance on an iPod near you.

Faithlynn Morris is a lover of all things genre-defying and The Black Keys are no exception. Recently, she has put a lot of time into downloading their music. Fortunately, it’s well worth it.