Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:WOXY
WOXY?
Black Keys Roll Call
Black Keys: A Show of Force at 9:30
Friday, October 8, 2004; Page C04
Two-person bands – if they can be called bands – have enjoyed a bit of a boom in the past few years. Detroit's White Stripes are the best-known of these rocking musical duos, but others such as the Raveonettes and the Kills have also experienced some success.
Enter the Black Keys, a powerhouse, white-thrash blues band, er, duo from Akron, Ohio, with a giant crashing sound that is louder and fuller and grimmer than a drummer and guitarist alone should be able to produce.
Before a good-sized crowd at the 9:30 club on Wednesday night, drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach played a roaring, cocksure set that replaced the traditional mournful sound of the Delta blues with a variety that was much more harrowing.
Auerbach is a ferociously talented guitarist whose leads bristle and burn as if the guitar were a molten mass. And Carney wails on his drums as if he were taking part in an anger management therapy exercise. The pair's concert is as much a show of force as it is a musical performance.
Highlights included the blistering "Stack Shot Billy," an update on the folk/blues standard "Stagger Lee" and a cover of Louisiana bluesman Robert Pete Williams's "Grown So Ugly," both from the band's new album, "Rubber Factory."
If there is a problem with the Black Keys, it is the structure of the band. The two-person approach gives the songs a raw, even primitive feel, but ultimately it feels too limiting. Even though the show clocked in at just over an hour, it had already begun to feel a bit wearying before the encore, and it became harder to distinguish the songs from one another. Ultimately, the songs seemed not to match the prodigious musical ability of their authors.
– Joe Heim
Friday, October 8, 2004; Page C04
Two-person bands – if they can be called bands – have enjoyed a bit of a boom in the past few years. Detroit's White Stripes are the best-known of these rocking musical duos, but others such as the Raveonettes and the Kills have also experienced some success.
Enter the Black Keys, a powerhouse, white-thrash blues band, er, duo from Akron, Ohio, with a giant crashing sound that is louder and fuller and grimmer than a drummer and guitarist alone should be able to produce.
Before a good-sized crowd at the 9:30 club on Wednesday night, drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach played a roaring, cocksure set that replaced the traditional mournful sound of the Delta blues with a variety that was much more harrowing.
Auerbach is a ferociously talented guitarist whose leads bristle and burn as if the guitar were a molten mass. And Carney wails on his drums as if he were taking part in an anger management therapy exercise. The pair's concert is as much a show of force as it is a musical performance.
Highlights included the blistering "Stack Shot Billy," an update on the folk/blues standard "Stagger Lee" and a cover of Louisiana bluesman Robert Pete Williams's "Grown So Ugly," both from the band's new album, "Rubber Factory."
If there is a problem with the Black Keys, it is the structure of the band. The two-person approach gives the songs a raw, even primitive feel, but ultimately it feels too limiting. Even though the show clocked in at just over an hour, it had already begun to feel a bit wearying before the encore, and it became harder to distinguish the songs from one another. Ultimately, the songs seemed not to match the prodigious musical ability of their authors.
– Joe Heim
This was my friend's review of their show in NYC.
So, I saw the Black Keys last night. Now if only there were bands called the Black Stripes and the White Keys, then the blues' transformation from oppression music to frat house music would be
complete.
So, I saw the Black Keys last night. Now if only there were bands called the Black Stripes and the White Keys, then the blues' transformation from oppression music to frat house music would be
complete.