By Chris Nixon
UNION-TRIBUNE
March 27, 2008
If you haven't heard, the Black Keys are set to invade your radios, iPods and all other forms of musical media.
But drummer Patrick Carney isn't sensing the mayhem surrounding the duo's upcoming release “Attack & Release.” He's currently chilling in his hometown, oblivious to the buzz.
“We live in Akron, Ohio,” said Carney in his best deadpan tone. “There's no real college radio. So we really have no idea what's happening.”
After spending the past seven years building their reputation as a no-frills, bluesy, grit-rock duo, Black Keys vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Carney felt like they needed a fresh perspective. So they turned to Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, half of Gnarls Barkley and a recent go-to producer for Gorillaz, The Rapture, Sparklehorse and Damon Albarn's supergroup The Good, The Bad and The Queen. The resulting record – set to be released Tuesday – is the duo's fourth full-length album and its first with an outside producer.
DETAILS
The Black Keys,
with Jay Reatard
When: Saturday at 8 p.m.
Where: House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., downtown
Tickets: Sold out
Phone: (619) 299-2583
Online: hob.com
“Brian has a real ear for melody and arrangement,” said Auerbach about the collaboration with Danger Mouse. “And that was a big part of this record, his making suggestions about the arrangements.”
The first single, “Strange Times,” displays Danger Mouse's knack for subtle adjustments to The Black Keys' sound. The producer doesn't mess with the tried-and-true formula much. It's more like a slight filling out of the sound: an additional hand clap here or bubbling organs there.
“We made four records and an EP the same way, pretty much on our own,” said Carney. “On 'Magic Potion' (the band's last album), it felt like we should be making things a little bit more difficult for ourselves. So we decided to mix it up a little bit. I think right now we're onto something new. I think we're beyond whatever hang-ups we had about working with other people.”
In the past, Auerbach has struggled with a ton of Paul Rodgers comparisons. There are worse things than an association with the former Bad Company and Free singer, one of the signature voices in rock for the past four decades. But Danger Mouse seems to give a different treatment to his voice, and Auerbach's pipes are starting to sound more like his own.
“We won't record songs that we don't think are good,” stated Carney. “It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to record in the basement. The first reason we were recording in the basement was out of necessity. We continued to do it there because we had some bad experiences with engineers. We had this idea that working with an engineer is automatically (sounding) like Coldplay. That ended up not being true. We realized we just had to find the right people to work with.”
Those people turned out to be Danger Mouse, along with crack guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello), singer Jessica Lea Mayfield and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney (Tom Waits), who also happens to be Patrick's uncle.
After the first taste of the new Black Keys sound, the collaboration with Danger Mouse seems to be fruitful, giving a more realized version of their trademark stripped-down, one-two punch of guitar and drums. But Carney still claims ignorance to the band's burgeoning popularity.
“We know that occasionally we'll get contacted by incredible people like Danger Mouse, and that's mind-blowing,” admitted Carney. “Then we'll go on tour, and we're playing to bigger and bigger places. But we spend 80 percent of our time in a town where the college radio station plays Justin Timberlake. So we don't hear about anything.”
LINEUP
Dan Auerbach (vocals and guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums)
Studio albums
“The Big Come Up” (2002) Alive Records
“Thickfreakness” (2003) Fat Possum Records
“Rubber Factory” (2004) Fat Possum Records
“Magic Potion” (2006) Nonesuch Records
“Attack & Release” (2008) Nonesuch Records
“Attack & Release” track listing
“All You Ever Wanted” – 2:55
“I Got Mine” – 3:58
“Strange Times” – 3:09
“Psychotic Girl” – 4:10
“Lies” – 3:58
“Remember When (Side A)” – 3:21
“Remember When (Side B)” – 2:10
“Same Old Thing” – 3:08
“So He Won't Break” – 4:13
