What began as a just-for-fun split-45 by a couple of seasoned songwriters, quickly evolved into something that’s pretty damn exciting to hear. The Parting Gifts, whose core consists of Greg Cartwright of North Carolina’s Reigning Sound and CoCo Hames of The Ettes, have given us a little Monday mornin’ present, and it’s the kind that … Read more
The Black Keys’ sixth LP, Brothers, comes out today on Nonesuch Records. The blues-rock duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney released the Danger Mouse-produced, “Tighten Up,” as its first single back in March. And while that is a damn fine introduction to what Brothers is all about, an R&B-packed punch full of crazy catchy … Read more
The Black Keys (Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney) are set to release their sixth full-length album, Brothers, out May 18th on Nonesuch Records. The band wrote and produced all but one track on the upcoming effort; they looked to past collaborator and one-half of Broken Bells, Danger Mouse, for one new track, “Tighten Up.” The … Read more
Artwork credit: Alyssa Shapkoff Today, we continue on with paragraphical odes to our favorite albums of 2010. To see the entire list so far, go here! Best Coast | Crazy For You (Mexican Summer) [buy] Surf. Garage. Indie. Motown. ’50s pop. Grunge. Lo-fi. Fuzz. Doo-wop. Roll up all of these genres together in equal portions, … Read more
The 11th annual Forecastle Festival at Waterfront Park in Louisville will feature a heavy stack of heavyweights: The Black Keys, The String Cheese Incident, The Avett Brothers, The Flaming Lips, Alabama Shakes, Jim James (of My Morning Jacket), Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, among many more (see full lineup below). We’ve never had the pleasure … Read more
All photos by Rachel Waters The Black Keys are currently on an arena tour promoting their latest album, Turn Blue, which debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 chart back in May, the band’s highest-charting effort to date. The Black Keys will be in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center on December 9th. Please enjoy these … Read more
I’ll be the first to admit the first time I heard “Left Hand Free” I immediately thought it sounded like alt-j was trying to sound like The Black Keys trying to sound like The White Stripes trying to sound like Flat Duo Jets. Needless to say, it sounded semi-uninspired, which is something I’ve learned alt-j are … Read more
All photos by Jason Gonulsen Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys was once the captain of his high school soccer team. He probably wore Umbro shorts, the kind where the double diamond logo would peel from the bottom left corner. The kind where the material was so thin, it would immediately stick to your sweaty … Read more
All photos by Nate Burrell The Black Keys aren’t just a duo from Akron these days. They’re a band capable of headlining any festival known to man, and selling out arenas, which isn’t easy to do in Saint Louis if you’re not Springsteen or Pearl Jam. Last night they rocked Chaifetz Arena on the campus … Read more
All Photos by Nate Burrell This is the second post of a two-part series covering the 2012 Austin City Limits music festival. The first post was a recap of the festival, and can be found here. Above and below are various shots of the festival taken by Nate Burrell (www.beforetheblink.com). Please check his site in … Read more
“I found the heart of a lion, in the belly of the beast,” Grace Potter sings on the title track of her new album with The Nocturnals, The Lion The Beast The Beat. Potter, who had to halt the initial recordings to find herself in the form of a “fantasy road trip,” didn’t just find … Read more
Photo by Danny Clinch The thermometers hit triple digits here in North Carolina today, and what’s better for a hot day than some swampy, dirty blues? Today’s Jam of the Day is the Black Keys’ “Howlin’ For You”, off 2010’s Brothers. Check out the official video below, and stay cool, kids.
One could easily argue that The Black Keys have achieved full musical and cultural saturation at this point. Nationwide arena gigs with opener Arctic Monkeys, a stomping return appearance on SNL, and the omnipresent soundtracking of the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament (“Gold on the Ceiling” has been mainlined into sports fans’ collective psyches after … Read more
All photos by Jason Gonulsen Kanrocksas. I heard Grace Potter say it. I heard Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips try to say it. Most, like Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, simply kept saying, “Hello, Kansas!” Or, during Eminem’s set, you heard a lot of “fuck yeah, KC!!” But really, it didn’t matter. We … Read more
Starting Friday afternoon, we’ll be in Kanrocksas mode, live tweeting from the two-day festival in Kansas City, Kansas. Rain or shine, the inaugural event is bound to be a lot of fun, with a Ferris wheel, bungee jumps, a water slide (“SLIDErocksas”), and a hot air balloon glow presentation during the evening. And, oh yeah, … Read more