A recent tweet by Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams) to the band Tennis (@TennisInc) praising their recently issued album Young & Old, and the subsequent re-tweet by The Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney (@patrickcarney), resulted in a humorous back-and-forth exchange between Adams and Carney that diverted into discussion of Black Sabbath. The trading of similes and metaphors continued into today when Carney mentioned being in the studio with Royal Bangs (@royalbangs).
@TennisInc the new record should exclude you from bills forever, it’s seriously so beautiful
All week long we’ve been looking at our staff’s choices for the best albums of 2011 five LPs at a time. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between (but sorry Nefertiti’s Fjord it just wasn’t the year for lesbian-Afro-Norwegian-funk music). At the end of the day, we’re a music blog. Everyone is encouraged to write about what they like with no motives, no editorial biases, and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.
We’re in the home stretch so let’s check out numbers 10 through 6…
Key Tracks: Second Song, Will Do, Caffeinated Consciousness
Sounds like: A producer cut through a bit of the fuzz of TVOTR to make a very listenable experience.
The Skinny: Sadly the last TV On The Radio record that will feature bassist Gerard Smith, who passed away only nine days after the release, Nine Types of Light showcases TVOTR at their most accessible and sonically pleasing timbre to date. If the album were to have a single it would be the love-longing song Will Do which proclaims, “I think we’re compatible I can see that you think I’m wrong” coupled with “Your love makes a fool of you, you can’t seem to understand – our heart doesn’t play by rules….” Sounds like the guy isn’t getting the girl and unfortunately, is stuck in a state of being ready to go if his hopeful partner ever were to change her mind. Caffeinated Consciousness ends with three minutes and twenty one seconds that you just wish could be heard (with the horn section) by 20,000 screaming fans in the encore slot at an arena – and no, Phish covering TV On The Radio doesn’t count.
For those of you that were hoping to stream The Black Keys new album El Camino via sites such as Spotify, MOG, Rdio and the like, may have been taken by surprise when the blues-rock act’s record was nowhere to found. Well, it turns out that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney had a very legit reason for not allowing it to be streamed, as Carney gave this explanation to VH1 – “We decided for this album to not allow music services to stream the entire album, because it’s becoming more popular, but it still isn’t at a point where you’re able to replace royalties from record sales with the royalties from streams, so it felt unfair to people who purchased our album to allow people to just go on a website and stream the album for free whenever they wanted.” According to a recent Rolling Stone article it apparently takes roughly 100 listens via streaming sites for artists to make the same about that they would from the purchase of a single full album download.
List Time: Relix’s 12 Covers In The Holiday Spirit
Finally, while James Mercer has kept himself busy over the last couple of years, most notably with Broken Bells, his collaboration with uber-producer Dangermouse, it’s been roughly five years since we’ve heard anything in the way of new music from The Shins. The Portland-via-New Mexico act, which has gone through both lineup and label changes since the their 2007 album Wincing The Night Away, yesterday revealed that they will release their fourth studio album, Port Of Morrow, in March. According to a post on the band’s website, the ten-track set was recorded in both L.A. and Portland, with Mercer essentially operating as a one-man band handling all songwriting duties, lead vocals and the majority of instrumentation. The Shins are excepted to announce both a specific release date, as well as their touring plans for 2012 in the near future.
Looks like we’ve been stricken with a full-on case of The Black Keys fever, as the blues-rock duo prepare to release their highly anticipated new studio album El Camino tomorrow. Recorded at guitarist Dan Auerbach’s new Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, the 11-song set sees the band re-teaming with “IT” producer Danger Mouse, which we’re pretty confident will land once again near the tops of a lot of critics’ Best Of lists.
This past weekend, The Black Keys stopped by 30 Rock, where they were the musical guests on Saturday Night Live. The band, backed by a keyboard player and bassist, previewed two songs off their latest record, their first single Lonely Boy, as well as the vampy, fiery blues-rocker Gold On The Ceiling which featured some pretty nasty solos from Auerbach. Let’s check it out…
Tonight, The Black Keys will play a special intimate album release show at NYC’s Webster Hall, which can be streamed live on MTV Hive, beginning at 9PM EST. Additionally, as we previously mentioned, the band will head out on their first ever arena headlining tour this March with The Arctic Monkeys, who will hold down the opening slot, which includes a stop at Madison Square Garden on March 12.
Here’s the other song The Black Keys performed on SNL, Lonely Boy… READ ON
HT faves The Black Keys continue their meteoric rise to rock superstardom with the announcement of the duo’s first arena tour. Set to kick off on March 2 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, this month-long tour finds the group playing such storied venues as Madison Square Garden (March 12), the Joe Louis Arena (March 3) and Chicago’s United Center (March 19).
Meanwhile, the group’s next show, following the aforementioned Saturday Night Live musical guest spot, will take place at Webster Hall in NYC on Monday. Our friends at MyFreeConcert.com are keeping track of the ways you can win a ticket to see the Keys at this intimate venue.
Here’s the full list of Black Keys tour dates…
December 5 New York, NY Webster Hall
December 11 Los Angeles, CA KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas
March 2 * Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
March 3 * Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
March 4 * Columbus, OH Jerome Schottenstein Center
March 6 * Portland, ME Cumberland Co. Civic Center
March 7 * Boston, MA TD Garden
March 9 * Washington, DC Verizon Center
March 10 * Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
March 12 * New York, NYMadison Square GardenArena
March 13 * Montreal, QC Bell Centre
March 14 * Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
March 16 * Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
March 18 * Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
March 19 * Chicago, IL United Center
March 20 * Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
March 23 * Norfolk, VA Constant Convocation Center
A couple of weeks back we hipped you to the fact that Phish would be releasing a new seven-disc box set made up of their 1997 three-night run at Hampton, Virginia and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Well today, official word finally came from the band, who’ve detailed a variety of Phish song-referencing pre-order packages through Dry Goods for its December 6 release. Whether you choose the Black-Eyed Katy Bundle or just the standard CD box, all orders will receive a full 45-track MP3 download of Hampton Winston/Salem ’97 on the release date plus two previously unreleased Hampton/Winston-Salem related tracks from the Phish Archives. With the holiday season right around the corner, we’re pretty confident that this would make a great gift for the Phan in your family.
The fine folks at Phish Inc. have given us the Mike’s Groove from Hampton ’97 to sample (download):
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Finally, while it looks like we are guilty as just about every music site out in there in posting the trailer for a supposed BlakRoc sequel, that turns out most likely will not be coming out, we can report that The Black Keys will indeed be releasing an album of their own later this year entitled El Camino. For their follow up to their critically acclaimed album Brothers, which netted the top spot in our Top 25 albums of the year, the blues-duo re-teams with Danger Mouse for an 11-song set that was recorded at Dan Auerbach’s new Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, TN. Earlier this week, the band released this video for the album’s first single Lonely Boy, which is drenched in ’60s psychedelic blues sounds. Check it out…
[Originally Published: May 4, 2010] The Wicked Messenger is a track from Bob Dylan’s 1967 release John Wesley Harding. The bassline defines the music and the words are steeped in bible verse. Let’s dive right into this week’s covers because there are some really good ones.
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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
While the New Porns went with a fake biopic as the basis of their new music video, The Black Keys upped the ante with their faux-movie trailer inspired clip for Howlin’ For You. The Nashville via Akron-based duo, or Las Teclas De Negro as they are billed in the video, created a full-on Tarantino-esque, grindhouse-style movie trailer that features some great dialogue and even better cameos. Check it out…
December 31st is the biggest night for live music of the year. An argument might be made for Halloween, but I’m not buying it. Your non-live-music-loving-friends don’t say things like, “Halloween is the most anti-climactic day of the year” while you sit there and just snicker. We’ve been a little Phish heavy this week so let’s take a look at how 24 other bands rang in 2011.
Side Note: This was my first time using embedded images from setlist.fm and I must say it looks super slick. That site has really got it going on, I hope the quality of data improves as more people use it, because with better information – statistics like “What songs did LCD Soundsystem play in 2010” will be really useful to have for a wide variety of bands.
There were a couple of festivals this Labor Day weekend. One of them was moe.down in Mohawk, NY and you’ll be hearing plenty of recordings from that below. The other one was the North Coast Music Festival in Chicago and while we’ve seen plenty of video pop-up, it’s been pretty light to non-existent on the audio recordings.
You can download all of this week’s audio in one easy to listen to MP3 that we call the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast, click here to download.
[Thanks to tonedeaf this week's photo]
The Black Keys – Next Girl, Chop and Change, Howlin’ For You, Tighten Up Date & Venue: 2010-09-05 moe.down – Mohawk, NY Taper & Show Download:Rob Clarke
moe.down always does a great job of bringing in a few non-jambands to round out their talent. This segment of songs features a little extra help from the baking musicians whereas the video embedded below is during the portion of their set that was stricly duo-style. The Black Keys play tomorrow at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
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READ ON for killer tracks from EITS, the Mike Gordon Band and moe…
The “full-on promotional blitz” continues for The Black Keys’ latest studio release, Brothers, with the debut of the third music video from the album. For the Tighten Up video the Akron-based duo star as a pair of dads who bring their doppelganger kids to the playground, where both fathers and sons do their best to impress the ladies. Let’s take a look…
Last year, The Black Keys threw their fans a bit of a curve ball when they teamed up with hip hop producer Damon Dash to release an album under the moniker BlakRoc – that featured Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney backing the likes of Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA and Pharoah Monch. The move may have surprised a few of the band’s longtime fans, but fear not the duo hasn’t abandoned their two-man band, fuzzed out blues-rock roots.
For their latest effort the pair headed down to Alabama spending ten days recording at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with the results being released as their eighth studio album, Brothers, which hits stores on May 18. The band is taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to promote the record, employing the use of Frank The Puppet Dinosaur for a series of viral music videos. Their latest clip for Next Girl features Frank cavorting with bevy of bikini clad beauties around a hot tub. While it may be hard to take your eyes off the ladies, be sure to check out scroll at the bottom…
The Black Keys will hit the road this summer mixing headlining and festival appearances, and have recently announced that they will join the Kings Of Leon on the road as their support act for the September leg of their tour.
While the members of The Black Keys are both busy touring with their solo projects this fall, the Akron-based act did manage to make their way into the recording studio this summer for an interesting collaborative project they’ve dubbed Blakroc. The duo, who are known for their fuzzy blues-rock, have teamed up with an all-star roster from the world of hip hop that includes Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Pharoahe Monch and Ludacris. The results will be heard on the collective’s self-titled debut, which hits stores on November 27.
Finally, it seems like the surviving members of seminal grunge band Nirvana aren’t happy with the makers of Guitar Hero over the use of Kurt Cobain’s likeness in the latest version of the popular video game.
In a press released issued by Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic the duo stated they were dismayed in “the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate – we have no control whatsoever in that area.” They also went on to denounce how gamers will be able to unlock Cobain, allowing the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants and have asked Activision to “re-lock” him. No more Kurt playing Bon Jovi.
A few months back Dan Auerbach – one half of the Akron-based blues combo The Black Keys – announced he’d be releasing and touring behind his solo debut Keep It Hid. The album, which hits stores on February 10, was recorded and self-produced by Auerbach at his Akron Analog studio and features a much fuller and diverse sound than most Keys’ records.
Don’t get too alarmed though, still there is his trademark fuzzy blues sound, but also thrown into the mix are some gospel harmonies, psychedelic-soul, bluegrass and straight-ahead rock. Auerbach will hit the road for a solo tour at the end of the month with Those Darlins and Hacienda – who will also serve as his backing band. The 11 date cross-country tour kicks off on February 28 in our nation’s capital at the 9:30 Club. Here’s Dan playing in-studio with his Uncle on Trouble Weighs A Ton – the first single off the album…
Dan Auerbach is best known for being half of the Akron, OH blues-rock duo The Black Keys. The singer/guitarist, who sounds remarkably like Warren Haynes, seems to have found the two-man format a bit cumbersome as he will release his solo debut Keep It Hid on February 10. The album is said to be mixture of psychedelia, soul music and country harmonies.
Auerbach has a lined up a brief 11 date cross-country club run to showcase the material – which starts a few weeks after The Black Keys finish a short tour of their own.
If you’d rather see both Keys in action, than maybe one of these recently announced tours will be for you…
Finally, the folks behind the annual River To River music festival are now stretching their Seaport Music Festival into the winter months thanks to the opening of a new ice skating rink on Pier 17. While no line up has officially been revealed the rink is set to open this Friday (November 28), with the weekly music series running through February.
via sites such as Spotify, MOG, Rdio and the like, may have been taken by surprise when the 
, yesterday revealed that they will release their fourth studio album, Port Of Morrow, in March. According to a post on the band’s website, the ten-track set was recorded in both L.A. and Portland, with Mercer essentially operating as a one-man band handling all songwriting duties, lead vocals and the majority of instrumentation. The Shins are excepted to announce both a specific release date, as well as their touring plans for 2012 in the near future.
. For their follow up to their critically acclaimed album 
, which netted the top spot in our 
with the debut of the third music video from the album. For the Tighten Up video the Akron-based duo star as a pair of dads who bring their doppelganger kids to the playground, where both fathers and sons do their best to impress the ladies. Let’s take a look…
– that featured Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney backing the likes of Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA and Pharoah Monch. The move may have surprised a few of the band’s longtime fans, but fear not the duo hasn’t abandoned their two-man band, fuzzed out blues-rock roots.
