Brothers

No conocía este disco de ellos, aunque es un grupo que me gusta al final sus álbumes no terminan de llenarme por lo que nunca me he puesto a escuchar toda su discografía. Me he guardado "Tighten up" y "Howlin' for you".

"This is nice cup of espresso"

THIS IS DECAFF, YOU BASTARDS!

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…wait, you're telling me I haven't just spent an hour indulging myself into a barrage of car adverts that someone with a deep seated self-hatred assembled into a YouTube playlist? Does anyone seriously care about these soulless hacks? This is the definition of “live, laugh, love” blues rock for people whose greatest sense of danger and excitement in their life was mixing cider and beer on a night out once. Music for people who don't like music. Thoroughly depressing stuff.

Mettons les choses au clair d'emblée : "Brothers" des Black Keys est un album qui mérite un 5 sur 5. Non pas parce qu'il représente un sommet de virtuosité ou une révolution musicale complexe ; il n'est pas un chef-d'oeuvre au sens académique du terme. Sa grandeur est ailleurs. Elle réside dans sa texture, son âme, et surtout, dans son son. Un son franc, direct, et délicieusement imparfait. Un bon gros son bien gras qui colle aux oreilles et prend aux tripes, et c'est précisément là que réside son génie.

Cet album, c'est avant tout le triomphe du duo Dan Auerbach et Patrick Carney qui, après une période de tensions et de projets parallèles, se retrouve dans le mythique studio de Muscle Shoals en Alabama. Et cette réunion suinte par tous les pores du disque. L'influence de leur projet hip-hop "Blakroc" est palpable, infusant leur blues-rock originel d'un groove nouveau, plus lourd et plus chaloupé. La batterie de Carney est puissante, tribale, tandis que les guitares d'Auerbach sont gorgées de fuzz, épaisses et granuleuses. Mais la vraie nouveauté, c'e sont ces lignes de basse profondes et cette âme soul qui parcourent l'album, lui donnant une rondeur et une chaleur qu'on ne leur connaissait pas auparavant. De "Everlasting Light" et son falsetto surprenant à la noirceur cinématographique de "Ten Cent Pistol", chaque morceau est imprégné de cette atmosphère moite et authentique.

L'inévitable comparaison avec The White Stripes, autre grand duo garage-blues de l'époque, trouve ici ses limites. Si la formule de base est similaire, The Black Keys s'éloignent de l'urgence punk-blues de Detroit pour plonger dans un son plus sudiste, plus funk. "Brothers" est moins frénétique et plus lascif. C'est un album qui prend son temps pour installer ses ambiances, que ce soit sur le stomping rock de stade "Howlin' for You" ou le riff abrasif de "Next Girl". Même le tube "Tighten Up", seule piste produite par Danger Mouse, conserve cette tension brute sous son sifflement pop et sa production plus léchée. C'est la parfaite synthèse du projet : un pied dans le grand public, l'autre fermement ancré dans la boue du blues.

Au final, "Brothers" est un disque qui respire l'honnêteté. C'est le son de deux "frères" de musique qui se réconcilient en faisant du bruit, transformant leurs doutes en une catharsis sonore d'une richesse incroyable. Ce n'est pas un disque qui s'analyse, mais qui se ressent. C'est une oeuvre physique, qui demande à être écoutée fort, pour apprécier chaque grésillement de guitare, chaque coup lourd sur la caisse claire. En capturant cet équilibre parfait entre le blues-rock le plus crasseux et une sensibilité soul mélodique, The Black Keys ont signé bien plus qu'un bon album : un classique moderne, essentiel et vibrant. Un pur plaisir auditif, brut et sans compromis.

I went into this thinking "Great. Another lo-fi garage group. This is going to suck."

I was quite surprised to find out that there IS some really good music in that genre. The Hives, White Stripes, The Strokes, etc. have really done a shit job in the genre, but these fucking guys TEAR IT UP! Great fuzzy guitars, simple but catchy rhythm section, nicely implemented keys...really pleased and surprised.

Damn, this was good. Super happy to have heard this today.

On another interesting musical history note, the band members talking about the way the Muscle Shoals booth was constructed and its effects on the final mix was fascinating. It would definitely explain why the bass on this album is a little hot (in a very pleasing way to me) and how some of the very rich soul/rock/R&B recordings of its heyday sound so fucking good. I've even watched a documentary about Muscle Shoals and hadn't heard this before. Neat!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've never really clicked with the Black Keys, similar to the White Stripes (although I do marginally prefer them). On paper I should like them, and they have some great songs. But there's something a bit hollow about their music. It just doesn't stick with me. This album is also a bit too long, and fairly front-loaded.

No interest in this band or this album. Even if Richard Osman is the drummer.

Yay - another album I have but have not listened to in a while! #albumsky #musicsky #musicchallenge 4/5 - love the sound!!

Great album by one of the greatest indie rock bands. So many hits from this album already have a permanent home on one of my best playlists. So... Yeah, it's great and I recommend it.

they do more with more and don’t lose themselves or me…yet. they’re still my guys on this one.

Not bad, not great. Good enough to listen to.

Я люблю блюзові кавери від БК, chulahoma або delta cream - це прям воно.
Їхній сольний матеріал звісно непоганий, навіть оцей поп-період; але якось не знаю.. блюзова форма личить їм більші ніж стадіонні хіти.

Ще згадав що дуже любив їхній проект blakroc

Really great album with modern blusey sound. One of my favorites from this era, although El Camino is probably my favorite Black Keys album. If anything, it’s a little long and you could probably cut a song or two.

Really nice music

Not bad but using the same rhythm for most of the album gets boring.

Pretty decent, I liked it! The slow, fuzzy guitars are a great complement to most of the tracks here.

The Good: It’s a family affair!
The Bad: What about the sisters?
The Ugly: I always confused them with the Eyed-Peas…

Post 2000 modern music isn’t my thing.
Though I recognize several of the tunes on the album, and they aren’t bad, it’s the kind of music which, in my humbles opinion, sounds forced…

I will put them together with the likes of Imagine Dragons (I think that’s the name of the band), and just say “nice try, you failed”.

Down the middle, though I believe I will have to go back and re-rate loads of my previously listened to albums as yesterday it turned out that I ranked Aja by Steely Dan with a 4… and that’s just wrong.

Solid album, Tighten Up, Howlin for You and These Days being the stand outs. 3/5.

I remember listening to The Black Keys in school. For some reason I never fully listened to this album though, which is a shame

All the songs were as good as eachother. I knew a few of them and really enjoyed this album!

Sidenote - I always thought they were British!

5 ⭐️

Older Black Keys is at least interesting...this stuff is just sterile crap. 1.5/5