The Black Key’s 7th studio album, El Camino, came out December 6th, 2011 but I haven’t listened to it until today. I am going to see them in St Louis this Friday (a review will follow) so I plan to listen to The Black Keys all week to prepare myself for the show. This will not be the first time I’ve seen them, last time I saw them was a few years ago at their New Year’s Eve bash in Chicago. Unfortunately the show that was actually on New Year’s Eve with the midnight countdown was sold out when we went online to order tickets, so we settled for the New Year’s Day show. The show was at the Aragon Ballroom, which if you have never been, it’s definitely worth seeing a show there…the ceiling is painted like the sky with a city/palace skyline all around the theater. It’s as if you’re attending a concert in a courtyard of a palace at night, which is a lot better than actually being outside and freezing your ass off in Chicago on January 1st. If you don’t believe the palace part, google some pictures and if you don’t believe the freezing part, well then you might be living under a rock. There was also the coolest giant count-down disco ball in the center of the floor. All of this just added to me peeing my pants with excitement. Besides a giant sweaty man standing in front of me for the whole show (thankfully one of my friends switched spots with me so I could see) and a missing coat altercation in the basement which lead to a screaming 20-something-year-old female being dragged out of the venue by a bouncer, it was an incredible show…but the weird things that happen at concerts are what I usually remember the most, which in turn makes the show even more incredible. I also bought a t-shirt, which I proudly wear A LOT.
          Needless to say, I was insanely impressed by their live show. It was just heavy fuzz pedal juicy goodness and my theory that Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are rock GODS was proven to be true. I was counting down the days until El Camino was coming out, but the reason why I didn’t buy the album right away has eluded me to this day. I think it was a mix of being too lazy/broke to buy the album and a result of not all of the songs existing (probably illegally) on youtube…sigh. What a hard life. Fortunately, I was able to feed my Black Keys thirst through SiriusXM radio, where they play “Gold on the Ceiling”, “Lonely Boy”, and “Little Black Submarines”.  I found “Nova Baby”, “Sister”, and some others on Youtube and listened to those as well. I’ve probably heard most of the songs by now from the album, but not the songs in the order they were meant to be played.
          The Black Keys have changed a lot since their The Big Come Up, Thickfreakness, and Rubber Factory days. Simple lyrics with a heavy reverb recorded in lo-fi similar to early Zeppelin has slowly evolved to studio perfected songs with a cohesive sound. In my opinion, some producers over engineer and over produce rock albums, layering too many sounds (and not in a cool Beatles or Pet Sounds way) and compressing songs. This leaves the songs lacking depth and soul. From the ear of an amature music enthusiast, I think this album was beautifully produced. When I listen to El Camino, it feels and sounds like Dan and Pat are playing right in front of me in the recording studio. Just incase you were interested: the album was produced by Danger Mouse and the band.
          It would be hard to label a favorite song yet, since I have only listened to the whole album a few times. If I had to pick one though it would be “Little Black Submarines”. “Submarines” seems to give homage to “Stairway to Heaven”, starts off slow and really kicks the door down at the end. If you like music videos and have not seen the video for “Lonely Boy” yet, I recommend opening a new tab on your browser NOW and searching it on Youtube. You can’t watch that video and NOT smile. Most of The Black Keys’ music videos are pretty entertaining (I’m refering to “Next Girl” and BOTH “Tighten Up” videos). Two of my other favorites is “Sister” and “Nova Baby”. Most of the songs are up-beat with dark lyrics which pair well with the theme of the album: a story of a broken heart. Either you will enjoy the album, feel the sting as if reading a letter of condemnation from Dan Auerbach for terrible things you’ve done to people in the past, or a little bit of both. What would a good blues album be without heart break?
          There is really nothing like listening to an album in its entirety. Literally sitting down, putting on some headphones, (or whatever audio medium you prefer) and just listening. I’ll let you in on a little secret: most artists who really care about the music they write and play will make a cohesive, flowing journey of an album. So listen and make sure to do so without distractions so you can thoroughly enjoy the ride because the path is just as important as the destination.