The Black Keys - Brothers
18 May 2010
Review by Nick Brandes

I feel the best way to start this album is to ask you the question that was the start of so many jokes when I was pre-pubescent.  Okay, so what's bluesy, folksy, and awesome all over?  Give up?  Well it's The Black Keys new album Brothers.

My absolute favorite song on the entire record is "Next Girl."  It’s this bluesy, angsty, lovely mix of every thing that is great and awesome about this band.  The opening lines are great, and when Auerbach screeches, "Well, the look of the cake/It ain't always the taste."  It's magnificent in the textures of the song and how it flows so smoothly within the drums and the horns.  And, there's something about the line, "My next girl/Will be nothing like my ex-girl," that makes me so happy that as I was listening to the song I cracked a smile that I hadn’t in a long time.

To simply tell you that The Black Keys are a dirty, bluesy, hard-riff loving group would be doing a disservice to all the other things they are as well.  But that’s what they are.  "Tighten Up" has the most sensational opening that I found myself hitting repeat to listen to it again.  And then came the lyrics, "I wanted love/I needed love/Most of all/Most of all/Someone said true love was dead/And I was bound to fall for you."  It's oddly beautiful, and when you add beautiful lyrics to blues driven rock you have a cant miss song, and when you have a cant miss song, you have a cant miss album.

Brothers is better then their previous release, Attack and Release and is certainly closer to their best album The Big Come Up.  If you love guitar driven music that will keep you entertained while also enjoy a good blues riff, then Brothers is the CD for you.  It's not overpowering and something that gets old, it's just good ol' rock music with a hint of the southern blues.