The Black Keys/ Brothers

The Black Keys
Brothers
(V2 / Cooperative Music)

Ohio blues rockers The Black Keys have recently worked alongside Dangermouse, RZA and Mos Def - and it becomes clear with 'Brothers' that they were taking notes. This album was recorded at Muscle Shoals studio (where soul greats such as Aretha laid down landmark recordings), and the combination of this environment - along with the aforementioned luminaries influence - has made for a richly textured and up to date permutation of the blues.
And boy does it have soul. Tracks like 'The Only One' are sprinkled with so much deep feeling and stardust they could almost inhabit a Gnarls Barkley record. The song finds singer Dan Auerbach demonstrating his honeyed falsetto to some lovelorn music.
Elsewhere the band are kicking back and having fun, with ‘Howlin’ For You’ marrying a Glitter Band stomp to its attenuated spidery blues guitar. The Tarantino blues hop of ‘Go Getter’ meanwhile showcases as much knowledge of (hip hop pioneer) J Dilla's beats as it does of Bo Diddley's riffs.
All these variations are suffused with true blues grit and conviction, with ‘Ten Cent Pistol’ showing off the kind of trailer park tale the White Stripes would kill for. The Spectorish soul of ‘These Days’ brings a fittingly spine-tingling finale to ‘Brothers’ - it's a luminous ending for a record which retools blues for the 21st Century.