The Black Keys' Brothers is in stores now, including the Black Keys pop-up store at NYC's Housing Works Bookstore Café, featured in today's Wall Street Journal. Pitchfork says "Brothers is the loosest they've sounded since 2004's Rubber Factory" and praises Dan Auerbach's vocals. Washington Post Express does too, saying he's "never sounded more loose, comfortable or soulful." Seattle Weekly exclaims: "Brothers is sure to go down as one of the best albums of 2010."
The Black Keys' new album, Brothers, hit stores yesterday, including the one-and-only Black Keys pop-up store at New York's Housing Works Bookstore Café detailed in yesterday's Nonesuch Journal. A Journal of a different sort, the Wall Street Journal, was interested in the store as well, covering its launch and previewing The Black Keys' benefit concert there tonight.
"We're always more than happy to do it," the band's Dan Auerbach tells the Wall Street Journal's Matthew Oshinsky of supporting Housing Works and its efforts for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS. "It's also going to be nice to try out these songs in front of a smaller crowd. This will be the first time we play most of the songs on Brothers."
You can hear more from Dan and band mate Patrick Carney about the performance, the new album, and LeBron James in a video interview at wsj.com.
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Pitchfork rates the album a 7.7, high praise from the site, which says that recent side projects from Auerbach and Carney, including solo albums and the recent Blakroc hip-hop collaboration, "have served these guys well. Brothers is the loosest they've sounded since 2004's Rubber Factory."
Reviewer Larry Fitzmaurice reserves particular praise for Auerbach's use of falsetto. "The man has honed his speaker-blowing howl for so long now, it's genuinely surprising to hear him try another vocal style," writes Fitzmaurice. "Even more surprising is how good he is at it, too: he's controlled and natural on 'Everlasting Light,' vibing with high-pitched restraint and turning the tune into a lo-fi T. Rex stomper, while on penultimate track and Jerry Butler cover 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' he lets loose over a shimmering Motown melody."
Read the complete album review at pitchfork.com.
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The Washington Post Express picks up on that note and delves deeper into the roots of the falsetto Auerbach puts to good use on Brothers. Express writer Rudi Greenberg says, "Auerbach's never sounded more loose, comfortable or soulful than on Brothers," and talks to the singer about the '70s soul inspiration behind this vocal turn.
Greenberg goes on to praise Auerbach's songwriting on the new album, calling it lyrically "one of Auerbach's strongest efforts," as well as the duo's arrangement and production efforts. "Sonically, Brothers recalls the classic soul records of the '60s and '70s—big, full-band affairs," he writes.
Read more and see what Auerbach has to say at expressnightout.com.
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On the Seattle Weekly's ratings scale of "Skip, Stream, or Buy?," Brothers rates an unequivocal "Buy—right fuckin' now."
"There are times—many times—on Brothers' 15 tracks where Auerbach and Carney out-Winehouse Amy, out-Lynyrd Skynyrd, out-Roll the Stones, drive right by the Truckers, and prove that it's they, not the Lords of Leon, who deserve to be Kings," says reviewer Mike Seely, in a slight dig to The Black Keys' summer touring partners. "It's nothing short of a bold proclamation that they're one of the most vital bands on earth, and Brothers is sure to go down as one of the best albums of 2010."
Read the complete album review at seattleweekly.com.
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