The Black Keys - 'Attack & Release' (V2) Released 31/03/08

Name a blues group. Now name a raucous blues two piece. And now one with a string of successful albums. If their name hadn’t been at the top of this review it’s a safe bet that The Black Keys wouldn’t even have entered the correct side of your brain. But it’s best to discard all comparisons between The Black Keys and The White Stripes now. They may be similar in that they share the same number of members and look to a similar blues heritage. Yet while Jack pursues esoteric pipedreams with Brendan Benson and Meg has her breakdown, the Key’s stick doing what they do best; what they’ve done on their previous four releases to 'Attack & Release'. They make dirty blues.
 
And damn do they do it well. A drum kit constantly ringing, a tin beehive guitar sound and vocals that is as much Bob Dylan as a Southern Baptist Preacher, 'Attack & Release' is the god-given birth right of everyone from Robert Johnson to Jimi Hendrix. Except, The Black Keys are white. Erm… Point blank ignoring this last detail, its better the music does the talking. And ‘Ocean & Streams’ is a good enough place. And with the robo-scream sound of the slide guitar its like travelling back to 20’s when bluesmen used knives to make their guitars cry in strange new heart wrenching ways. ‘I Got Mine’ meanwhile gives a more modern blues bombast.

'Attack & Release' is not myopic in its direction and the Key’s take various opportunities on this album to take it in some interesting direction. There is homage paid on this record, with All You ever Wanted is more akin to a Paul McCartney offering, while ‘Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be’ tips it’s hat in the direction of The Eagles. Yet these are the softer moments. And The Black Keys are more than capable of mixing things up. The Death From Above 1969 vibe on ‘Strange Times’ is a paddling pool of weird compared to the deep water of the hillbilly banjo styling and warped riff head mess of ‘Psychotic Girl’. And if this still isn’t a wild enough side to be walking on, then how about the jazz flute intro to ‘Same Old Thing’? Oh yes, jazz flute!

All this experimentation however can leave the slower tracks feeling flagging and a little hollow at times. The dusky ‘Remember Well’ is reduced to sounding like a dull and aged film soundtrack. And although it’s in the essence of the blues to be on the mellow side, a run through Attack and Release can invoke a level of melancholy enough to get the happiest of souls reaching for the pick-me-up pills. Taking these criticisms as hazards of the musical though, 'Attack & Release' is a original and dynamic album with a sonic blast that’ll clear the cobwebs off your dusty stereo and get you reaching for that volume knob. If this is blues in the 21st century, then its going to be a hell of a century!