The Black Keys are in town NEXT WEEK!

The Black Keys have been a favourite band for a long time, their albums Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory are dreamy, two-piece blues rock 'n roll at it's best, and their new album, Attack and Release only continues the legacy. AND, they're coming to NEW ZEALAND playing shows all over the place. Below's a review of the latest album, live they are not.to.be.missed!

Attack and Release:

There are those bands that have a great first album, second even, and then the third hits, and well, it’s a sucker. The Black Keys were one of those bands, albeit their fourth album that made the black list. They had ‘The Big Come Up’, then ‘Thickfreakness’, with an epic cover of Have Love Will Travel and great original ‘Set You Free’, and then ‘Rubber Factory’ with obligatory road trip – and even though it’s about drug addiction – feel good track ‘10a.m Automatic’. They then said goodbye to Fat Possum, the indie label responsible for their first three releases, and released ‘Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough’, an album covering the songs of a late labelmate, to which the two, Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney lent all their lilting blues sincerity creating a noteworthy tribute. And then the speed bumps began. Big speed bumps. The pair released The Magic Potion, a flat, cumbersome rollick through the bad points of highly derivative music, with none of the warmth, grace or forward thinking playing Auerbach had become synonymous with. Thankfully Attack & Release, named perhaps to reflect the critical reception and subsequent pressure lumped on them after The Magic Potion, redeems them 101 fold. Track two ‘I Got Mine’ is the album’s obvious quiet achiever, all achy blues and biting emotions that saw ‘Set Her Free’ become such a hit. Tracks four, eight and nine (particularly nine – it’s a dreamboat) display Auerbach at his crooning best, while track three, ‘Strange Times’ and ‘Remember When’ (which has a side A and side B version) stand easily up against another, more colourful blues-inspired duo’s better work. Quite simply, The Black Keys are back, with a vengeance.