The Black Keys - MagicPotion

Tue 24th Oct, 2006 in Music Reviews

The Black Keys have always been dogged by comparison with The White Stripes. Yet as the career of each duo has progressed the differences are becoming starker, more black and white if you will. The White corner has been marked by celebrity relationships, side projects, occasional acting roles and even an Amazon River wedding. Meanwhile the Black boys have just continued to deliver their smouldering blues.

White is hype, costume changes and marimba. Black is simply dirt and grit. Or, to put it another way, the White Stripes were never really a duo as they’ve relied on a third member called ‘shtick’ to propel them to lofty heights.

Yet all bands have their gimmick. On their most recent Australian tour the Black Keys took to the stage below a giant tyre, a strangely over-inflated stage dressing for a band who deliver such an undressed sound – a music that’s raw, naked, unadorned. It was far cry from U2’s Pop-Mart extravagances, but for a couple of blues musos from Akron, Ohio it was still a step towards the grandiose.

Magic Potion is by no means a grandiose record. They’re still travelling down the same roads as their previous albums: still using the same vehicle and attitude. Other bands may overtake them, racing past with flashy new parts and cavalcades of fans, but the Black Keys are behind the wheel of one fine old truck. They’re gonna keep on rumbling by, delivering all you could ask for without the need to change direction.  And they’re damn proud of that dirt crusted to their stencilled mudflaps.

Perhaps the biggest surprise here is the band’s new record label. Formally signed to Fat Possum, the home of R.L Burnside and T-Model Ford, the Black Keys now find themselves sharing a label with the rather un-bluesy Presets and Cut Copy. For, in Australia at least, they are released through that stable of studied detachment – Modular records.

This label change also brings the Black Keys into close proximity with another band for obvious comparison – their new label mate Wolfmother. If ever there was a band who wouldn’t be averse to playing their gigs in the presence of inflated stage props it’s Wolfmother. (A giant pig would seem to be likely choice, particularly if they continue to use the same streak of creative originality that gave the world the video clip for ‘Mind’s Eye’.)

Both Wolfmother and the Black Keys clearly thrive on retro riffs. Yet while Wolfmother grope toward the darkness (or Darkness) of rock parody and imitation, the Black Keys have mastered the line between imitation and influence. Neither band is reinventing the wheel, or even taking it down any new roads, but the Black Keys have a far greater understanding of the need for passion over pose.

This is exactly why it’s so great to hear the Black Keys doing what they’ve done since we first met them on The Big Comedown in 2002. Things may change but Black Keys still sound like two blokes having a hell of a lot of fun making a racket out on the porch. Junior Kimbrough, who the Black Keys honoured with the fine covers EP Chulahoma, played his sleazy, skuzzed porch blues well into his eighties and there’s little reason to suggest the Black Keys won’t do the same.