these roving ears

Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys) released his first solo album recently. I offhandedly saw The Black Keys once when they opened for Sleater-Kinney at the Opera House and remember thinking they were tight and great and, while most openers leave you wanting to get on with it, I was happy to have heard them. The two-piece from Akron, Ohio packs a punch mixing blues and swagger-rock with low-fi garage noise.

Auerbach's solo material is more refined, though no less cocksure. With more tremolo, wawa, and stompy-drums than you think possible, a lazy-comparison would be the Grammy-centric debut-duets on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Raising Sand. Like that one, Auerbach's Keep It Hid is sultry and Southern, confident and thick, but rougher. It starts out quietly on "Trouble Weighs a Ton" where he asks: "What's wrong, dear brother? Have you lost your faith? Don't you remember a better place?" It feels like a classic, old and lived-in. Moving right along, the album takes a turn and gets downright sexy on "I Want Some More", the inner-monologue of a dirtbag from Ohio. In a good way. You can't help but conjure images from a Time-Life commercial featuring Songs of Memphis, bands like Cream, Zeppelin or Stevie Ray Vaughn scrolling across the television. But while stirring up the 60s and 70s world of deep-south, soul-soaked rock, it's totally current.

It should be said, I'm as surprised by my recent love affair with this genre as anyone who knows me. Never underestimate the power of great music.

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Get a taste of the album with a bit from both ends of the spectrum and visit iTunes for more from Dan Auerbach and his band The Black Keys. Pick up Krauss and Plant's Raising Sand while you're there. Definitely one of the best albums in recent memory.






Dan Auerbach - Trouble Weighs a Ton
Dan Auerbach - Heartbroken, In Disrepair