brothers

The Black Keys tightened up the reins and went howlin' through different shades to get to the bluest of blues.  After nearly a decade together and five albums (The Big Come Up in 2002 on Alive Records,  Thickfreakness in 2003 and  Rubber Factory in 2004 on Fat Possum Records, and  Magic Potion in 2006  and  Attack & Release in 2008 on Nonesuch Records) the duo of childhood friends Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney  parted ways to work on other projects.  There was a period where it seemed like they might have broken up.     The increasing friction between Auerbach and Carney's wife Denise Grollmus had affected their ability to work together.  It wasn't until after they divorced that they went back into the studio.  

Auerbach says:   "I really hated her from the start and didn't want anything to do with her...It's like, Pat is, like, really out of his mind right now. I just remember playing him songs, and the only thing I would get out of him was, like, 'That's tight.' I'm like, OK, fine. We were probably both being uncommunicative. But the circumstances that were surrounding all of that were just making everything worse. I mean, I really don't want to keep talking about his ex and the relationship, but it was just horrific...I got her man. You know what I mean? He sided with me and not her, so she hates me for that."


Carney considers:   "I think our relationship would be best described as a mixture between Patty and Selma Bouvier from The Simpsons and Erik Estrada and that other dude [Larry Wilcox] from CHiPs. We take turns playing each role."

In the meantime, Auerbach worked with Mark Neill to build his own studio Easy Eye Sound System in Akron, Ohio where they would record his debut album Keep It Hid in 2009.  Neill reveals:    "At some point we started talking about my old studio in Georgia, which I'd built out of cinder block like the old Sun Studios. The conversation morphed into this idea of heading to the South to do the rest of the album in a historic old studio. We talked about going to Sun Studio or Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, as well as Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas; we even considered this old VFW hall in my home town of Valdosta. Bottom line, they just wanted to get out of town and go someplace different — and above all, they wanted the tracks to be imbued with a Southern kind of atmosphere.”


They looked into the Muscle Shoals Studio in Sheffield, Alabama, which had effectively become a museum, and were able to rent out the building and bring their own equipment there.   The sessions took place over ten days, during which the band was working all day and going stir crazy with little else to do.   Other tracks were recorded at The Bunker On Apple in Portland, Oregon and at Easy Eye.  Final mixing and fixing was done at Neill's Soil of the South Studios in La Mesa, California.  'Brothers' was mixed by Tchad Blake and  mastered by Brian Lucey with  Dan Auerbach on vocals, guitars, bass guitar, and keyboards;   and  Patrick Carney on drums and percussion.

'Brothers' was a worldwide breakthrough hit, charting at number forty-eight in Switzerland, forty-six in Ireland, forty-four in France, thirty-nine in the Netherlands, thirty-seven in Denmark, twenty-nine in the UK, twenty in Belgium, ten in New Zealand, eight in Australia, and number three in the US, where it was certified platinum and nominated for five Grammys.  winning Best Alternative Music Album,  Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best Recording Package for Michael Carney who did the album artwork.

Pat says:  "We thought Brothers would do okay. But it exceeded our expectations so much. That said, it's not like we wanted or expected to win Grammys. I remember driving back from a gig in Toledo in 2002, and Dan's dad asked us if we ever thought we'd be nominated for a Grammy. I laughed at him for an hour and a half. It was cool, but it was also a major bummer to walk down the red carpet and realize that not a single person there wanted to talk to any musicians—they wanted to see Kim Kardashian. You experience how much the show isn't about music. I'm still shocked that, like, Arcade Fire was even allowed to play. It doesn't seem real to have a real band like Arcade Fire at a show where Justin Bieber is just lip-synching."








http://www.theblackkeys.com/


lyrics:
http://genius.com/albums/The-black-keys/Brothers





"Next Girl" 




"Tighten Up" was produced by Danger Mouse
It won the award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and was nominated for Best Rock Song.




"Howlin' for You" 
Las Teclas de Noro !!






'Brothers' 
full album:






All songs written and composed by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, except where noted.

No. Title Length
1. "Everlasting Light"   3:24
2. "Next Girl"   3:18
3. "Tighten Up"   3:31
4. "Howlin' for You"   3:12
5. "She's Long Gone"   3:06
6. "Black Mud"   2:10
7. "The Only One"   5:00
8. "Too Afraid to Love You"   3:25
9. "Ten Cent Pistol"   4:29
10. "Sinister Kid"   3:45
11. "The Go Getter"   3:37
12. "I'm Not the One"   3:49
13. "Unknown Brother"   4:00
14. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Jerry Butler) 3:39
15. "These Days"   5:12
Bonus Tracks[edit]
No. Title Length
16. "Ohio" (7" vinyl or free download for members of the band's website) 4:29
17. "Howlin' for You (feat. Prins Thomas Diskomiks)" (Available on iTunes) 7:27

The Black Keys - Everlasting Light (Brothers Deluxe Edition Album) (2010)

thickfreakness

The Black Keys caught a flash of lightning and recorded the no nonsense gritty grimy blues rock of their second album in one day in their basement.  The duo built a cult following with their debut  'The Big Come Up' and secured a deal with Fat Possum Records.  They immediately went into their studio and cut a new record with Dan Auerbach on electric guitar, 12 string guitar, slide guitar, vocals, and bass on "Midnight In Her Eyes"; and Patrick Carney on drums, percussion, tambourine, and production.  

Auerbach admits:   “'Tiger Man' by Joe Hill Lewis—that’s pretty much my tone. It’s the tone I tried to rip off! I like my sound to be pretty much the amplifier and the guitar together. I don’t like to use effects. Sometimes I’ll double parts, but mostly I just experiment with different fuzz pedals. If you find an amp sound you like, then that’s the most important thing. And for me, it has to be distorted. When I was learning how to play guitar, I wanted my sound to be just like the tube-amp overdrive on the ’50s recordings I was listening to. I still don’t like clean sounds. In a two-piece band, my guitar would sound pretty thin if I had a jangly tone...For Thickfreakness, I used a whole bunch of Japanese Silvertones and Teisco Del Rays that just don’t hold up on the road. I’ve got a bunch of different tube amps that I like to use, too. I’ve got all kinds of crap lying around the studio because I like to try out different things when I’m thinking of a sound...We always record in the basement—surrounded by our own junk. We recorded the main tracks in 14 hours. We just didn’t leave until everything was done. Then we came back the next day to mix, and that took a couple of days to get everything sounding right...We initially tried working in a fancy San Francisco studio where Green Day had recorded a hit album, but it didn’t suit our sound and it didn’t feel right. I’m really glad we realized that, and then decided to do the album our own way...'The Big Come Up' was our first attempt at producing a full-length record, and we were completely clueless. This time, we pretty much knew what we wanted to do and we just did it. We also wanted to get an album out as soon as possible because we were sick of dealing with record companies. We finally decided to sign with Fat Possum on a Friday, and we recorded the album the next Monday. Done."

The liner notes of the album describe their sound as Carney's "patented recording technique called 'medium fidelity'".  Carney considers:  “There’s something that happens when you hit the drums harder other than, obviously, the drums are louder.  The thing that I realized that happens is you’re exerting yourself a lot more, and you start thinking about your surroundings a lot less. And because of that, for me at least, I end up thinking more about the music and the nuances within the music. It creates a much larger dynamic range...We’re a two-piece band.  You’re not going to have really high ups or really low downs. It’s in that in-between then that I think you’re at an advantage. So then, once I figured out where we lived, it all kind of made sense to me the way I play...I’m kind of stubborn and have this attention-deficit problem to the point where I find that I learn the best if I just kind of figure it out on my own, you know? Listen to what other people are doing and pay attention to that and just kind of try to break the code myself. I have to learn hands-on...That’s the most fun being in a band, actually, is when you are completely in control of everything as far as the creative side and the decision making and stuff.  It’s kind of a trip...I’m not a very good drummer.  But that’s the thing: Kids that were in my high school jazz band were focused on being good. They weren’t focused on being creative, and none of those guys ever became musicians. And then all of my friends who are musicians, they were never focused on being the best...Sometimes when you read magazines like Guitar Player or whatever and a lot of the musicians are focused on being the best and going to the Berklee School Of Music and doing all these things, that’s one route.  But the teach-yourself, have-fun route is also a viable route. I recommend that route.”

'Thickfreakness' only made it to one hundred and eighty two in the UK and ninety in Australia.  








https://theblackkeys.com/










'Thickfreakness'
full album:



All tracks written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney except where noted.
1. "Thickfreakness" 3:48
2. "Hard Row" (lyrics by Dan and Chuck Auerbach) 3:15
3. "Set You Free" 2:46
4. "Midnight in Her Eyes" 4:02
5. "Have Love Will Travel" (Richard Berry) 3:04
6. "Hurt Like Mine" 3:27
7. "Everywhere I Go" (Junior Kimbrough) 5:40
8. "No Trust" 3:37
9. "If You See Me" 2:52
10. "Hold Me in Your Arms" 3:19
11. "I Cry Alone" 2:47