Album of The Year: And The Winner is . . .

The Black Keys - El Camino

Following the parting of the White siblings last year, the American Blues Rock market was crying out for a replacement duo. Fortunately, in Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, they had a ready made, Grammy Award winning tag team to fill the void.

Following Brothers' 2010 Grammy treble, The Black Keys finally shot to the attention of the mainstream. So it was with raised eyebrows that the follow up was announced a little over a year later. For recent American rock historians, it was a move that no doubt mirrored Kings of Leon's  quest for world stadium rock domination in 2008. Fortunately, the Keys newfound commercial fandom hasn't sent them all Followill and has instead resulted in the finest American rock and roll album since BRMC.

On face value, El Camino could be mistaken for a Crazy Heart esque trip down memory lane. All the nostalgic hallmarks are there. The band's old '94 Plymouth Grand Voyager graces the album cover, an ode to the penniless early days, trecking shoulder-to-shoulder for endless hours across country to play to audiences of 25 or less for $50 a pop. Then there's the lyrics about wicked women and lost love, "So you pull my heart out/and I don't mind bleeding" Auerbach hollers on opener and lead single 'Lonely Boy'.

Auerbach and Carney however, are too savvy to indulge themselves in any kind of authenticity nonsense. They once again allowed Danger Mouse to helm the production desk and, rather than aim for Brothers part deux, decided to unload the fuzz guitars and add a whole heap of glam shimmy and stomp to proceedings.

The aforementioned 'Lonely Boy' pulverises you head first into the thick of it. Sounding like a bastardised, scuzzy garage ZZ Top, it's a gloriously fun intro. The pace doesn't relent either, until the compact Led Zep offering of 'Little Black Submarines' in which Auerbach laments that "Everybody knows that a broken heart is blind".

Perhaps most impressively, at a time when the art of the album is becoming secondary in nature to having one or two catchy hit singles, is the fact that pretty much any one of the 11 offerings on El Camino could be a hit in the charts. None more so than the album highlight, 'Gold on the Ceiling'. Perhaps a song with an eye cocked towards the problems material success can bring ("They wanna get my/ Gold on the ceiling/ I ain't blind/ It's just a matter of time/ Before you steal it") it also possesses the finest use of the newly employed backing singers the Keys brought on board for the record. Very much a 'When in Rome' move following the relocation to Nashville for the recording of the album, the backing singers lend a 50's Sun Gospel texture to each track that wouldn't sound out of place supporting Elvis or Johnny Cash.

Given the ease in which hyperbole is tossed around for every flavour of the month nowadays, it's all the more impressive that the Black Keys have managed to produce a bona fide classic modern American rock album. Ok, so it's not pushed them into the bloated Kings of Leon stratosphere, but that's a good thing. El Camino could have so easily been the Keys' Only By The Night, yet they managed to both shun commercially pleasing anthems and smash the Billboard charts. Not bad for two guys with a van from Akron, Ohio.

Until next time,

Keep on Keepin' on,

Baia

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And The Nominees Are: Best Video of The Year

Continuing on with The Soul Kitchen End of Year Awards, or as they've now been dubbed, 'The Soulies', we've reached the nominees for Best Video of The Year award. Sadly we live in an age where the  art of the music video is often neglected by many artists in exchange for tasteless advertising (Cough Lady Gaga Cough) or mundane live performance montages. Or, at the very worst, slut and jock ridden house parties.

Thankfully though, there are still some artists who hold dear the integrity of the music video and give us reason to tune into one of MTV's endless stream of sub genre channels. And here we were thinking the Followills chasing children around in 'Radioactive' had killed the music video forever.

Anyway, the nominees . . .

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

There may not be a cooler duo in rock 'n' roll right now than The Black Keys. Want proof? Rather than sit on their hands after the success of last year's barnstorming Brothers, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney rock up at the 11th hour in December , just when every music writer and their mother is compiling their annual awards lists, and drop El Camino on us all. On top of that, they go ahead and deliver lead single 'Lonely Boy' accompanied by a video of the greatest dance routine since Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You'. Oh, and the vinyl release of the song plays from the inside out.

The Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise
From the above referenced, ground breaking 'Fight For Your Right' video, through cop show parody in 'Sabotage', Japanese Kaiju in 'Intergalactic' and Star Trek in 'Ch-Check It Out', The Beasties have always been top of the food chain when it comes to music videos. It's no surprise given they came along slap bang in the middle of the MTV boom in the mid to late 80's. Now, we see Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D coming full circle in a video that has been dubbed 'Fight For Your Right. . . Revisited'. The above video is in fact five minutes of a half hour mini-epic, and so the big guns had to well and truly be brought out. Step forward Seth Rogen, Elijah Wood, Danny 'Kenny Fuckin Powers' McBride, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Jack Black, Ted fucking Danson, Steve Buscemi and a glorious cameo from Will Arnett, channelling his inner Gob Bluth. COME ON!!!

Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See

Luckily for the Arctics, despite the fact that both their music and live performances have stuttered to a simmer rather than the boiling hot to bubbling over days of 2006-2007, they still know how to turn a simple music video into an unmissable mini-movie. And, as Matt Helders leather pants prove, they've not lost their sense of humour either.

The Go! Team - T.O.R.N.A.D.O
Featured on our Jukebox a few weeks back, we described this tune as BOMBASTIC and well, it's got a BOMBASTIC video to match. Think The Avalanches meeting Daft Punk in the mind of an A.D.D sufferer in the 80's and you're sort of close to where this video is coming from.

DC Fontana - Abbesses

The Kingdom of Mercia's finest Mod octuplets are firm believers in 'Art and Soul' and nowhere is this more evident than in their series of promotional films. Taken from latest album La Contessa, the instrumental 'Abbesses' may not showcase lead singer Karla Milton's phenomenal singing talents, but it does showcase how well she and leading Parisian burlesque dancer Mimi De Montmarte can fill out a pair of catsuits while Kung Fu'ing everyone in their path. C'est fantastique.

Tomorrow we unveil the nominees for Newcomer of The Year and Film of The Year. Keep 'em peeled.

Until then,

Keep on Keepin' on,

Baia

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