The Black Keys are two guys from the American mid-west, hard as it to believe that only two people make this thick, rich audio gumbo. They play the blues, post-modern blues with licks of psychedelia and rockabilly, white mid-west blues, punk blues. They write original music, even though you'll swear some of those songs have got to be fifty or sixty years old. Can two white kids from Akron, Ohio play the blues with anything like conviction? Oh, yeah.

Patrick Carney plays drums, and he plays them heavy, the kick-drum thuds into your stomach, the cymbals are muted like they're coated with years of cigarette smoke from greasy clubs and roadhouses. This guy ain't a showoff drummer, he's a hold down the groove until you find yourself breathing in time sort of drummer.

Dan Auerbach plays guitar like he's stringing barbed wire, through an old Ampeg amplifier that is one gig short of meltdown. And he sings like he's done time in Mississippi jails, impossible, this guy is in his early twenties, where did he get the chops to stream that kind of pain through his voice? Can he write a blues lyric? "She want to get out the car, in the middle of the road, her screamin' and hollerin', it's getting mighty old," yup, he can.

This album reeks of cigarette smoke and beer and gasoline fumes, the whole tone reminds me of Exile on Main Street, it's gritty and earthy, three a.m. blues when the band is past caring about the audience and just playing their pain away.

So, The Black Keys, with a guitarist who sounds like he's channeling Elmore James and a drummer who sounds like an idling Chevy 327 with bad lifters are now on Fat Possum records, the real deal. Their music is thick enough to chew, it tips its hat to all the right forefathers(...).

I bought this album based on a great review it got, and I now think the reviewer undersold it. This is the best album I've heard this year, and I'm not a big blues fan. It's hard to believe that this rich, blues/rock that seems to fill every space is the product of a 2-man band. Dan Auerbach is an amazing guitarist whose low-gear playing more than takes the place of a bassist. His gin-laced voice is the perfect complement to his infectious rhythms. While I can't find a B-side on the album, "Set You Free" and "No Trust" are particularly rocking pieces that will have you singing along wondering who needs 4 guys in a band. And don't expect any "my dog left me"-boo-hoo blues - this is a wall of sound with driving guitar and screaming vocals. Simply put, it is what all blues should be: dangerous and yet grooving. You'll wear out your speakers listening to this, trust me.

At the risk of just echoing previous reviews, I feel that it is necessicary to emphasize what a breath of fresh air the Black Keys are. Well, that's an ironic way of saying it, becuase this album will have you feeling like your sitting at a table in whatever smokey, dirty bar the Black Keys are playing at tonight. At a time when Emo and other soft, cookie cutter "rock-and-roll" groups are dominating the charts, it's refreshing to know that there is a band out there that still wants to make music, not just money. The black keys are that to a T. They are all the hype. They prove on this album that two talented musicians are better than four or five uncreative hacks. In this era of subwoofers and bass emphasized music, you won't miss the lack of a bass guitar on this album. For anyone who either misses, or is sorry they missed, the era of Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zepplin, and George Thorogood, your second chance has come along. IF you buy this album, you WILL like it, if you like real music. You don't have to like the blues, or classic rock, or any genre in particular. You just have to like listening to two talented guys enjoy what they're doing on their instuments.

This appears to be a new direction for the Blues. Any young fans seeing this duo live may not really comprehend that their sound is vintage. These young guys must've listened hard to their parents Blues records and they've put together a funky combo that reminds me of everybody from Fred McDowell to Canned Heat. Obviously the Jr. Kimbrough/RL Burnside influence is strong on all of their CD's. Their sound is a fitting tribute to all the Blues legends. Simple but effective riffs to their songs.Some of the songs also will remind you of Hendrix, JL Hooker or Blind Willie Johnson. "Set You Free" recalls the raw punkiness of 60's bands like the Sir Douglas Quintet or The Kingsmens "Louie, Louie". The title track has that dirty, swamp feel of some of CCR's hits. Whatever their influences they've made the sound their own and they are a fiiting addition to the inspirational Fat Possum label.

It's all wonderfully raw!! I think this is the way Blues should be played.. stripped down with no over production.

The lead singer, Dan Auerbach, sounds at times like a distorted Bob Hite, other times like Lowell George...his voice is stunning, reminiscent of Mississipi Hill musicians and belies his young age.

Every one of their CD's is worth purchasing as there are great tracks on all of them. For just the two of them they make a BIG sound.

A great example of what can happen when youngsters go "backwards' to vintage blues in order to go forward with a re-packaged sound for the 21st century.

This album is the bee's knees. If you work all day at a place with no job security, no heath coverage, make you use your own car to drive to work sites, no compensation for driving, expected to by the CEO a present at that holiday party. You shouldn't buy him this album, it is to good for him. You should buy for yourself, quite your job, show up at the holiday party, bribe the DJ and blast this album and dumb on the CEO's pile of presents.

It's good music to poop to as well.