The Black Keys - El Camino

After winning three Grammys with their 2010 album, Brothers, The Black Keys are back with a freshly cut album called El Camino.

El Camino sounds like an extension from Brothers, but it packs a lot more rocking punch. Raunchy, saturated, well distorted guitar tones, up-front basic drum beats accompanied with the warm sound of mundane hand claps and all the fancy bells and whistles.

While listing the tracks you can see producer, Danger Mouse, smiling through every mix on this album. The hooks groove like a sexy drunk girl whispering in your ear.

The opening track and first single, "Lonely Boy", rolls like a 6ft wave of Jack Daniels with Dan Auerbach still hitting all those secret freckly sweet spots of soul with his vocals, like always.

"Gold on the Ceiling" sounds like the Part 2 of "Howling for you" from Brothers with the same drum sound and claps, but with much more intensity. Best combination of acoustic and electric guitars I've heard in a long time.

"Little Black Submarines" gives you awkward goose bumps and while listening to it you feel like you're in the garage with the whole band while they're rehearsing. The song starts off gently and in the middle the dirty driven vintage fuzz grabs you by the throat, the most dramatic track of the whole album.

The ghostly, girly falsetto backing vocals on some of the songs provides a fresh spectrum of sonic textures that works well with the distorted guitars.  

In short this is by far the most evolved Black Keys album to date. Chops, licks, hooks and boogie driven motown rock grooves grilled to perfection. I smell many more Grammys coming up.
 
Click here to listen to the tracks.