Primal and bluesy, Magic Potion (2006), the fourth album by Akron, Ohio duo The Black Keys is an exercise is massively tight yet spare and minimal swamp-rock. While contemporaries The White Stripes have since expanded on their original duo-configuration, Black Keys, often and obviously compared to the aforementioned group and run with a similar style are far and away a beast of a different color (no pun intended). Their blues drips with a certain fury and gravitas that the White Stripes avoid with their post-industrial squal, and the Keys embrace the open-convention of bombastic production as well as psychedelic stretches and much more introspective moments, though no less raucous and bombastic. Powerhouse tracks like “Modern Times” and “Black Door” stand next to the quietly natured “Goodbye Babylon” or “The Flame”, smoldering with a certain sensual-fervor that the White Stripes avoid. There is something about the Keys that is great and powerful, making them the perfect counterpoint to the Stripes, staging both bands as brothers, each with their own specialties and strengths.
Listen to “Black Door” and “Just Got to Be”
Download “Magic Potion”
