THE BEAT BOX: When they play the drum, I spray my tongue these words I manifest might make you numb.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

When they play the drum, I spray my tongue these words I manifest might make you numb.

When asked to name a favorite band of all time, the reply is usually not an easy one for those of us music lovers. I usually immediately respond with Neil Young, then retract that statement, and end up staring at the ceiling thinking, rubbing a nonexistent beard, and heming and hawing until the subject gets changed. The elements of a favorite band of all time are myriad. Maybe they have one song that's always been your favorite song EVER, maybe you don't even like their music that much but just think they fit the "coolest band" bill, or in my case I usually judge based on volume. Statistically speaking, the percentage of songs I love by a musician will usually tell me whether or not they fit the top 10. The Black Keys, for me, most certainly fall in that range.

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney began The Black Keys in only 2001. Since the band's inception, they have sold over 1.7 million records. Their first album, The Big Come Up, released in 2002, was recorded entirely in Carney's basement on an 8-track tape recorder from the 1980s. Their next album, Thickfreakness (off of which three singles were born), was also recorded in Carney's basement on a Tascam 388 in only 14 hours. Rubber Factory, my favorite of their albums, was recorded in a real abandoned factory in Ohio. Next came Attack and Release, Brothers, and the Blakroc project. The Blakroc project is a compilation of tracks in which Carney and Auerbach collaborated with numerous hip-hop artists including RZA, the late ODB, Mos Def, Ludacris, Nicole Wray, Raekwon, and others. What you do to me is probably my favorite track that Blakroc produced, and has been featured before on this blog. Enjoy The Black Keys, a band name taken from the meaning "off center" or "not quite right."