Brothers

The 2010's ushered a new era for rock bands. Aside from the radio-friendly post-grunge shlock, there was a desire to revisit garage rock and post-punk with brand new production techniques and music technology. Additionally, there was a rise in two-member bands that had the full body sound of a larger band. The White Stripes, Death From Above 1979, and even Lightening Bolt had developed unique and incredible sounds as simple duos. The Black Keys were also one of those bands, though their sound is much less interesting. Opting instead for a blues rock sound with modern production, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are content with writing mostly safe, uninteresting songs. At one point I liked the Black Keys a fair bit, probably because they were one of the few honest-to-god rock bands in the 21st century. Turns out there are better rock bands out there writing better songs and putting out tighter albums. Just gotta look a bit harder.

Big fan. Love the keys, was into their earlier first 3 albums or so more. They became pretty polished and filtered on brothers. Losing some of that blues feel I grew to love. Brothers kicks ass though. Listened to it rona. Next girl. Everlasting light. All and all a very solid keys album. Dan and Pat rock.

Pretty good. Blues-y. A pretty long album.

Spotify only had the first disk. I know I should love this bluesy rock band, but I just haven't been able to find love for it yet. It is a down and dirty sound that reminds me of a late night bar in New Orleans somewhere near the river. There's something rough and raw about the sound and I know, that's the appeal. To me, it's just not smooth enough. Why do I want Jack Daniels when I can have Pappy van Winkle? Too legit for me!

Older stuff is def better but this is pretty solid.

Está bastante bueno. Muy Alabama Shakes.

m gusto mucho además de haberme traído cierta nostalgia del 2010

Non male, ma nemmeno troppo memorabile.

cool style, definitely a very strong vibe. howlin for you probably my fave.

They're not what they were - but they're still OK

Highlight tracks: Never Gonna Give You Up, These Days Very Arctic Monkeys sounding Chill rock vibes Some cool alternative guitar work Good album for the genre, a little bland/ generic within it 3/5

Pleasantly surprised. Enjoyable to listen to. Not blown away by it.

Safe and boring

Really, don't get me wrong. I like this album. I remember when it came out I adored the delicious American blues rock, delivered energetically and contagiously. Especially a song like Howlin' For You got me nodding my head to the music and this album came out at a time when the raw and energetic seemed to be disappearing from rock and indie music - where quite a few bands turned to Synthpop around that time. This was, for that moment, a breath of fresh air, even if the music of course lends heavily from the blues from halfway of the 20th century combined with the T*Rex sounds of the 70's. But now listening back, unfortunately, there are no truly memorable tracks besides the one previously named and there is not enough variation within the song material to keep the album captivating for the full length. After about 10 songs it slowly falls down. Was it a case of style over substance? In 2010 this was my 4* album. Now it's a 3*

10/10 opening track, but more uneven than I remembered.

Good

Some great songs but more duds than I remember

Brothers shares some of the same problems I found with The White Stripes’ Elephant. It’s too long and I find myself losing interest in the similarity of the bluesy garage rock. There are undoubtedly some great tunes on this, the streak of “Ten Cent Pistol”, “Sinister Kid” and “The Go Getter” for example, and Auerbach’s vocal and guitar playing is really good - I just need more variation. It gets a bit too monotonous and the songs almost blend together after a while. Brothers is in no way a bad album. It just doesn’t live up to the hype.

A very nice album of Black Keys music by the Black Keys

ok. i loved the back-half of this album…but the first few songs sound similar in their beat which makes it hard to listen to the album all the way through. those few first songs sound (to me) like a mix of the imagine dragons and hozier, and that’s not a good thing 🙌. loved the rest of the album and it would have gotten a 4 if not for those first few songs.

1/4- After work

Pretty disappointed by this, but I guess there's a reason I had previously only heard 2 songs from this album. 6/10

My favorite song from the album was Sinister Kid. It was great to hear some other songs from The Black Keys other than what is overplayed on the radio.

it’s actually pretty dense and textured but it’s hook-weak

Blues-rock oscuro. Ni fu ni fa.

Love em

Like Blues oriented Rock a lot. If they would Rave out some of this is boring crowdpleasin‘ TV commercial stuff the rating‘s be higher. But the 2nd half is pretty solid. 3.4

Loved it 3.5/5

Good groves and danceable tunes

Tighten Up and Howlin' For You are really solid, most of this is rather forgettable though.

Track 1: Everlasting Light I love the little honk sounds in the beginning. Idk if that’s a synth but i like it. The instrumental is really cool and the guitars sound so crunchy. The echoey sound on the singers voice, i really like. I like his voice I think. Great opener to the album. Track 2: Next Girl Omg I love these wah wah noises!! That’s a guitar I’m pretty sure. I’ve never heard a guitar make those kinds of sounds. This song gives a beer commercial vibe with motorcycles and in a bar. With a pretty girl. This song is about the singer not wanting to date another girl similar to his ex. He relates the pain of making mistakes in past relationships. This is a good song. It’s quite vibey. Track 3: Tighten Up This song opens with tambourines and whistles. This song is giving especially indie hipster vibes. I cannot even explain it. This song is good. It is poppy and bluesy. It is just quite plain honestly. This song ends with a slow chilled out bridge. There’s still a lot of echo on this guys voice. Not to mention I love the reverb at the end. Track 4: Howlin’ For You Oh god I have heard this song in a commercial before💀 I knew this band felt familiar in some way. It might be a car or a restaurant commercial, I can’t remember. I like this song but I cannot stop thinking about the fact that I’ve heard this song before. I love the kazoo. This is very commercial worthy and has a lot of filler moments ie: ladadada ladadada x5 anyway this song is fine. Track 5: She’s Long Gone This song is about a woman who is “not like other girls” quite literally that is the lyric in the song. She’s sang about like every man writing a woman like she’s a goddess running through a field of daisies. This song is fine but I can’t get over the NLOG lyric. I like the crunchy guitar reverb. Track 6: Black Mud All these songs sound oddly familiar but not the same at all. They resemble the same motorcycle-bar-girl energy that I talked about in song 2. This song… has no lyrics? I just realized that. Ok, interlude song I guess. That was good lol. Track 7: The Only One I like this keyboard sound. The lyrics are really plain and vague. There is nothing wrong with them necessarily, but they sound like AI generated lyrics. This song is fine. It’s kind of boring but chill. Snore. Track 8: Too Afraid To Love Woo I have a lot of songs to get thru still. I like this songs instrumental. This is about feeling lonely but not actually wanting to love somebody. Felt. This song is very melancholy like an empty room. Track 9: Ten Cent Pistol This song is about a woman with a gun(?) first thing I thought was “girl boss”. That song was ok. Once again I say I like the instrumental. Ohh she got revenge. Defo girl boss moment there. Track 10: Sinister Kid Ok this has a not like other guys feel to it. I like the guitars. Track 11: The Go Getter Omg I’m bored. Every song sounds the same. Track 12: I’m Not The One Hhhhhhnnnn great background music for scrolling Reddit Track 13: Unknown Brother I like this song actually. It sounds different from the other ones I’ve heard in the last 15 minutes. Track 14: Never Gonna Give You Up I like this one a lot! It feels like a middle school dance but not as dorky. Or wait no, more like a party in a movie where the love interests stare into each others eyes. This song is a lot about the vibe. It’s so sparkly sounding. Fav song. Track 15: These Days I also like this one. It is similar to the previous song but i like that other one better. This song isn’t as dreamy.

Some good songs but lots of average to poor and not the group’s best output by far.

Some of this was pretty good. Didn't love it but decent.

Not as good as I hoped it would be

Very on the fence about this duo. I can get into the groove of the music but both the lyrics and their delivery bug me on some level. I guess they seem contrived, a put on attitude covering some underlying hollowness.

This is a weirdly singular sounding album, straddling both blues based rock and modern indie guitar sensibilities. At times I find it trite, but other times it's really appealing. I certainly understand the appeal. Never really paid much mind to this band. Happy to finally give them a go though.

Didn’t do much for me. I think I might have to give it another listen.

I've heard a few black keys songs before and thought I'd like this album more, but I see the black keys are good in moderation

generally meh

Felt like I listened to couple of pretty cool songs repeated about 5 times each.

I think, with exception of Adele, that this is the first fairly recent band I know and like. The Black Keys apparently broke through to the mainstream with "Brothers", but the first album that I heard to was "El Camino" with a great single "Lonely Boy". I was very curious if "Brothers" is as good, or maybe even better. First couple songs were pointing to the latter - "Everlasting Light", "Next Girl" and especially "Tighten Up". Catchy melody, very low maintenance, just a simple riff, actually good drumming and great vocal by Dan Auerbach. Those tracks sound like something you could make up with you friends in 24 hours, but somehow it makes much more sense and brings a great atmosphere, feeling like you're listening to an alternative rock band in some obscure pub in the middle of nowhere, great stuff. Unfortunately, listening to the whole album wasn't such a nice experience. I felt like The Black Keys had written three or four riffs and the just split and cut them into 15 songs. Fifteen chicken dishes in different style, even if you try it will become pretty stale after a while. In general, it's great when you want to listen to song or two, but binging whole album? Probably not such a good idea.

I really like this album. It's a case of I wish I'd known it a bit earlier in life and had more connection with it because if I did I would absolutely love it. It's one of those that takes longer to connect with for me. I love the almost country/folky parts to some tracks. I love the album art concept and the fact that the label on the disc changes colour as it plays and heats up, I want to own that! It's reminding me of bits of the white stripes that I love but maybe it's less catchy... I like the clarity of the lyrics and I wish I had more time to dive into the meaning of the songs. Anyway it was nice to listen because I've heard a lot of people talking about the Black Keys and never listened myself. I want to give a 3.5 and I think it's a grower.

Abarcando varios subgéneros, el sexto álbum de The Black Keys es el que mejor ha sabido brillar de su discografía y así los ha puesto en el radar de los grandes discos de rock alternativo, y algo mainstream, pero que suenan genial y agradables para el gran público. Es destacable la inclusión de varios subgéneros dentro del rock. Muchas partes poperas, garage, rhythm and blues, hacen que se haga ameno su escucha y variada al oído. A su vez, bien incluídos están, algunos temas instrumentales. Está muy buena la interpretación vocal, y es admirable el cómo un dúo musical puede transmitir tanto. Y la invitación a escucharlo está muy a su favor, ya que tiene toda la facilidad para que agrade desde su primer escucha.

When I saw the band's name my first thought was that I knew them and they were a bunch of ninnyhammers playing Alternative that I hate. I'm pleased to say that  they weren't that bad. Some neat and nasty sounding  guitar playing. The first half is better. The second half doesn't quite keep up but it's not a dud. The blues influences show themselves in many places such as I'm Not The One. The one cover they have is a soul song that I expect few of us know. They nail it and the one song genre hop works well.

Enjoyed this more than I was expecting. Some groovy '60s vibes that bring the Doors to mind.

Musique rock et folk Alabama intéressante. La prise des voix, distante, et la distortion des instruments est un goût à acquérir. Quelques chansons done envoûtantes.

Solid album with all good songs. There’s just not that one heavy hitter on my opinion. It’s not that it’s a safe album or anything, some lovely blues rock shit is going down and whilst I love Everlasting Light, I just want that one banger that gets me all pumped up

Retro-worship goes long and the contemporary elements - voice, synth - sound thinner than the rest. The density of hits at the front of this thing is intense.

It's the Black Keys so it's good. But it's too long and meanders a bit

Heard it before?: Not in entirety but have heard a few tracks before Enjoy it?: Yeah, I love the raw sound of black keys and this record emphasises that, very catchy tracks and crafty drum work present on this Favourite song: a lot to choose from but it’s timeless. Track 4 - Howlin For You

I've been a bit spoilt recently with really great albums and although this is good it's in the 2nd division. Still, the tunes are all there with enough variety and skill to warrant inclusion.

Pretty good. I liked it. Not quite a 4 but good stuff. Might think differently on a 2nd listening.

OK album, not really my thing,

The Black Keys strike me as exceedingly competent, but boring. 3/5

Its alright

I loved the first half of this album but then it fell a little drab for me towards the end. I also wasn’t sure I was crazy about the distorted vocals.

Wel oké

Ik vind het altijd erg knap dat zij maar met z’n tweeen zijn en toch zulke goede, stevige nummers maken. Hoewel ik ooit naar een optreden van ze ben geweest en ze dus echt goed vind, had ik er gisteren gewoon geen zin in. Vandaar een zesje.

Has a definite ‘sound’ / vibe - classic soul/garage/r&b with White Stripes guitar sounds and Strokes vocal processing. Definite front-loading going on here - the first five tracks are pretty strong (all the singles amongst them) but the album tails off towards the end and seemed to go on for two or three songs too long).

It’s fine, isn’t it. Not sure how it ended up on albums you must listen to before you die. Very much like White Stripes and early Kings of Leon. Howlin’ for You very much like Rock n Roll part 2, which is no bad thing

Dark, brooding, gritty bluesy-themed songs.

I liked this album, but I think I liked it much more around 2010 than now. Maybe it's just a matter of my mood, but today it looked too long and repetitive for me.

Good stripped back rock sound that no doubt influenced subsequent records like AM. Suffers from being 15 minutes too long, and some of the songs getting used in adverts

6/10, some decent songs there but no wow effect

A couple I liked. It sounds very of the time period.

First half is gold second half lacking.

I'm not sure with this band, I like the dark, drum heavy beats, the lyrics are good. Not a fan of distorted vocals. I think with different vocals this could be an all time classic. Whilst listening I really enjoy getting wrapped up in the music being created but none of the songs hugely stand out or can be sung along to. That may be a bad way to judge music but they get very samey. Strong 3

Solid blue rock album. Much slower and vibe driven than I thought it would be. Overall a great listen.

They weren’t lying… these hwiteboys have soul!

I think this album came up in the last group, but not too bad. Nice and chill. It felt like this album could have been recorded in the 1970s. It had the sound of an album from that time, ateast in my opinion.

À écouter en volume 3

3.5/5

Probably my favorite Black Keys album, feels like this is the pinnacle of the sound they were going for with enough fresh twists to not sound completely derivative.

Two ohio white guys making subpar blues music

The first few songs didn't interest me but as I got further into the album I found it more musically complex and intriguing. However the overfiltered new-age "bluesy" vocals never really got less grating to my ears.

Fuzz, high-pitched vocals. Slightly distorted drums. Updated/Retro Classic Rock. Apparently a duo. Listenable and coherent. Tone is often a bit harsh for my preference. Some songs have a nice feel toward the end of the album.

Solid album. I had heard many of the songs before so nothing really surprised me. I enjoyed listening to an album with a lot of live instrumentation again. I feel like I've been stuck in a rut listening to mostly electronic music for the past year or two.

Приятное звучание. Но трудно выделить запоминающиеся композиции. Было приятно послушать.

Some decent and familiar songs!

ok

They definitely have more interesting albums than this, but then that's the problem with becoming popular, you have to do bland to appeal to the masses. It's alright, just a shame to hen you know they have better.

Complete Throbbing Gristle rip off. Experimental to the point of being unlistenable.

Some good tracks on here. Butoverstays it's welcome. Loved it at the time but in retrospect its not a memorable experience.

Pretty good album with some all time party bangers. Garage rock as a genre does tend to lose its allure for me around the 35 minute mark so this album being 55 minutes is just a little wearing. I still like the album, but prefer some of The Black Keys other albums more.

Often don't get on with blues, but I found this acceptable

Mostly enjoyable 3*

I remember when 'Tighten Up' swept pop radio airwaves back in middle school, and looking back the feat seems even more impressive given several pop titans such as Lorde and Adele were on the rise. It helps that the Delta Blues styled songwriting lends itself to simple, catchy melodies that can sustain 3-4 minute tracks, but Auerbach deserves credit for injecting just the slightest touch of synths and slick production to make the LP more digestible in the ultrapop age. I don't know if this album deserves more than 3 stars (the songwriting isn't super dynamic, and I don't know if we'll be talking about this album in 10 years time outside of a Stereogum anniversary post), but it deserves quite a bit of credit for clawing its way onto the charts in the first place.

I was looking forward to listening to this one as Tighten Up really is a pretty amazing song. Unfortunately, the rest of the album really doesn't keep up with it and is pretty samey and uninteresting. Doesn't sound bad in itself, but definitely nothing to get excited about.

Bekend album van de zwarte sleutels, maar de muziek kan me nooit volledig interesseren

Beaucoup de respect pour le band. Les pièces avec des influences blues sont vraiment bonnes. Mais la longueur d'album et le style très typique du band devient redondant à la longue. À revisiter

at first it seemed really cool and new and vibes but after awhile it got a little boring because it was the same but i did think it was good

I hadn't heard the Black Keys in a long time - I think my impressions of them (early albums maybe?) were that they rarely used a bass guitar. Not a fan at all of minimalist rock so it was nice to hear a more-full sound right away. Not a ton to say - I do like it overall and "Sinister Kid" is the hilight for me - even such a simple song can be driven and carried by a killer backbeat. I like most of these songs (although to be fair if the album had ended after "Sinister Kid" it would have been better; the last few songs really get tiresome) individually but my critique as a whole is the general sameness that I get from it all. There's only so much one can do with the blues and they do make the most of it - I like the production (the oversaturated vocals may be gimmicky but it works for these guys) as well. No objection to hearing this time and again but maybe in smaller chunks. 6/10 3 stars.

I really like the Black Keys first couple of records. Raw, bluesy, rockin', with a real edge. However, they eventually decided they wanted to sell a whole lotta records and get played on the radio, so they started making albums like this. It's still a lot more rock and roll than 99% of what you hear on the radio (which is great) and the tracks are engineered to really sound great played on the radio. This album is front loaded with songs that will be the best single you have heard all day when they pop up (and stand out) on the radio. Compressed, polished, punchy rock and roll. Which is great. But a whole album can start to sound a little tired. The influence of Danger Mouse is not as overwhelming as on the following album, but you can hear where they were heading. And congrats to them on getting there. (But I like it when they are a bit more raw).

Genre: Blues Rock 3/5 First things first, and one thing that truly surprised me throughout this listen, is how many of these songs I knew without ever knowing them as Black Keys songs. This album is full of the songs that play in Toyota, Buffalo Wild Wings, Budweiser, and other assorted sports advertisements throughout the years. It was actually bizarre to go through this album and hear how well publicized some of these songs have become, almost to the point where it kind of takes away any of the DIY-grit that may exist in the playing and recording of this. Is it a dirty, gritty, modern take on blues rock? Or is this a song publisher's wet dream: bluesy, yet modern, music that can be abused by advertisers looking to hit certain markets with its signature low-IQ drawl? I feel it's the latter. However, as far as rock music that has come out in the last 15 years, this is not bad. It certainly is an attempt at some sort of rock revival, but all this album did, unfortunately, was be popular enough to bring rock to a point of relevance that it gave further creedence to more contemporary "rock" acts like Imagine Dragons, and the worst parts of groups like Weezer, Green Day, and Coldplay. Songs like Tighten Up and Howlin' for You are, as I said before, commerical mainstays, and stand alone as the true highlights from this project. The rest muddles together into filtered guitar leads, plodding drums, and uninspired organ riffs. Bland, but listenable.

I admit to not being the biggest Black Keys' fan. Not that I dislike them; they're OK. This album was their commercial breakthrough and had two big hits "Tighten Up" and "Howlin' for You." Still rock radio staples. I find The Black Keys are at their best when their songs have that sort of raw 70's blues/garage guitar feel to them and there are a few here: "She's Long Gone", " Black Mud". I also appreciate their minimalistic approach with a two-man band and some songs do rock here: "Sinister Kid" "Next Girl". This album is fine although it did nothing to move my neutral feelings for them as a band. I'm kind of surprised it made the 1001 list but they are arena rockers so they are popular. And this album brought them there.

they're good but playin' poor life songs

Over rated and over long, Black Keys, Brothers is one of those albums I never took to.

Good but overlong

03/11/22

Pretty good rock album. Lots of blues influence that's good. Overall a good time but nothing monumental.

meh, not great not bad. forgettable.

I like their sound, but the album went on for a little too long. Will probably relisten.

Good tunes but some generic beats and mostly repetitive.

Too dull and too long

Electropop con buenas bases y melodías sencillas. Pasable

I wasn’t huge on this when it came out as I found it very “paint by numbers” but I enjoyed it a bit more this time.

Nice album, decent songs, nothing spectacular. Just fine.

Alkupuolihan on ihan jees. Mainioita riffejä ja hitit toimii edelleen. Lopussa kuitenkin lässähtää yllättävän pahasti. Eiköhän silti ansaitse 3/5.

Tighten Up - great. Howlin' For You - great. Others: Everlasting Light Good sound. 3/5

I have heard of The Black Keys, but I couldn't have told you anything about their music. This was my first listen for this album. It was good, but a little irritating. The bluesy-rock was fun. I got in the groove and could dig what was happening. After 4 or 5 tracks though, the distortion permeating their sound started to become distracting and irritating. For that reason, I think I am more of a fan of listening to an isolated tune or two rather than a full album.

I like The Black Keys and have listened to a couple of their albums so I was excited to see this. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with Brothers. I like their general sound but most of these songs just blended together into a big mush. Howlin' for You, Ten Cent Pistol, and Sinister Kid stood out from the rest but just barely. Maybe a couple of their albums is all I need.

Part of me wants to like the Black Keys, but I feel the same way about them that I felt about Cheap Trick. They do generic rock'n'roll. They do it well, but it feels too safe, like they are writing songs that they know that people will like because other people have already written these songs slightly differently 3/5

Honestly, every song sounds the same. And they’d all be remarkable in about 1973, which is what it’s copying. But I like 1973.

A selection of good to decent bluesy garage rock. A little too long to keep my attention, but still good for the most part. Favorites: "Everlasting Light", "Tighten Up", "The Only One"

I couldn't get into this album fully, but I liked a couple of songs. Not enough to be able to want to add them to my library though.

Already knew I liked the album. Easy to listen to. It’s funny, I assume these albums are not just based on musical ranking; that is, the cultural impact too

A good listen but it feels so derivative of other bands (e.g., T-Rex) as to almost feel like a cover album. I don't feel like they add that much to the classics I already listen to, but the sound is good.

Bit too blues-y for me, but I could appreciate the skill and musicianship on the album

The album cover alone just bugs the shit out of me. It has to be the leader in the clubhouse for worst album cover on the list. Mr. Auerbach, I served with Jack White. I knew Jack White. Jack White was a friend of mine. Mr. Auerbach, you're no Jack White.

I haven't been a fan of the Black Keys, but of what I've heard they sound fine. With the absence of authentic rock' n 'roll in much of today's popular music, the Black Keys are a breath of fresh air. Though their music isn't exactly original, they play with a passion and a spirit that is a throwback to when rock dominated radio. Brothers is a solid record that grows on you with repeated listening. 3.5/5

Very good bluesy indie rock with some excellent percussion. It's not exactly a new favorite album, but it makes for good background vibes.

it's a lot more chill than I expected, I thought it would be harder more amped-up rock. Tighten Up and Howlin' for You are bangers.

I liked most (all?) of the songs on this album fine, and they flowed naturally into each other. Unfortunately a lot of them sound very similar, which is a thing I liked less. My favorite, unsurprisingly, is "Howlin' For You", which I already liked :) 3-3.5

Enjoyed this one.

I don't mind The Black Keys, their music is well produced but I can only take so many mid-tempo bluesy garage rockers.

I suspect they're great to listen to live, where you can feel the raw guitar, bass and drums.

Happy to give this a 3/5.

Нормальные ребята, ничего такого но нутро есть и благородная обычность и простота

First time really listening to a Black Sabbath album. The album is heavy and at times intense, but there are some really beautiful moments at times as well. I also found that I resonated with a lot of the lyrical content much more than I anticipated I would. I'll make sure to check out more of their work in the future.

For me, the black keys aren't overly memorable or noteworthy. They take blues rock and bring it into the 21st century with some production and style. But, in fairness to them, they do a pretty good job of it.

Not bad but I wasn't very excited.

Brother brothers!

AVR. 6.6 TOP 3: 1. Everlasting Light (+9) 2. Too Afraid To Love You (+8) 3. Never Gonna Give You Up (+7.5) TRACKLIST 1. Everlasting Light (+9) 2. Next Girl (+7) 3. Tighten Past (+6.7) 4. Howlin' for You (+5.3) 5. She's Long Gone (+7.2) 6. Black Mud (+5 intrum.) 7. The Only One (+6.8) 8. Too Afraid To Love You (+8) 9. Ten Cent Pistol (+7.3) 10. Sinister Kid (+6.9) 11. The Go Getter (+6.3) 12. I'm Not the One (+6) 13. Unknown Brother (+6.2) 14. Never Gonna Give You Up (+7.5) 15. These Days (+7.4) 16. Chop and Change (+5.9) 17. Keep My Name Out of Your Mouth (+5.3) 18. Black Mud Part 2 (+6)

Opens with a nice groove. I'm familiar with the band, and they rely on a distorted vocal that I think is a little obnoxious. Next Girl is a much better song that Everlasting Light. Good riff, much clearer vocals, bluesy, and simple. Tighten Up is a catchy jam. This is the most popular song on the album, and I think it sums up the band pretty nicely. My feeling is they are talented, they have great hooks, but something about their music keeps me at a distance. I am a casual fan, but their music, while technically impressive just isn't my taste. Howlin' for You is another song I am quite familiar with. Has an "anthem" element to it - and at this point the album has a really cohesive feel, and you know the groove you're in. There's a thread of looking for love/relationships all passed through a filter of the search or regrets. The Black Keys have a sound and a style, and this is it on full display. It's just not my bag. I do like the line "Throw the ball to the stick/ Swing and miss and a catcher's mitt/Strike two" She's Long Gone fits right in that same thread as I mentioned. Black Mud is an instrumental with Tarantino vibes. He should get a hold of that one. The Only One puts the Organ front and center. Feels like a 60s song. Kind of has a hook like Tom Jones's She's a Lady. Too Afraid to Love you - more of the same. Bass line is pretty sweet. Ten Cent Pistol - Finally a ballad of sorts. A song with some story behind it. But it is still lyrically similar to everything else. I wonder what this is based on. Is this drugs? Sinister Kid - Got some gospel roots here - I like this one. This might be my favorite song. The Go-Getter - Meh. Scorsese has made this movie I think. Doesn't make me want to visit LA. I'm Not the One - More self-mockery and deprecation. The whole, I'm broken baby, stay away from this mess idea. Unknown Brother - It was okay. I like how none of these songs overstay their welcome. Never Give You Up - I thought this was going to a moment of hope breaking through the bleakness...but no. These Days - Definitely a culminating song, which reminds me of why albums should be listened to. This song on its own is good, but as a closing track on an album, it carries more weight. Bonus Tracks - These can stay gone. The album ends a These Days.

Blues-rock oscuro.

Most songs are good to great, but it starts feeling stale after half of the album. The lyrics also feel mediocre, but it gets a decent score from me due to the fun insttumentals.

Good, enjoyed it. Would listen to it again.

I remember this being big when it came out

Fan of the Black Keys and a decent album, but prefer others!

Hadn't even heard about The Black Keys before. Not what I usually listen to, but this impressed me a lot. Very good album all around.

Alright

Decent

Decent album, not my cup of tea. Have heard worse though.

Wow, albums recent enough that I've heard them on a modern radio station. This was decent - again not my usual style (sensing a trend) but not something I'd request to get turned off.

A solid album

Overall this album has some great songs but I think there’s a lot of filler and some tracks are a bit too uneventful I like his voice over the disorted guitars a lot but it feels like as the album goes on the instrumentals get less interesting. This didn’t need to be 18 songs long tbh 40 minutes or something would’ve been enough for an album like this. Nathan gonna hate me for this one‼️ 6/10

Never ever heard of them before and I like the album

3/5 somewhat interesting but not for me

A couple of songs that really grabbed me. This is a really bluesy album. I liked it overall.

I dont get it, they are good but nothing special IMHO

Alun biisit herätti mielenkiinnon, mutta kokonaisuus jäi huoneenlämpöiseksi. Kuitenkin sellainen lämpötila, missä on kiva napsutella sormia rytmin rahtiin ja kuunnella rauhallisesti. Ei oikein pahaa sanottavaa, mutta ei aiheuta hehkutustakaan. Avausbiisi Everlasting ja Tighten up tarttui talteen.

Ok. Bit samey

Scraped a 3. A bit too samey by the end

Blues meets garage rock. I've always found old school blues to be cliché and predictable. I have the feeling I've heard the same chord progressions, rhythms and singing phrases way too many times. I liked the first song, Everlasting Light, and Howlin' For You is a good hit I've heard in many commercials. Works as a background.

I enjoyed this album quite a bit but none of the songs stuck out to me. I've always been a fan of Heavy Soul from MacGruber but beyond that, I was never a huge fan of the Keys. Their groove is awesome, and the guitars really set them apart, but their songs all sort of blend together after a while. Will I listen to them again? Probably, but will I remember the songs? No. And the album cover certainly isn't helping with that. Almost feels like they sent that to the label telling them what they wanted and the label accidentally just put their request on the cover.

Yep. The video for Next Girl might be one of my favorite new ones... Album is nice. Although maybe a bit monotonous...

"Howlin' for you" is the most popular song from here.

It has it's moments but just never grips me. Probably because it was overplayed. But like, If I want good bluesy rock there's a lot of stuff I'll pick before this. 2.5 that i'll round up.

Nice

Ближе к 4, но мб слишком попсово и смазливо

Solid Album

It’s fine. I like the Black Keys in small doses. Great musicianship and songwriting.

Fav: Tighten Up, The Go Getter

Zit wel een goede klasieker howlin for you op maar niet een album die ik vaak zal opzetten

Still not my thing but I was surprised at how much of the album I was familiar with

Solid rock album. 3.5 rounded down.

falls off hard in 2nd half, but 1st half is classic

It was okay, not my style but was an interesting listen.

3.4. Solid.

Sends me back to college. Retro blues-rock.

Not a big fan, but it's not bad.

It’s got some crackalacking tunes.

this was cool but made me wish hozier was singing all of these songs... i guess i want a fully blusey sounding hozier album :(... it was cool though i like "too afraid to love you"

jack white if he was incredibly boring and his music was in ford truck month 5/10

Pretty good, but its fairly repetitive. Could be about 3 or 4 songs shorter.

229. Brothers - The Black Keys (10.9.26) Variety: 2 Adequacy: 3 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 1 Emotionality: 2 = 2.0 "Da-da da-da da, da-da da-da da/ Da-da da-da da, da-da da-da da" I inexplicably owned a copy of this at one point. I say inexplicably because I distinctly remember disliking this band quite a bit. And maybe that should be "possessed a copy". Maybe I borrowed it? Either way, what I heard was enough to turn me off of the band, and ensure that I never investigated further. Aside from a few appearances on tv ( Colbert I think?), and articles about hilariously petty, and one-sided feuds with other musicians ( Jack White, famously very normal person, seems to have taken it upon himself to instigate one of these) I've mostly forgotten about them. I do remember they came across an more or less regular, interesting dudes in interviews who were legit REALLY into the blues, and are obviously capable professionals. It was just a type of blues rock that felt very sanitized. I hate going into an album I know I'm not going to enjoy, but there is the small ray of hope that having not heard it in a good 15 years that my tastes have changed enough that it doesn't bounce off me as hard, or that I might be able to find more interesting layers than I previously recognized. THE TRACKS "Everlasting Light" - This started alright, with a nice crunchy beat and a decent groove, but I had forgotten how much I really do not enjoy Auerbach's vocals. A very mixed mag right away is not the best of signs, but I'll take it over something I completely hate any day of the week. I also would have preferred a more stripped down live-ish production sound as well. The vocal filter I didn't even mind so much as how mannered the delivery was. "Next Girl" - This was way worse though. Auerbach's putting a little too much stank on his delivery for my tastes, and I get the idea that he really must be thinking he's "losing himself in the power of the blues" or some shit. Also, the song is pretty boring and repetitive. For this kind of thing to work it really needs to be a lot grittier and basic, and there's just far too much of a sheen on it. It's using reverb and processed vocals and even some fuzz, but it's all so measured and clean in the result, which makes it feel sort of lifeless. I'm, just picturing this playing over a montage of some characters in one of the dozens of awful basic cable crime tv shows circa 2011 doing some generic crime stuff. "Tighten Up" - This was slightly better as it had some identifiable melodies in both the music and the vocals, but I'm already tired of the vocals and all the extra percussion that makes this feel like a Gnarls Barkley track. I can see why this was a single, it's just not something I'm into. "Howlin' for You" -This was a vast improvement, with it's drum pattern ( I think?) directly lifted from "Rock and Roll Part 2" and it's choppy, pulsing Howlin' Wolf guitar tone that's gave this some glamrockabilly vibes. T. Rex maybe could have been a touching point here, as it follows a kind of formula that Marc Bolan followed more than a few times. Auerbach's vocals are even toned down here, and well used in the wordless chanty chorus. I absolutely cannot find anything wrong with this one, but it bothers me just the same for some reason. Edit: doing some research it looks like several of the songs from this album have been licensed for ads, most notably "Howlin' For You" - used in a Nissan ad which I must have heard a zillion times, and which likely play no small part in how much a lot of this is failing to work for me. I have no problem with "selling out" as a concept ( and holy hell did these guys - and good for them) but I detest commercials in general and especially how repetitive they get on YouTube ( which is my primary streamer - yes I am too cheap to pay for ad-free, so maybe that's on me). I find them grating in the way I imagine people with mysophobia find another person's chewing to be unbearable. So there's that to consider. And the fact that I still had so many nice things to say about this song in particular speaks to how well crafted it is. Anyway... "She's Long Gone" - Maybe the last one finally broke the seal for me, but this was also a bit easier to digest. The fuzzed out guitar sounds pretty good, and the drums are a lot more warm and natural sounding. This also feels like it's in the region where the overlap with White Stripes becomes more apparent. Auerbach isn't bending those vowels as much on here and sounds much more convincing. Am I crazy or did this one sound like it was trying way more to give a live in studio feel? "Black Mud" - Meh. This was ok, but lacking anything to make it in any way distinct. Also that hiss was more annoying than charmingly "real". It's like this one was trying TOO hard to sound like a live cut. I did like the more muted drum sound though. "The Only One" - The muted drums are sticking around, and we're adding in some muted organ. Maybe we'll get muted vocals as well? Huh. Guess not. Auervach goes into a not unpleasant falsetto here that's got a little reverb on it. I think I like this indie rock delivery WAY more than his try hard blues voice. This went down a lot smoother than the more straight ahead blue rock stuff, and kind of reminds me of like it's influenced by 60s R&B and soul sounds. "Too Afraid to Love You" - Loving the switch up in instrumentation here with the chimey, plinky keyboards on this. But we're back to that danged oh-so bluesy vocal delivery. It feels like he's trying to impersonate someone who can deliver soulful accenting, but feels wrong coming out of his mouth. "Ten Cent Pistol" - Nice booming, reverby bass drum sound on this that actually feels warmer. Musically it's nothing special at all, but the vocals again drag this one down especially low.. This is becoming a sticking point for me I guess. "Sinister Kid" - Digging the beat again, but will there be more inlistenable vocals? The muted reverb is eased back on a LOT, and Auerbach has toned down the bendy blues bowel-bending here, which is way more palatable. But why on this one? This would have vastly improved a lot of those other tracks. Not completely though. I'm not loving this or anything. The song is pretty generic, and has an awful guitar solo to boot. "The Go Getter" - Ooh. I immediately disliked this one. Soul voice is back, and the band is swinging way out of their lane to try some kind of artsier take on the blues. Nothing about this one worked for me, and actually sounded pretty ugly like it was pieced together from several other, also not great songs. "I'm Not the One" - Some Three Dog Night keyboard start us off, and point to an interesting direction that is once again fouled up by the vocal delivery. My enthusiasm has long since waned, but at this point I'm struggling to not skip a song after I realize about 30 seconds in that I'm not going to like it. This one was especially annoying on the instrumental end of things with it's poor attempt at an epic sound when someone in the control booth briefly turns up the bass levels. "Unknown Brother" - More of the same from the vocals. The instrumentation was interesting and there were hooks. Just not enough to save it for me. The bass solo/ jingle bells instrumental break was ok. "Never Give You Up" - This started off like some slow, groovy 70s soft rock, with some big soul flavor, and the soulful vocals actually felt appropriate for once. Why is this just happening now at the end? Maybe Auerbach should do a full album of Amy Winehouse covers. This was more than alright. "These Days" - We end on another slow soul ballady number, and it works almost as well as the last one. Why couldn't Auerbach been obsessed with soul and gospel instead of the blues? Now I feel cheated. Good closer. HIGHLIGHTS - "Howlin' for You" - "She's Long Gone" - "The Only One" - "Never Give You Up" - "These Days" MIDLIGHTS - "Everlasting Light" - "Black Mud" - "Too Afraid to Love You" - "Sinister Kid" - "Unknown Brother" LOWLIGHTS - "She's Long Gone" - "Ten Cent Pistol" - "The Go Getter" - "I'm Not the One" FINAL THOUGHTS Guess it turns out my feelings have not changed very much, though I think maybe they are more nuanced. I would describe this as blues rock for white dudes who have never broken in a pair of jeans. It's got a patina of manufactured grit that circles around and makes it seem even less authentic than it even is. Part of this has to due with the production which is super-clean and tight, no matter how many filter effects were used on Auerbach's vocals. The drumming and guitar work seem well performed, but also suffer from this so much that they seem lifeless. Maybe I've been ruined by hearing to much music from actual blues legends, but a lot of this feels like dress up to me. Sure, rock n roll has a long and storied history of comparatively well-off white dudes pilfering the blues, but this one felt off somehow. Like I almost appreciate the artifice and almost camp nature of an act like the Rolling Stones taking this stuff and twisting and turning it, and really almost misinterpreting it in a way where it comes out the other end as some sort of exciting hybrid that is very pop friendly. I think it bothers me a lot more when the artists take themselves too seriously, which these guys seem to be doing. I'm sure in real life they would never presume that they are anything other than worshippers at the feet of the blues gods, but their music seems earnest and unplayful in a way that at least makes me question that. I've tried to avoid comparing them to the White Stripes in this because I think the comparison is pretty overblown and really just a happenstance of similar band names and time period/ scenes. The White Stripes, at least on their really successful albums have that blues rock influence, but they are VASTLY more varied and open in their influences and are making pop music that is purposefully manufactured to be disposable and catchy, where these guys's lack of flash almost dares you to take them at their word as "serious musicians". And that's hard to do when so much of this just slides right out ears like so much musical diarrhea. I'm not saying these two are untalented, or have cynical intentions to make disposable music, I just think that despite whatever good intentions they had, the stuff that went in was completely lacking in nutritional value, and my system has been to used to ( worn down by maybe?) guys ( Tom Waits, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Led Zeppelin, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) who use the blues more sparingly or in a much more interesting and artistic way. I guess in other words, to keep the tortured food metaphor going, I like some spice in my food, and this just tastes like nothing. I didn't hate it but there was not much to like about it. At best, these guys are journeymen musicians who made good by finding a niche and exploiting the hell out of it for the limited lifespan that it seemed to have. Has this sort of music gone on to influence anyone other than people who write commercial jingles for rugged trucks ( see above). Ultimately though a lot of this one is on me. I can see a lot of people abslutely digging this, and an can realize it's not necessarily because it's bad. It's just not for me. In the same way that Britney Spears or Beyonce or Taylor Swift are not for me. There's a very specific pipeline for this kind of music, and I'm not the intended recipient. And that's ok. That's why I can't give it a 1. There's a lack of hate, and even some respect, but too little to enjoy. Ended strongly though. Possible turn-Offs might include: - white guy blues voice - flat and squeaky clean production in a genre that screams out for something looser - a lot of sameyness - that 2010's genericness - bloated run time You Might enjoy this if you: - find legit blues too spicy and don't really want to mess with the weirder stuff - like garage rock, but think the bulk of it sounds too amateurish and wish it were less gritty - enjoy good, workmanlike musicianship PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - If I listen to anything again it would be just the highlights FURTHER LISTENING Precursors: - The Howlin' Wolf Album by Howlin' Wolf - Electric Mud by Muddy Waters - Electric Warrior by T. Rex - The Ice Man Cometh by Jerry Butler - The Allman Brothers Band by The Allman Brothers Band - Songs the Lord Taught Us by The Cramps Contemporaries: - Blunderbuss by Jack White - Black Rock by Joe Bonamassa - Black Country Communion by Black Country Communion - Sea of Cowards by The Dead Weather - Roadsongs by The Derek Trucks Band Descendants: - Boys & Girls by Alabama Shakes - Blak and Blu by Gary Clark Jr. - Black Pumas by Black Pumas - Benjamin Booker by Benjamin Booker - Arrow by Heartless Bastards

Some nice if derivative blues and soul sound. Would have like it in 2005. Too late for me to care now.

nice but nothing special

Mediocre. Maybe 2.5 stars.

This sounds like an American band wanting to be like Arctic Monkeys, or maybe Kasabian, or even The Fratellis. It's not very exciting.

Clearly not my thing. A couple of good tunes on here but doesn’t make up for the fact that all the other songs sound the same.

This was nostalgic for me, especially Tighten Up and Howling for you. At the time, I really liked the sound of HO! HEY! music. But now, it feels overdone and a bit corny sooooo I ain't feelin it at as much

1 hour of just the worst, buzzing guitar tones ever. Mixed in with that are irritating, distorted and over-reverbed vocals. Listen instead to Howlin Wolf, BB King, Muddy Waters or any of the blues artists that this album is trying (and failing) to imitate.

como he leido…tienen razón, podría ser musica de un anuncio de un coche, de todas formas no me ha disgustado tho me gusta la mezcla blues y rock pero si tuviera que poner esto en público probablemente se reirian de mi

Meh, I couldn't get through, maybe I'll relisten in the future

My brain just goes to a load of cringe white men in a pub watching the football yelling DA DA DA DA, DA!

Something about the black keys sound like it should be really good, but most of the time it falls flat and I don't know why. It ends up sounding like music for commercials. Maybe better live

A bore

Incredible how outdated that "breakbeat + bluesy vocals" formula feels 15 years later.

Blues rock for very white men.

mid and repetitive. maybe only 2 or 3 songs really worth the hype around The Black Keys

Tighten Up was on a FIFA soundtrack a decade plus ago so that was a nice nostalgia trip. Pretty bland though

I was a big fan of Thickfreakness and saw The Black Keys live during their Rubber Factory tour. I never listened to this album though, so this was a first. By the time I finished it I realised I'd purchased a new Volvo, private health insurance, had switched my mobile provider, and had removed my jumper and slung it over my shoulders so the arms fell down the front of my shirt. I don't know why, but I feel quite stylish now.

Pretty dull actually, there’s a couple of decent tracks but I think this kind of blues rock is a bit tired a lot of the time. 2.0/5.0 Best Song: Next Girl

I'll literally never understand the appeal of the Black Keys. Boring band who make car commercial music. Every song on this album sounds identical and only one of them is any good

It's literally never the 2 person band you want to hear, is it? This is when the Keys officially became TV Ad Jingle Music instead of rock and roll. It's weird because this is basically just the White Stripes with a real drummer and a vocalist attempting to replicate something soulful, but these guys became car commercial dreck and Jack put out a soccer hooligan chant. It's also weird to have a two person band where the drummer isn't wallopping the drum heads. You're half the band. Be memorable. Be part of it. Don't phone it in (or repurpose the Hey song's drum beat, like on Howlin for you). Joe Daniel's and Brian St Clair and Klek would never. Instead, Drumkey acts as a perfunctory rhythm for Guitarkey. Guitarkey Dead Leaves and Dirty Grounds through tepid white blues and one of the least appealing distorted pedals in the biz, all the while trying an impression where Steven Tyler does Jimi Hendrix and nailing neither side of the equation. This feels long by track 5, because the only standout is Tighten Up (because that's the song you heard while you were waiting for TV to start again). Guitarkey likes going a bit into his falsetto range, and that doesn't improve things, but after each song starts, my brain starts singing “most of all… most of all.” These songs aren't literally the same, but functionally they are interchangeable and sonically they could have Frankensteined the vocal and music tracks of pretty much any two songs to make, for all intents and purposes, the same album. Back in the day there was a Mashup that literally just lined up two nickelback songs to show that they were the exact same structure. This doesn't go quite that far, but it's close for me. Ultimately this is annoying background music, but it's better than 21 Pilots, who are the absolute nadir of 2 person “rock” bands, so I'll give them ⭐️⭐️, one for each key.

Me encantó la portada pero dios mío que desastre. Aburrido y monótono. Cada canción suena exactamente igual que la anterior y encima con esas letras clichés y simplistas. Le doy una estrella porque sí me gusta el sonido, pero es tan millenial que me harta

Early on, I thought Brothers was heading toward three stars. “Everlasting Light” reminded me of The White Stripes, I liked “Next Girl,” and even “Tighten Up,” a song I used to change the station on, worked better in the context of the album. Then everything started blending together. At one point I realized I'd forgotten I was even listening to the album. Then it happened again. For an album so heavily influenced by blues and soul, I felt surprisingly little soul coming through. The songs weren't bad. They just weren't making me feel anything. “Sinister Kid” briefly woke me up with its backing vocals, and ironically, the slower closing track, “These Days,” ended up being my favorite because it finally sounded different from everything that came before it. I understand why Brothers stood out in 2010, when so much mainstream music was moving toward glossy electronic production. I can appreciate its place in that moment without particularly wanting to hear it again. Yesterday, Kraftwerk held my attention for a 22-minute song. Today, The Black Keys couldn't consistently hold it for three or four minutes. This one's just not the one for me.

Just not for me. This album felt unnecessarily long and boring.

loud

Kinda okay, but so repetitive, and samey?

mid. i mean from an artistic standpoint, i guess they were doing something different. not even done with the entire thing and it's just boring, not my thing. too edgy movie soundtrack for me.

painfully 2012

el primer tema del álbum está genial, el resto medio pelo

Kinda boring and repetitive

Meh, not as bad as I expected from the cover alone, but not worldshaking either. I feel music like this was made well before 2012or whenever this was released. I found it boring.

Meh. Boring. Well produced. Whatever.

Not a very engaging record. Loved the singles when it came out when I was younger but I find it didn’t age well.

The more I listen to this album the more it feels likes its cover. Too simple and boring, with only one appealing element, which would be the font in the case of the cover, and the production in the case of the music. Not even modernized blues rock would convince me to like the genre, but it makes the experience greater as I like the sound of the very saturated guitars that gives the record a heavy revitalized garage rock vibe. When it comes to the composition, it is bland blues rock, as it always will be in my opinion, with just maybe some decent moments in here (like the mysterious sounding "The Go Getter" and other a bit catchy melodies and riffs) that aren't enough to make my experience better. I would consider to give this a positive score if it wasn't 55 minutes.

A taster menu of shit riffs, the sommelier brings out a new compressor, "I recommend sir applies this to every channel".

Track 1. Everlasting Light was cute and fun. I hummed it a bit afterwards. Track 3. Tighten Up's riff is one of those brutally simple and wonderful inventions that you wonder how it was never found or used to better effect before. Beat change was very fun. The riff under a different filter makes it even more insane. Track 4. Likewise, Howlin' for You is fun but, gracious, it is NOT done favors from its overplaying. Overall, I know this album was "influential" and these guys produced so many other records, but gracious. The album is really not done many favors by its contemporaries or descendants. The sounds and ideas are definitely buoyed by the source-defined purity (it does it better than the descendants) but they also feel very washed out now that a decade and a half has passed.

This album is the other half of my teenage bias. I have heard the singles from this album so many times. And now having heard the rest of the album, it’s all so bland. It’s like they traded their souls to play soul music and didn’t see the irony. The music just hums along, each song feeling more same than the last with no real features. It’s not unlistenable, but after 30 minutes it’s likely to just get tuned out.

It's alright, there are a bunch of songs that people enjoy on this album. For me it was overplayed on the radio when it came out and I kind of got over it. The music isn't bad and the vocals are good but I just don't need to listen to it again for a long time.

FM rock station anthems for males

This is an album comprised completely of songs that would be used in a reality TV competition show. This is entrance music for Pottery Throwdown.

Very listenable. Yet derivative.

The album art gives me a laugh, that's a positive. If they'd elected to use good microphones to record the voice/not mixed the voice fuzzily, I'd be rating this more highly. The weird buzzy, static sound that's in several of the tracks severely detracts from the whole experience. If I try my absolute best, I can almost look beyond the tinny voices and buzzy guitar which pervades the bulk of the album. But even if I manage that, what's left is what I'll call "white bread" music. It's competent. But it's too simple. It doesn't challenge any expectations. As a listener, it's just not engaging. I know I'm listening at 2230 on a Thursday, but it was putting me to sleep. The music is Ok I guess, but I'm completely puzzled as to how this was inducted to a list of 1000 wonderful albums. Also, why on earth would they remaster it only two years later, and not fix the terrible audio quality of the voice? To the album's credit, it did pick up a bit in the last quarter. They found microphones which came out this century. Rating: In terms of music, this is competent, but simple. Briefly, it's boring. There's no interest in it. But we need to take in to account that most of this feels like it has been recorded with museum piece microphones, and then mixed with a persistent buzzing noise. It pushes an experience which I would have described as "low C grade" down dangerously close to F. It's an E grade from me, aka two stars.

a few skipped songs; i don't really enjoy his voice or the keys

The album as a whole does not flow well. Most, if not all songs, are around the same tempo and generally have the same feel. It felt very samey after the first 4 songs, and I had to check if the track had changed. This may have been a defining album when it came out, but I don't see it being talked about in the next decade.

Serviceable, standard indie rock. Offensive in its inoffensiveness. Meandering and bloodless. There’s nothing new or unique here. How did it make this list?

15 versions of the same song. And to be honest, it's a good song. Well, a decent song. No, a good song. But Jesus Christ anything can get old after too long. Same tempo, same emotion, same vocal affect, same fuzz, same chords. This is a great album to put on in the background for a cool kind of event. Or behind a beer commercial. But like a pretty cool beer, at least. Fave tracks: - Everlasting Light - Howlin' for You - She's Long Gone - Black Mud - Ten Cent Pistol

Overall: 4/10 I'll never understand how The Black Keys got to be as big as they have gotten. I find this style of blues rock to be generic, bland and boring. Honestly, I don't really know anybody else who enjoys these guys either, they just kind of got forced upon all of us and now we have to hear Howlin' For You in every car commercial for the rest of eternity. Fav Song: Tighten Up

Super meh album to me because all of the songs are low-key the same. Once you've heard one, you've heard all. I listen les to the first three songs and skimmed through the rest and found myself to be bored. 2/5

nah

what an odd album. I couldn't decide if I liked it or if I found it intensely offputting, and I think the answer is both in equal measure. I ended up comparing it to a similar band I like unequivocally (The Heavy, and specifically their album The House That Dirt Built). Brothers felt like 15 tracks of the same song and I didn't react strongly to any of it. The first time I heard How You Like Me Now, I told everyone I knew they had to listen to it. I sent that Letterman performance out on every social media site I was using at the time. fuck man I FELT something. ran out and bought that CD the very next day. Every track on there felt like the band but none of it sounded the same, you know? Brothers just kind of existed. I enjoyed it well enough but my time with it begins and ends with this album review. it's a fine album. I should probably be giving it a three but comparison is here to steal joy, sorry

Not a huge fan of this genre

The Black Keys? I think The Blah Keys would be more accurate. The same old, run of the mill, bog standard, pretentious blues rock that you have heard a thousand times. Even the album cover is up its own backside. All the songs sound the same, nothing is memorable and it’s a drag to listen to. This was the first time I had ever heard this band and it will probably be the last.

Non mi ha detto niente

More less

this was fine enough but not good

boring

Lo elimine de mi galería hace poco, me gustaba cuando adolescente. Ya no.

Not for me.

If gentrification is to run its course unabated, you would find this album festering at the end of the road. I say this with the understanding that Danger Mouse had a hand in the production, whose work with Black Thought I am familiar with. His work is evident in the fact that this record is remotely listenable and inoffensive on the ears. It's unfortunate that his prowess wasn't able to do much besides polish a turd. Each song is passable, viewed individually. The arrangements are logical and easy-going, and there certainly is a white guy trying to croon over them. The problem arises when you group fifteen of these songs together, and not a single one stands out from the rest. Everything is so sterile, bland, and safe. I'm not one to be pretentious about my music; all I need is to feel something from it. The only thing I am feeling here is fear that a Ram 3500 equipped with a light rig from the pits of Hell will pull out, not in front of me, but behind me, and bear down on me with the illuminance of a million suns. Maybe he will tell me about his single digit financing, although to get that you've gotta go up on your trim level, of course. What exactly is this record supposed to do for me? If it's truck driving music, I'm picking better rock music; if I never heard this again, I would be happier for it.

Not a fan and I don’t believe this album belongs on this list.

I was initially irritated by the vocals of the first track but these switched for the next track. I was left with a kind of indie blues rock which was largely uninspiring. Not my cuppa overall.

I remember it wasnt that good and sounded bland

I like The Black Keys, I like their style and many songs of theirs I would recommend to others, so I was looking forward to dive into their discography. Unfortunately, besides a couple of songs, this album is not one of those I'd recommend. It's not that it's bad; it just feels like half of the album is missing: after "Howlin' for You" it gets forgettable, it gets repetitive, it loses the punch the first songs built up. Don't get me wrong, overall the album is not bad. It's definitely more of a background though: an enjoyable one, but still a background.

Sorry, this was pretty boring and making me want turn it off.

Fake Blues. Fake Rock. Fake Blues Rock? It's not musically awful but it sounds like an American advert / the better songs should be on a FIFA soundtrack. Fun in a pinch but not for a 15-song stretch. every song that followed the last felt so derivative of that last song

Tighten Up was on a FIFA soundtrack a decade plus ago so that was a nice nostalgia trip. Pretty bland though

smooth melodies with a lot of soul, ok for a spin or two but nothing i would long to relisten on my own.

Noisy

Not my shi

Waaayyyyy too long

First track vocal was absolutely horrendous, second track was rather lame and Im afraid that come this morning I cant really remember anything about it. Not good

It's alright. It deserves merit for coming from 2010 and not being so bad I have to turn it off - as it would seem based off other albums on here. It has a Fifa menu feel about it. It somewhat feels dated, and isn't a must listen for future generations, but there's worse out there.

Derivative, generic, boring blues rock pablum. Like Jet before them and Greta Van Fleet to come they're smack dab in the middle of the uncanny valley between homage and cover band. I listened to this on a walk and I forgot I was listening to something and completely tuned it out. Tighten Up is the one memorable track for me. Shouldn't be on the list.

2.5/5 I don't mind the black keys in small amounts, but 15 songs sort of dragged a little for me. There's no really bad songs and not any really great songs on this album. A nice middle of the road album.

Very well defined style, not what I dig the most.

So I've been hit with a string of complicated albums lately. Not challenging, exactly, but albums that are more than just the music on the page, so to speak. "Brothers" is 100% more than just what you're listening to here. It is impossible, in 2026, to hear The Black Keys and not immediately feel some deep urge to go buy a Ford truck. After years of watching sporting events that were jammed to the gills with hours of Bud Light and car commercials for the last 16 years, this sound is synonymous with selling a product. Is that ok? I mean - it severely limits my ability to hear this record and take it seriously in any artistic way. I don't believe anything this guy is saying - every line, every bass drum beat, every slinky guitar line is designed to strike a pose, of hip, white, urban guys who know enough about pre-WWII black urban music to be able to create a modern facsimile that is appealing to modern white males who buy razor blades and fitted white t-shirts. The groovy ness of some of these riffs is completely lost on me because of all the overhanging baggage. Also - I cannot believe that right now anyone needs to hear this record. It is a sound we are all painfully sick to death of. Just look at the ratings of "Brothers" over time on this website - it is just a sad downward slide. Therefore: TWO STARS

I struggled to connect with Brothers. There are individual elements which I could imagine being able to lose myself in a different setting (I quite like the vocals) but the songwriting is very boring and the further you get into the very long tracklist the more of an issue that becomes. I had to listen to it in two sittings because my wife asked if we could put something “more fun” on. Fair enough!

Black Keys reminds me of being 16 and getting lifts from my only mate who had a car, he was and still is a quiet and quite distant guy but i never saw him happier than when driving as a teenager playing the only two CDs he had in his car: this album and the one after it. It never did much for me then and still doesn’t but i’ve always understood the appeal and it’s by no means bad, high 2

Man. What a boring album. The Black Keys journey into overproduced indulgence could use a lot of trimming down and a lot more variety. It is easier to respect a dedication to minimalism if it produced something artistically brave. In their defense this might have been a fresh take on their own sound at the time, but it is now doomed to car commercial status. If all you do is midtempo pentatonic riffs you do not need 18 songs.

Херь

Harry asked me if American Idiot was the last massive rock album, and I agreed, but I forgot just how big The Black Keys were in 2011/2012. These songs were everywhere. The summer I graduated college, I drop the family plow truck everywhere. A '94 F-350 that got 7 miles to the gallon with no ac. I'd roll the windows down and listen to 104.1. Songs from this and El Camino were always on. I was stoked to revisit this one. Once, Everlasting Light kicked on, I was even more stoked. But this thing runs out of steam quick. It's too long. The entire back half is just mediocre blues tracks.

mostly inoffensive and boring. half the songs sound like they were written for licensing, though maybe that’s just cause I’ve heard these songs soundtrack commercials so many times since the album’s release. gimme Magic Potion over this any day.

I like to think that if I were Jack White, I’d be more flattered than peeved that these guys had so much success ripping off my worst music. But to be fair to Jack, these guys aren’t even wearing fedoras. Chelsea listened to The Black Keys a lot when we first got together, and I expected to recognize more than “Howlin’ for You,” but the rest is truly forgettable. 2.5

Not for me

mja een jaren 10 alt rock album. maar dat is het ook wel. beetje te zeikerig

Sounds like a Kia sorento ad

I don't like this one, feels generic. Album felt very long. Not for me.

It’s meh! Very 2010 Apple commercial music. Just not interesting to me. I can barely remember it honestly.

The most inoffensive treacly boring blues rock, as soon as a song ends I forget it. All the effects and fuzziness make it seem like it was recorded in a basement and I’m listening from the attic. His production and style gave way to the boring soft pop blues rock of the late 00’s and 2010’s Boo black keys 1.5 I do like his voice

It is average, which would suggest 3. But average in a list which is excludes other, far more interesting, albums deserves to be punished.

I just done get the hype. I’m partial to a more gritty, lo-fi garage rock sound at times but the songwriting needs to be bloody good to make up for the lack of production. This does not have it. Sloppy, amateurish drums with basic chord progressions on fuzzed out guitars that don’t really add anything interesting to the texture other than saturate the mid range and crowds everything else out.

Just a bit dull ?

Everlasting Light - 2/5 Next Girl - 1/5 Tighten Up - 4/5 Howlin' for You - 4/5 She's Long Gone - 3/5 Black Mud - 3/5 The Only One - 1/5 Too Afraid to Love You - 1/5 Ten Cent Pistol - 2/5 Sinister Kid - 2/5 The Go Getter - 3/5 I'm Not the One - 3/5 Unknown Brother - 2/5 Never Gonna Give You Up - 1/5 These Days - 1/5 Average score: 2.2/5 ⭐️⭐️ i wouldn't personally consider it bad or unlistenable, but this album definitely sounds like redundant, pedestrian blues rock made for hipsters living in gentrified neighborhoods. if you've heard one track by these guys, you've heard just about all they have to offer musically. i will gladly leave this in the 2010s where it belongs after today

Dieses Album ist ein Vibe, ein Bluesiger Hipster ass Vibe, der Vibe ist ganz cool aber mehr als Vibe gibt's nicht. Das ist Bluesrock aber ohne das was Bluesrock zu Bluesrock macht abgesehen vom Oberflächlichen Vibe. Ich habe ein Kommentar zu dem Album gesehen der es Beschreibt als ich es je könnte "This is the sonic equivalent of that wood textured paneling people would put up in their basements instead of drywall" Eigentlich ist das Album nicht so schlecht aber ich hasse alles wofür es steht

omfg i fucking hate this album i absolutely struggled through it!!! midfest galore

2,8/5

Just a bit vanilla. Kind of like a fifa sound track but not the good kind

This album was overproduced. Blues Music should have minimal production so the singer’s emotion can shine through.

The first album I heard of the Black Keys was “Attack & Release” from 2008 and already by then I wasn’t really convinced: too foreseeable melodies, too poppy, too boring. What followed didn’t ever interest me again.

Sounds like rocket league background music

I thought I'd never heard this before, turns out I have heard it in every car advert I've ever seen

I didn't love this. The "soulful-voiced white guy yelling bluesy-rock at me for an hour" genre isn't really for me. The songs were somewhere hummable and melodically interesting, but the sound really grated on my after a while. Two stars.

i never really liked the black keys for two reasons: the overplaying of lonely boy etc and the fact their signature sound just feels too samey across the songs i had heard. there was a happy place in my heart for "tighten up" bc it was on the fifa 11 soundtrack. i listened to that a lot while my brother played the ps3 and then just saved the playlist bc it was so full of fantastic indie / electric hits... but i think that nostalgia does a lot of heavy lifting. "The Only One" and "Unknown Brother" were distinct favourites. The Only sounds a lot like Jabaal by the Dur Dur Band (is it synth??idk.) The guitar riff in Unknown Brother is delicious and dirty and really reminds me of the riff in "Janitor " by Suburban Lawns. This definitely isn't, as a whole, my usual "sound," and my preexisting distaste for them has influenced my enjoyment of this album. Unfortunately, I think the things I loved most about the three songs mentioned was that they didn't sound like the black keys as they've always existed in my mind. Usually when I've up a few songs to a band I've previously find difficult to enjoy I enjoy they become a gateway into tuning into a bands particular "sound" but I get the feeling this wont be the case here (and I just don't feel curious, or interested, enough about the rest of their music to prove myself wrong.) Liking songs in spite of an artists sound isn't the greatest praise, but I will say I do appreciate the black keys more (or at least this album) than I did before. It's a lot more varied/complex than I ever gave them credit for, I would probably spin those three tracks on my own accord but I don't think I'd listen to the album again without hearing something from them that truly surprised me. 6/10

a very interesting genre of music! second half of the album made up for the first… it was okay.

Had enough of this stomp clap crap after 2 songs. This is just all the same song it did not have to be an hour.

meczacy rock, nope

Stale, dull, unoriginal. Marginally better than some of their other dross due to competent production and a touch more sonic variety but fundamentally it's music for boring dads.

not for me. reminded me someone i would hate

Not terrible. But not my jam either. 8/21 61.72%

saying this is car commercial music is a cliche but it really is car commercial music.

I am 10 years too old to enjoy this. When this came out I was beginning my real crotchety old man phase (at the ripe age of mid/late 20's) with respect to popular music. Anything that sounds like this just reminds me of handlebar mustache, whiskey out of a mason jar, suspenders wearing barn music . It smacks of try hard white people soul with little to no instrumental talent. The corrugated steel hut double tracked voice doesn't help either. It's not quite the "clap clap HEY" genre which is so much worse but it approaches it. Music for advertising mid size sub-luxury SUV's and male hygiene products. I hate this kind of music, but I realize that I am the exact opposite audience for it. I guess it's a unique sound, even if I dislike it.

It didn't feel very genuine to me like they're putting on a persona.

It was OK enough but by the fourth song I started getting tired of hearing more white boys cosplaying the blues. Oh, I'm sure these two mean well & have a real love for Howlin' Wolf or whoever but for my money it all sounded too cutesy and at times unauthentic. Some white boys can play the blues. Someone like Johnny Winter can play the blues damn near as good as any black man ever could and better than many well regarded black blues men, but The Black Keys are not even on the same ocean much less boat as Johnny Winter. Brothers is a pretty inoffensive album, it makes fine background music, I bet they sound great after a few beers but with so much great blues out there I have no idea why anyone would bother with Brothers.

Boring. It's loud and fuzzy, generic airy vocals, but feels too well mastered and controlled. let it loose a little and perhaps a better time would be had.

Blues-adjacent radio rock that was easier enough on the ears, but didn't stir anything inside me for the most part. They sound like a lot of bands I like. Being a two piece rock band who are influenced by blues music, the White Stripes are an easy comparison to make. They do not have the energy and passion that you can find on those albums. I can't imagine these guys geeking out over long-dead forgotten musicians like Jack White does. I can also hear some Queens Of The Age too, but lacking the swagger. The big single here is 'Howlin For You' and it is a decent stomper with a chorus you chant along with. I was disappointed to find out that 'Never Going To Give You Up' was not a Rick Astley cover, but instead a cover of an old soul song. These guys do soul pretty well, more so than the blues-driven sound that dominates the album. I never checked these guys when they were in their prime, but it doesn't appear that I missed out on a lot here.

I didn’t think I knew The Black Keys but I do…. Middle of the road….

Feels repetitive

Decent album. But gives Coloniser Blues. Not giving much and can see through the inauthenticity. Also sounded very White Stripes. Some good records in there - highlight “Next Girl” but didn’t feel much else. Would’ve given a 2.5/5

It sounds like a good uneventful album : nice voice, good music but nothing that makes me think "wow I needed to ear that before I die". Favorite Songs: Next Girl

boring

This was a bit of a comedown after the highs of 69 love songs. I can see that this waa definitely something i once loved and i enjoyed too afraid to love and probs some other songs as well but generally not my preferred genre or style of vocals.

The Black Keys are okay. They’re fine and they’re inoffensive and okay. I wish that they were more but they’re not and that’s okay. Guess it would suck to be have to say ‘we’re a two-piece, blues-garage band from America who became popular in the 00s and have a three-word, colour themed name’ and only be the second best band to meet that criteria.

favs: tighten up howlin’ for you the only one ten cent pistol im not the one rating 1.6/5

favs: she’s long gone, the only one, too afraid to love you, unknown brother, never gonna give you up

Not my favorite sound on an indie rock band, and I definitely don't really like some of the bands who have copied this sound later on. Even though it's a bit pretentious, I feel like this album sounds a bit too commercial for me to really enjoy this vibe. I do like how they were able to combine these sounds into a somewhat cohesive record, though. Favorites: Too Afraid to Love You, Ten Cent Pistol, The Go Getter