Two guys can sure make a lot of noise. That's the throughline when it comes to Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney's brotherhood in their long-running indie-garage-blues band the Black Keys — but that noise doesn't just come from their lungs and hands.
Sometimes, they're channeling the gut-bucket sound of hill country blues, like on their 2021 covers album Delta Kream. Other times, that noise has been refracted through the lens of outside producer Danger Mouse.
And on their new album, Ohio Players — out today — the once-musically insular Auerbach and Carney have opened up that noise to collaborators, like Noel Gallagher, Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, superproducer Greg Kurstin, and most prominently, Beck. (He co-wrote seven songs on the album; he sings lead on "Paper Crown," which also features Juicy J of Three Six Mafia.)
"We had this epiphany: 'We can call our friends to help us make music,'" Carney said in a statement — adding that this is especially rich, given they always co-write with others. "What we wanted to accomplish with this record was make something that was fun. And something that most bands 20 years into their career don't make, which is an approachable, fun record that is also cool."
As a ramp-up to Ohio Players, take a spin through 11 great songs from the four-time GRAMMY winners and 13-time nominees' catalog — whether you're a newbie or a longtime player.
"Girl is On My Mind" (Rubber Factory, 2004)
If you've heard the Black Keys' breakout hits like "Tighten Up," but prefer their sound a little rawer, all their early, pre-Attack and Release records should vibe with you. "Girl is On My Mind" has all their hallmarks — a sexy crawl, controlled-demolition drums, an abundant lo-fi buzz.
"I Got Mine" (Attack & Release, 2008)
Attack and Release is an album of two important Keys firsts: their first in a professional studio, and their first with Danger Mouse. With said six-time GRAMMY winner and 22-time nominee at the helm, their sound gains depth and resonance — yet remains gloriously stripped down.
"Tighten Up" (Brothers, 2010)
This is where the Black Keys zoomed up to the top, and the tired "car commercial rock" criticisms really got rolling. (Maybe so, but they do it better than anyone.) When Carney's four-on-the-floor rhythms collide with Auerbach's effortless melodic gifts, magic transpires.
"Howlin' For You" (Brothers)
The Keys' discography is something of one uninterrupted, glorious buzz — but at this point, they were teasing new colors out of it left and right. The fuzzy, buzzy "Howlin' For You" represents the flipside of Brothers — a more finicky, angular and wired feel.
"Lonely Boy" (El Camino, 2011)
After the smash success of Brothers, Auerbach and Carney returned with the even more brazen and brassy El Camino — a direct shot of Keysiness to the arm. "Am I born to bleed?
Any old time, you keep me waitin'," Auerbach pleads in this rollicking, uptempo favorite.
"Gold on the Ceiling" (El Camino, 2011)
Ain't it wild that for a decade, there were equal and opposite rock acts called the Black Keys and the White Stripes? While both have always been loath to be lumped in with each other — Auerbach and White have a history of bad blood — "Gold on the Ceiling" shows that Auerbach's serrated fuzz could occasionally rip a hole in the firmament, much like his sometime rival.
"Fever" (Turn Blue, 2014)
After the rush of riotous success surrounding Brothers and El Camino, Auerbach and Carney took a two-year cooldown to produce for other artists. The album they made upon their return was moodier and more midtempo: "Fever" is one laser-focused example of this approach.
"Lo/Hi" (Let's Rock, 2019)
As they approached 20 years as a band, the Black Keys relaxed into their own skin with Let's Rock, a happily middle-of-the-road offering with idiosyncratic charm galore. (The title is a reference to convicted murderer Edmund Zagorski's last words before getting the chair.) "Lo/Hi" is a deep, satisfying rumble from the core of their well-explored aural aesthetic.
"Shine a Little Light" (Let's Rock, 2019)
This equally appealing Let's Rock cut is commensurately dreamy and guttural, showing off their still-sharp dynamics over a gospel-like heft.
"Wild Child" (Dropout Boogie, 2022)
Dropout Boogie isn't altogether different from its predecessor — again, this is the Black Keys, and it's all a continuum. But the choruses are even sharper — and the underdog video, where Auerbach and Carney get verbally torn apart by public school staff, is just as memorable.
"Beautiful People (Stay High)" (Ohio Players, 2024)
A sizable leap forward from the already very good Let's Rock and Dropout Boogie, Ohio Players shows not only their range more than two decades in, but their chemistry with their old friends.
And it's all boiled into "Beautiful People (Stay High)" — which, admittedly, leans on something on a shopworn lyrical trope about getting high and never coming down. But it's impossible to quibble with that when that indelible chorus shakes the cheap seats.
It serves as a reminder that the Black Keys draw from a universal canon of blues, rock, psychedelia and much more — and it's less what they say than how they say it.