The Black Keys came together in Akron Ohio in 2001, and consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar & vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). Rubber factory is their third studio album and was released in 2004. The name of the album comes from where the album was actually recorded. The basement studio that the band had used to record their two previous albums had been sold by the landlord. So the band made a makeshift studio inside an old tire-manufacturing plant. Five months later the band was done recording and Rubber Factory was born. The album would eventually make it to number 143 on the Billboard 200 and was dubbed one of the best albums of the year by publications like Entertainment Weekly and The New Yorker.
If there is one thing The Black Keys know how to do, it's make blues infused rock music. Rubber Factory offers a more raw version of what makes them popular today. This was the last album that they produced by themselves before they brought producer Danger Mouse on board to help out. I'm not trying to knock Danger Mouse, he clearly knew what he was doing. But in my opinion, unpolished rock music is usually the best rock music. Black Keys music is still Black Keys music regardless of who produces the album, and this one definatly rocks. What sells the album for me is that Rubber Factory has a more gritty lo-fi sound that fits The Black Keys style. Hopefully they never lose that ability to play to raw, powerful rock.
Now usually before I write a review, I'll hop online to see what other people have written about the album. This is literally the only album where I've had to try and dig to find something negative about the album. The closest thing I could find was from Rolling Stone where they said that the album "aspires to Hendrix in his prime and narrowly misses". That's not really a criticism, considering most of the planet considers Hendrix one of the best guitar players that ever lived.
So really, at this point I think it's easier for me to give you a few of the better songs on an album that are amazing. "10AM Automatic", "The Desperate Man", "Girl Is On My Mind", "The Lengths", "Grown So Ugly", "Keep Me" and "Till I Get My Way" are all phenomenal songs and make up half the album. I decided to upload "Girl Is On My Mind" because it's a more methodical blues inspired song, and is generally a solid song. It's also what I would consider a half way mark in quality on the album. Meaning that on an album that has twelve songs on it, it sits around five or six on a list of my favourite tracks.
I would probably give the album somewhere between 85-90/100. The Black Keys are a wonderful duo that have really taken up the mantle of gritty garage rock and seem to be having fun with it. More proof of the quality of the album is that in May 2012 the album re-entered the Billboard 200. This time it did better than the original release and reached number 131. Think about that for a second. Eight years after it's original release, it charts twelve spots higher. That's ridiculous.
Buy it here
http://www.amazon.ca/Rubber-Factory-Black-Keys/dp/B0002O06N0
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/rubber-factory/id294956425
If there is one thing The Black Keys know how to do, it's make blues infused rock music. Rubber Factory offers a more raw version of what makes them popular today. This was the last album that they produced by themselves before they brought producer Danger Mouse on board to help out. I'm not trying to knock Danger Mouse, he clearly knew what he was doing. But in my opinion, unpolished rock music is usually the best rock music. Black Keys music is still Black Keys music regardless of who produces the album, and this one definatly rocks. What sells the album for me is that Rubber Factory has a more gritty lo-fi sound that fits The Black Keys style. Hopefully they never lose that ability to play to raw, powerful rock.
Now usually before I write a review, I'll hop online to see what other people have written about the album. This is literally the only album where I've had to try and dig to find something negative about the album. The closest thing I could find was from Rolling Stone where they said that the album "aspires to Hendrix in his prime and narrowly misses". That's not really a criticism, considering most of the planet considers Hendrix one of the best guitar players that ever lived.
So really, at this point I think it's easier for me to give you a few of the better songs on an album that are amazing. "10AM Automatic", "The Desperate Man", "Girl Is On My Mind", "The Lengths", "Grown So Ugly", "Keep Me" and "Till I Get My Way" are all phenomenal songs and make up half the album. I decided to upload "Girl Is On My Mind" because it's a more methodical blues inspired song, and is generally a solid song. It's also what I would consider a half way mark in quality on the album. Meaning that on an album that has twelve songs on it, it sits around five or six on a list of my favourite tracks.
I would probably give the album somewhere between 85-90/100. The Black Keys are a wonderful duo that have really taken up the mantle of gritty garage rock and seem to be having fun with it. More proof of the quality of the album is that in May 2012 the album re-entered the Billboard 200. This time it did better than the original release and reached number 131. Think about that for a second. Eight years after it's original release, it charts twelve spots higher. That's ridiculous.
Buy it here
http://www.amazon.ca/Rubber-Factory-Black-Keys/dp/B0002O06N0
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/rubber-factory/id294956425
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