The Black Keys

The Black Keys are an American blues-rock or garage rock band. There are only two members in the band: vocalist and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer and producer Patrick Carney. Nevertheless, the two musicians manage to create really bright and massive sound. The band was formed in 2001 and at that stage The Black Keys were performing in the underground scene of Akron. Their debut album The Big Come Up was released in 2002 and turned out to be successful. It is worth mentioning that all the songs were recorded in Patrick Carney's basement on the old recorder from the 80's. The second album Thickfreakness was issued in 2003 and it was recorded in the same way. Composition Set You Free from Thickfreakness was used in the movie School of Rock with Jack Black and in 2009 that song was included into the soundtrack of a film I Love You, Man.

Dan and Patrick recorded their third album in an abandoned factory in early 2004, and the record was given quite the logical title: Rubber Factory. Due to Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory The Black Keys gained popularity and they opened for such bands as Pearl Jam, Radiohead and Sleater-Kinney. In 2005 the band released their first live album titled Live, which had been recorded at The Metro Theatre in Sidney. In the next year The Black Keys issued another live album Live in Austin, TX (2006), but the material for that album had been recorded in 2003. In 2006 the band’s discography was enlarged by the fourth album Magic Potion, recorded on Nonesuch Records. Again the songs of the duo were very called-for: composition Just Got To Be was used in the game NHL 08, and later it was included into the movie Zombieland soundtrack.

The fifth album Attack & Release was issued in 2008, and Rolling Stone named the song I Got Mine the 23rd best song in the list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. The same year The Black Keys released another live album Live at the Crystal Ballroom, recorded in Portland. In 2010 The Black Keys released their new studio work titled Brothers. Traditionally, the musicians let the fans enjoy the massive sound. Dan and Patrick are not afraid of experiments with the sound and sometimes their records remind of lo-fi. During the era of digital sound effects and editing it is easy to achieve extremely clean sound. However the Black Keys are faithful to their style, and their music is bright and natural. And that is exactly what the fans of the band love most of all.