The Black Keys previewed

The Black Keys, Dr. Dog*
Vic Theatre, Chicago
November 24 and 25, 2006

Pretty much everyone dismissed guitar-and-drum duos who sprang up in the early 2000s as fads. After The White Stripes stormed MTV, it seemed for awhile all there was to write about were The Kills, Mates Of State (actually organ and drums), The Like Young, and these here Black Keys.

Duos where the guitarist noodles ’70s blues rock riffs are dime-a-dozen in suburban basements, most of whom are stuck on I-IV-V chord patterns so they can take advantage of the open E and A strings for solos. The Black Keys (singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney) learned to get by on playing almost as loudly and ferociously as they could. Auerbach always sounded as if he overstudied rock festival bootlegs for some of his meandering, but backed his band’s first three albums and an EP with taut, sharp playing.

The fourth album, Magic Potion, eases off the gas a little too much. Auerbach and Carney could slop their way through only so many records before they wore on us, but the approach to this new one is a little too casual. Save bashers like “Modern Times” and the heavily reverbed “Strange Desire,” the Potion is draining. Auerbach simply isn’t an interesting enough guitarist to keep fueling blues lick after blues lick, and runs dangerously close to ripping off “Heartbreaker” on “Just A Little Heat.” When you’ve dug through the Zep catolog so much you’re mining perennial radio staples, the tide has turned against you.

— Kevin Keegan

Takers And Leavers (Park The Van) finds Dr. Dog keeping the healthy mentality everything the ’60s had to offer was good. This EP follows the acclaimed Easy Beat and contains four exclusive songs and two cuts, “Ain’t It Strange” and “Goner,” from the band’s forthcoming, yet still untitled full-length album. “I’ve Just Got To Tell You” and “California” are as cutesy as they are intelligent. Yes, Dr. Dog can write a pop song! However, it’s “Die, Die, Die,” with its sparse percussion, organ backing, and bluesy slide guitar, that begs for the most attention. When singer Toby Leaman croons, “I don’t want to die in your arms, I just want to die,” it’s as if you’d discovered an ancient, unreleased Rolling Stones track. At times Dr. Dog sounds way too much like something your dad would like, but there was a reason you raided his vinyl collection all those years ago. It was good stuff.

— Joe Simek

*Saturday the 25th only. Patrick Sweaney opens Friday’s show.

Click here to download Dr. Dog’s “Ain’t It Strange.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly