REVIEW: THE BLACK KEYS - OHIO PLAYERS

4/5

The Big Lebowski 

Mark it as anything but zero! In their own lane, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, AKA, The Black Keys have been releasing a steady stream of albums for your Spotifys over the last half decade. Sitting right next to the 'Brothers'' best-of-the-best like 'Rubber Factory', 'Turn Blue' and 'El Camino'. There was 2019's 'Let's Rock', 'Delta Kream' (2021), 'Dropout Boogie' a year later, and now this twelfth bowl from the boys, 'Ohio Players', like the old soul group for your baker's dozen. Classic Americana beauty like the partner playing in front of you, down the waxed aisle, that leads to a set of pins and better Spotify bowling animations than the ones you used to see above you on the screen where you recorded your score. It's a perfect one for these players from Ohio, not to mention one of the greatest acts of American music and modern and all times. The Easy Eye Sound that's also candy from baby on the ears is a Nonesuch Record, proceeded perfectly by the sweet singles 'Beautiful People (Stay High)' and the latest 'This Is Nowhere'. Not to mention creative and classic collaborations with Lil' Noid ('Candy and Her Friends'), and Beck (who we are lucky enough to see perform an acoustic set in Roppongi, Tokyo tonight) and Juicy J (the anything but hollow 'Paper Crown'). And an absolutely amazing cover of William Bell's 1968 sobering soul sensation standard, 'I Forgot To Be Your Lover'.

Don't you...forget about this in beautiful black and white from a Nashville studio, a week after Beyoncé went country for 'Cowboy Carter'. These rock and roll Gods on their own hall of fame have affirmations for the game ('On The Game') like 'Only Love Matters'. The dynamic duo going 44:04 like Jay-Z with super-producer Dan The Automater next to Auerbach and Carney and album artwork the late 90s or Blink-182 would be proud of. After the opening 'Nowhere' they yearn for the blues of 'Don't Let Me Go', singing, "On a desert road, with no way home/I was lost and alone now baby/I was feelin' adrift, behind the window tint/And the pouring rain couldn't save me." Guttural guitars barrel through on 'Please Me ('Till I'm Satisfied)' ("hey now girl, I know you understand/I'm satisfied to be your loving man/Everybody said you'll bring me to my knees/But we both know that we was born to be/Please, please, please me till I'm satisfied/Some got love that creeps away in the night/Some take hold of love they know ain't right/I got loving, keeps my soul so true/You got the loving that I can't refuse") beautifully before you are. Then 'You'll Pay' does the same to the piper with promises of, "Open up your heart and let me in/I loved you from the start, my only friend, ooh lord/I know that when you look my way, there's gonna be a price to pay." Cash out.

Herringbone cold, the third act of this movie really hits. Tying it together like the room in a beautiful bow. "I wanna talk to the silver sun/Walk through the jungle with a candy gun/Write my name up on the clouds/Smoke all day, never comin' down," the automatic Dan sings on 'Live 'Till I Die', and you should take it as read that Auerbach intends to do exactly that. Drawing up a winning hand for 'Read 'Em And Weep'. Wearing his heart on his sleeve and putting all his cards on the table, dealing, "Read 'em and weep, revenge is sweet/The secrets you keep, they bury you deep/Deeper than sleep, read 'em and weep/It's only right to wonder, what sort of spell I'm under/Your cheating game is an art/You know it's true, you can't undo what's done in the dark." Growing a 'Fever Tree' with a devil's haircut in your mind, The brilliant Beck, who serves as another producer for the record, is back for background vocals like playing Japan's capital twice in a night this Saturday. Culminating in the classic closer 'Every Time You Leave', which is what happens when you forget to be a lover one too many times. Used to get it in Ohio like Cam'ron 'till they "Tried living without you, not thinking about you/Why wouldn't you want to want me to?/One day I'll be crying, till the days when I'm dying/Next time I'll be trying to look for you/Every time you leave me, I know I'm gonna lose my ways/If you don't believe me, look at how I live today." These are just songs in the keys of life that keep rolling until it all fades to black. Play on player. Not bad for just two kids from Akron. Let's get it, Ohio! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Beautiful People (Stay High)', 'Paper Crown (Feat. Beck & Juicy J)', 'I Forgot To Be Your Lover'.