The Keys have now officially graduated from
the laid-back "folk-blues" recording style, and have slung into the Top
40. From the start, this 38-minute, 11-jam collection doesn't catch on
to the brilliance of 2008's home run Brothers, but producer (du
jour) Danger Mouse has had a major pop influence on them. "Lonely Boy"
keeps on track with electro funk beats, fuzzy guitar licks and
spontaneous drumming (not to mention the hilarious video of the song),
though "Little Black Submarines" comes off as a Dylan-influenced,
folk-sounding piece that halfway erupts into a Zeppelin-influenced
ballad. (The words in each song make no sense though; the Keys
supposedly went to the studio sans lyrics and worked mainly on
instrumentation.) The catchy "Run Right Back" is a worthwhile listen
with its great riffs, sounding more like an outtake from the previous
album. "Hell of a Season" is too much like Vampire Weekend's Contra, or it sounds like every single garage band in Michigan. (And we don't need another one.) "Mind Eraser"
is the only song here that whiffs of blues familiarity; it brings us
back to the old days in 2000, when two guys were just recording in their
Akron, Ohio, garage, before becoming an overcommercialized pop band.
The dig-down-deep rhythm and murky vocals are a remembrance to all
things past and present. Think of this album as a friendly transition
between sounds, and a sort of "place-holder" of what's to come.-Originally published in the Detroit Metro Times on January 11th, 2012
Link- http://metrotimes.com/music/the-black-keys-el-camino-nonesuch-1.1255812
