On ‘Ohio Gamers’ The Black Keys are caught between stations, attempting to tune into the freewheeling spirit of the hits that sculpted them whereas additionally sustaining a sound that has made them one of the crucial bankable, well-liked rock bands on the planet. It’s a noble experiment that ultimately serves to underline the truth that surrounding your self with new faces doesn’t imply you possibly can escape the one which stares again at you from the mirror each morning.
Right here, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney name on a cavalcade of huge identify mates — from Beck to Noel Gallagher and Juicy J — in pursuit of a unfastened, fun-forward sound that displays unfastened, fun-forward collaboration centred round in-person jams and “file hangs” the place outdated 45s would get a exercise. It’s a stunning thought on paper, however the actuality is extra nuanced.
Taking part in music along with your buddies isn’t a radical act – it’s what most musicians do and the bedrock of any scene in any metropolis the world over – so given the fanfare the listener may fairly count on ‘Ohio Gamers’ to hum alongside on the star-wattage of its visitor record. As an alternative, this can be a fairly good Black Keys file that mainly serves to underline how wedded they’re to the basics of their very own course of.
There are some nice songs right here and, maybe unsurprisingly, most of them trace on the potential present in expert musicians permitting outdoors voices to form their taking part in. ‘Paper Crown’ is a smashy Beck-ified curler accented by Juicy J’s verses, whereas ‘On the Sport’, a live-from-the-floor recording made with Gallagher in London, is a honeyed guitar jam. On the woozy ‘Sweet and Her Pals’, Memphis horrorcore nice Lil Noid slips in on the midpoint to lend it a dead-eyed coda that serves as one of many LP’s few real surprises.
The file’s title is pointed, referencing the Black Keys’ roots in Akron and, extra importantly, the legendary funk ensemble of the identical identify, who might need taken a run at ‘Stunning Individuals (Keep Excessive)’’s bassline with pyrotechnic outcomes. However in contrast to the Ohio Gamers’ kaleidoscopic palette, the place each instrument was given house to flex, the remedy right here is crunchy and maximalist.
It feels prefer it’s about impression over depth, tamping down flyaway parts right into a homogenised complete that extra carefully resembles final 12 months’s ‘Dropout Boogie’ than any of the seven inch singles that received an airing in the course of the writing course of. The Black Keys might need a killer file assortment however ‘Ohio Gamers’ is the work of a band who’re maybe too good at being themselves.
Particulars
- Launch date: April 5, 2024
- File label: Nonesuch Data
