Music at Work #3
December 7, 2011 | Posted by Cam Hoff
It's that time again for my monthly feature on the latest and greatest music that's keeping our feet tapping while we work here at Flipp World Headquarters. This time I've selected two highly anticipated albums that were both released this week: The Black Keys follow-up to their Grammy-winning album, Brothers, and the new concept album from the greatest band in late night, The Roots.
The Black Keys - El Camino
It's never easy for a band to follow up what's been a critical and popular breakthrough, but that's the case for the Black Keys as they wasted no time in releasing this new album. Upon the first few listens what strikes me here is a subtle sonic shift for the band, going from what's been a soul/blues rock sound to more of a 70's rock vibe here. With that shift comes all the good and bad that one would associate with that era of "classic rock".
The opening single "Lonely Boy" is catchy enough but I tire easily of the group female backing vocals featured all too much throughout the track and the album altogether (bad call Danger Mouse!). The best track, and perhaps the only one I really love on this album is "Little Black Submarines" a Zeppelin-like song that starts out slow and winding before erupting into the roaring guitar solos that are a trademark of the band's live show. All that goodwill is later lost with what's probably my least favourite Keys song ever, "Sister", with its 80's melody line that I'd describe as borderline cheesy. Overall you can't deny Dan Auerbach's vocals, which rise above the questionable production choices and some interesting writing on this album.
If you're a old Black Keys fan, you'll want to pick this one up to round out the collection, but if Brothers was your introduction to the band I'd recommend digging into the back-collection where you'll find a better (rawer) version of the band spanning the last decade. This is a Black Keys album my Dad might love, but it will likely take some time to grow on me.
The Roots - Undun
The tenth studio album from “The Greatest Band in Late Night” is billed as a concept album, the death to life story of a drug pusher, Redford Stephens. But truth be told I didn`t really follow the narrative much throughout this album. And is it really pushing any conceptual boundaries for a hip hop outfit to rhyme about the life and death of a dope dealer? Petty complaints aside, this album stands as a fairly good collection of songs from one of the best bands in the business.
The first stand out track is “Kool On” with an alternating vocal/guitar loop that set my head bobbing. “The Other Side” and “Stomp” follow this and form the core of the album. That strong core trio is unfortunately followed up with the weakest song on the album “Lighthouse”, which is hobbled by a cheesy light FM chorus.
Despite a few misteps the actual songs here are quite good, if not a bit sparse, as many of the album's 14 tracks are composed of cinematic intros and a four part outro padding out the concept. The remaining songs are definitely worth checking out if you're a hip hop fan. Though it falls somewhat short of the conceptual masterpiece it set out to be, it is another fine offering from one of the most important groups in the genre. I just wish there was a bit more here to chew on.
Your 2001 Favourites
We've now reached that time of year where the "Best of" lists inevitably start popping up. Since we always love discovering new tunes to add to our office Jukebox, be sure to let us know some of your favourite albums from the past year. I'm sure we missed a few hot records while we had our heads down cranking out the work this fall.