The Black Keys - Chulahoma CD

For this disc, Akron, Ohio duo The Black Keys have brought forth an EP of six songs by Junior Kimbrough. This is no mere dalliance; the late elder Mississippi blues musician was a powerful influence on guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. Their three previous albums, full of dusty grooves and simple but impassioned dynamics, would have found strong rapport with Kimbrough, who unfortunately died before they could ever meet. However, his widow, Mildred gives her passionate endorsement for these performances in the form of a short phone message that appears at the end of the disc. Among the highpoints is "Meet Me in the City," which positively shimmers as the plaintive vocal soars over a virato-ed guitar. The Black Keys, besides paying their heartfelt respects, also demonstrate the breadth and durability of Kimbrough's music.

Chulahoma is a stopgap EP from the Black Keys, a collection of six covers of songs by cult bluesman Junior Kimbrough. Considering that this is the first time the blues-rock guitar-n-drums duo has devoted an album to nothing but straight-ahead blues songs, it wound seem logical that Chulahoma would be the bluesiest recording in their catalog, but the Black Keys aren't that simple. The six songs on this 30-minute EP are hardly replications of Kimbrough's gritty originals, nor do they have the dirty, punch-to-the-gut feel of any of the duo's three proper albums. Instead, this is the weirdest set of music the band has done to date, a trippy, murky excursion into territory that floats somewhere between the primal urgency of the duo's best work and the dark, moody psychedelia of late-'60s blues-rock. Take "Have Mercy on Me" -- its winding, narcotic blues groove settles into a bed of droning organ and bongos, but the interplay between guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney prevents it from sounding as affected as psychedelia, while infusing it with a real sense of danger. That unsettling undercurrent flows throughout this EP, and it makes an album that's ideal for pitch-black nights, where the music can worm its way into your imagination and then run wild.

1. Keep Your Hands Off Her mp3
2. Have Mercy On Me mp3
3. Work Me mp3
4. Meet Me In The City mp3
5. Nobody But You mp3
6. My Mind is Ramblin' mp3
7. untitled track
Released May 2006