★★★★★
Tweet An Optical Illusion of Sound The Black Keys' newest album, Turn Blue, is an interesting listen, with eleven tracks that flow together cleanly and organically. However, while some songs are knock outs ("Gotta Get Away" is one), many of the songs on Turn Blue feel overworked. Turn Blue is much different from other Keys albums, and may not be the best album for newbies to introduce themselves to Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach. This one has a much harsher tone than some of their other work...
- www.mxdwn.com
2014-05-25
★★★★★
What do you do after you release an album as critically acclaimed and commercially successful as The Black Keys' last album, the breakout hit El Camino? Release an even better one that also sees the band return to their roots.
Turn Blue doesn't have a radio-ready hit like Lonely Boy or Gold on the Ceiling, yet the album is more solid across the board than its predecessor, with quality oozing out of all eleven tracks...
- www.beat.com.au
2014-05-19
★★★★★
The Black Keys are long past the time when they are going to catch anyone by surprise. Turn Blue marks the band's eighth studio album and the first since 2011's El Camino, an album full of more radio ready rock hits than nearly any in recent memory. This time around though, the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney seem content to let their record unfold more gradually. This is evident from the opening moments of the record...
- www.popmatters.com
2014-05-16
★★★★★
Having found themselves deemed as unexpected overnight successes thanks to their seventh album El Camino, the Black Keys now find themselves in the new position of having to consolidate their status or play fast and loose with stardom. Producer Dangermouse (aka Brian Burton) is back, suggesting a unwillingness to mess with the formula too much...
- www.state.ie
2014-06-10
★★★★★
Though the Black Keys' previous work with Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) on two full albums, 2008's Attack and Release and 2011's El Camino, delved into the psychedelic and gospel tones that the producer veers toward for rock records, a predominant adherence to a gritty, galloping pace revealed Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney still tightly clutching the reins. For Turn Blue, Burton leads the charge with his jumpy bass, dreamy synths and infectiously catchy choral hooks...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2014-05-15
★★★★★
6
Reviews
Release Date: May 13, 2014Label: Nonesuch
With a tribute EP to Junior Kimbrough and a Damon Dash-sponsored rap-rock album in their catalog, not to mention an armful of Grammys and a Twitter beef with Justin Bieber, the Black Keys have been the real thing, the fake thing, and everything in between. What they've never been, over the course of eight albums, is exceptional...
- www.spin.com
2014-05-15
★★★★★
The blues is like the mind - it has limitations, but within them, it's limitless. And while The Black Keys aren't a blues act, they are arguably the only American band that's finding major critical and commercial success with something approximating a blues-influenced classic rock formula. Like the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin, this Akron, Ohio, duo mines every nuance of the pentatonic scale, understanding that when applied correctly, it's a machine for sexy hits...
- thequietus.com
2014-05-15
★★★★★
Label:
Nonesuch
Release Date:
12/05/2014
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It's been three years since the last album from The Black Keys, the longest gap between records for the Akron, Ohio blues-rock duo, but there's certainly been plenty to keep frontman Dan Auerbach busy in the meantime. He's been involved in two divorces - his own, marked by a rather surreal battle for Bob Dylan's hair; and Jack White's...
- drownedinsound.com
2014-05-14
★★★★★
The Black Keys playfully announced their new album on boxer Mike Tyson's Twitter account and teased it with a video of a hypnotist played by an actor. But maybe that was all just to distract from the music, which is sub-par Black Keys. The band went into the studio with no songs and what they hashed out is often lightweight. They again enlisted Danger Mouse, who co-writes all 11 tracks but leavens most of them with excessive keyboards that cut against Dan Auerbach's guitar...
- www.bostonglobe.com
2014-05-14
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