Carney Of The Black Keys Talks Too Much

(Photo via buzzbox.com)

Ohhhh MAN! Turnbull and Ram are gonna be pissed at me for writing this! Patrick Carney of the Black Keys talks waaaaayyyy too much...and all the shit that comes out of his mouth is negative. This is disappointing since they have been riding on a high over the last few years, which if your keeping score, is positive. I held back when he quoted off about not making their new album El Camino available on streaming services, which surely resulted in illegal downloads. But beefing with Nickleback for no apparent reason?

Carney of Black Keys Says Blakroc 2 is a "No-Go"

image via thatessencerare.wordpress.com

In a recent interview, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys stated that despite the trailer that surfaced back in September, a second Blakroc album showcasing the band's collaborations with various hip hop stars, will not see the light of day.

Here's a excerpt from the interview, in which Carney speaks somewhat candidly about the project's status and the band's relationship with executive producer Damon Dash:

From Pitchfork:

We decided to scrap the whole record because it wasn't as fun or as interesting as the first one. It felt gimmicky. But [executive producer] Damon Dash just had a trailer made and put it out. He's an interesting guy. There are really good things about him, and some things that aren't so good-- like releasing a trailer for a record that's not going to come out, thinking it will pressure us to release it. I think the Damon of today is a lot different than the Damon of ten years ago. He really does have an ear for hip-hop, and it's unfortunate that he's not able to exercise that more.

So it looks like at present time, Blakroc 2 won't be coming out, which is unfortunate because not only did I enjoy the first installment, but the trailer for the second release  (which I've now learned was actually made, like, two years ago!) got me excited to hear a fresh new set of collabos.

The first Blakroc wasn't the best album ever created, but myself and a lot of my peeps really dug it.  It breathed new life into the concept of a rap/rock album, and was best appreciated via the "webisodes" that were released in conjunction with the record:  the behind the scenes perspective gave the viewer a better understanding of the collaborative spirit of the recording sessions.

But never say "never" folks ..... Perhaps Blakroc 2 will surface.

Someday.

-Turnbull

Album Review: The Black Keys' "El Camino" Drives the Path to Ongoing Success

image via undertheradarmag.com

The Black Keys

El Camino

Nonesuch Records/Warner Music

Rating: 8.5/10

For me and many others, the name El Camino is synonymous with the Chevrolet model of half car, half truck from back in the day.  While growing up, our neighbour's daughter, Wendy, used to drive a suped-up black one with a red racing stripe down the side.  The thing was a beast...... Our entire block would shake whenever she turned the engine over!

However the actual term, roughly translated from Spanish, means the road or path.

Fittingly, The Black Keys - singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney - have travelled an interesting path to arrive at this particular point of their now ten-year career.  And the picture of an old beat up van on their new album's cover is similar to the one the duo travelled in during their early touring days, so their newest release is symbolic of a "this is how far we've come to get here" type vibe.