The Black Keys, 'Brothers'

Release date: May 18, 2010
Record label: Nonesuch
Official Web site: http://www.theblackkeys.com/

The buzz: The gritty guitar/drums duo from Akron, Ohio returns with their first proper album since “Attack & Release,” their 2008 collaboration with Gnarls Barkley producer Danger Mouse. In the interim, they released a slew of side projects, including an album of collaborations with rappers (“Blakroc”), a solo LP from singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and the debut album from drummer Patrick Carney’s new band called, appropriately, Drummer. Slow down, fellas!

The verdict: All those outside projects seem to have recharged Carney and Auerbach’s creative batteries: The duo’s music remains as stark and bluesy as ever, but on “Brothers,” it’s bursting with intriguing new tones and textures. “Everlasting Light” and “Howlin’ for You” both feature stomping T. Rex backbeats and stinging fuzztone guitars; “Next Girl” rides some menacing (gasp!) bass as Auerbach trades swampy riffs with his own overdubs. There are even forays into British Invasion-style maximum R&B (the Danger Mouse-produced “Tighten Up”) and hazy, shuffling psych-rock (“The Go Getter,” on which Auerbach convincingly casts himself as a struggling L.A. hustler). The middle section of this 15-track set bogs down a bit, but overall, it’s the most sonically diverse album of the Black Keys’ career, and their most consistently engaging since 2004’s “Rubber Factory.”

Did you know? “Never Gonna Give You Up” is indeed a cover, but thankfully, not the one you’re probably thinking of. The original was a 1968 song by Chicago soul man Jerry Butler, not ‘80s punch line Rick Astley. It’s like a reverse Rickroll!