The Black Keys, two gawky indie archetypes from rust belt Ohio, have been investigating gutbucket blues to mostly memorable effect for the best part of five years now.
This, their fourth album, in no way marks a forward step. Rather, Magic Potion reiterates, with style and no little fervor, exactly why the Akron duo of Dan Audeback (guitar) and Patrick Carney (drums) should have been on your playlist all along.
Kicking off with the Hendrix-tinged lo-fi jam of ‘Just Got To Be’, the record offers a frazzled, wrenching vision of the blues. Recorded on a micro-budget, Magic Potion actually gains in atmosphere from its primitive origins; on the early standout ‘You’re The One’, Audeback sounds as though he is delivering his vocal screech from inside a lead coffin (the sessions actually took place in Carney’s basement)
Ultimately of course, Magic Potion is the sound of a single idea being battered into a succession of unwieldy shapes. Certainly, there is none of the conceptual chicanery that makes The White Stripes – with whom Audeback and Carney clearly share a connection – so fascinating.
Still, at full tilt The Black Keys get their groove on to an awesomely freaky degree. Indie rock for the groin as much as for the brain, Magic Potion weaves a dark and potent spell.