u/Razzle_Dazzle08

It almost sounds like a recording of industrial equipment in an old abandoned factory. I cannot for the life of me find any information on it, and I'd love to know. I think "The Old Horizon" is the most unsettling song I've ever heard, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when that sound starts really grating further into the song and I feel like I should run. It feels wrong, like whatever is making that noise is doing something absolutely horrible.

Even the piano doesn't quite sound right, almost like it's a little bit out of tune. Jason is the master of creating atmosphere, and I think this song might be him at his absolute best in terms of atmosphere building.

Yasou!

I am a musician from Australia with a Greek mother. Next year, I will be in Thessaloniki with her; I would love nothing more than to play one show in Greece for her.

I was wondering if anybody could give me some insight into how possible that would be. I am talking a simple 30 minute acoustic guitar set at a bar or cafe without pay. I just want to get on a stage, however small, in Greece to make my mum proud.

My Greek is unfortunately far from fluent; I do know a few songs in Greek, but they are all old songs I learned for my grandparents, like Dirlada or Ta Tria Adelfia (Treis Manges Eimaste). Would a bar in Thessaloniki be receptive to any songs in English? It would likely be a mixed set.

efharisto :)

In two words: it’s ok.

And it kills me to say it. The Black Keys are and always will be my favourite band of all time, and as someone who prefers their earlier work I was so hyped for this one after two awesome lead singles, and I feel so privileged that 25 years later I still get to enjoy new albums by my favourite band and that they still tour. But it hasn’t landed for me.

The negatives:

The worst issue here is that Pat really, really drags this album down for me. We all know he’s never been an elite drummer but this is unforgivable from him. It’s the same fills and drum patterns he’s used a million times, it was really, really distracting.

Dan is hard to understand at times, he is at times really pushing his voice into a range that doesn’t work for him, especially at this stage of his career. I also wasn’t blown away by his guitar work on this album when he really could have ripped hard on an album like this which was marketed as their grittiest and loosest work since debut (which they also need to stop doing because it’s plain disrespectful to albums like Thickfreakness and Rubber Factory). I don’t know why he’s scared to just unleash, we all know he can like on “Little Black Submarines” and “Weight of Love”.

A lot of these songs never really pick up when you feel like they should. And I know the boys didn’t write them, but I dunno man, half of this album is genuinely background music, it doesn’t make me feel anything at all and the album just meanders at times.

The production is also lacking; I don’t understand how Dan is such a good producer for other bands but struggles with the Keys. The drums are always compressed way too much and the vocals haven’t been mixed well since “Let’s Rock” among other things.

The positives:

When it’s good, it’s really good. “She Does It Right”, “Fireman Ring the Bell” and the lead singles are awesome listening. The boys still have the juice. I also enjoyed this as a follow up to what was essentially two party concept albums; they can bounce from genre to genre and just have a blast doing it.

I would like to see a few years between now and their next album, just give it some time to really marinate and get something great. Their best is still within reach; “Down To Nothing” came out last year and is one of their very best songs, but right now it seems like we’re getting some gems in albums with a few throwaways (think “Man on a Mission” on the same album as “The Night Before”) when instead we could have an album of pure bangers if they just have some more patience.

Overall:

Delta Kream was a much, much better version of this, it felt so smooth and flowed so well, and I don’t ever see myself coming back to this album as a whole, which is unfortunate because album listening is the best way to do it and I put on a Keys album daily, but this one is never getting another spin except to see if it grows on me.

If 10/10 is Rubber Factory, 5/10 is No Rain, No Flowers and 1/10 is Ohio Players, then Peaches! gets a 3/10 from me, but only because their discography is insanely stacked and mostly no skips.