The Black Keys Pictures

Interns’ Picks: Top Albums and Singles of 2008

You’ve read Rolling Stone’s lists of the top albums and singles of the year — but how did the folks who work at RS rank their personal favorites? Here’s how our army of interns ranked the year’s best: Albums of the Year Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes The Black Keys - Attack & Release Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend Beck - Modern Guilt Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Conor Oberst My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges MGMT - Oracular Spectacular Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends The Hold Steady - Stay Positive Portishead - Third Singles of the Year Fleet Foxes - “White Winter Hymnal” Santogold - “LES Artists” Cat Power - “I Believe In Your” The Black Keys - “Strange Times” Kings of Leon - “Sex on Fire” Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - “Souled Out!!!” Kanye West - “Heartless” Jenny Lewis - “Acid Tongue” Bon Iver - “Skinny Love” Britney Spears - “Womanizer”

Published: 2008-12-24 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

The Roots Recruit TV on the Radio, Public Enemy, Santigold for Philadelphia Picnic

Photo: Fusco/Getty This morning Billboard broke the news that The Roots will take a time out from serving as Jimmy Fallon’s house band when the hip-hop collective stage the second annual Roots’ Picnic on June 6th at their Philadelphia hometown’s Liberty Pier. Joining the Roots, who will play both the day’s opening and closing sets, are TV on the Radio, Public Enemy, the Black Keys and a fellow Philly native, Santigold. As if the Roots weren’t busy enough, they’ll also serve as Public Enemy’s backing band when the rappers perform their It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back in its entirety, marking the first time a live band has backed Public Enemy for the album. Also participating in the festivities: The Pipes featuring Zoe Kravitz, Busdriver and — spinning between sets — DJ Jazzy Jeff of Fresh Prince fame as well as DJ Cash Money. On the second stage, the City of Brotherly Love will get performances by Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Back to Basics and more. Overall, this is the best thing to ever happen to Philadelphia, better than the Liberty Bell, the cheesesteak and the Phillies’ World Series win last year. If you can’t wait until June to catch Public Enemy and the Roots in action, Chuck D and Flavor Flav will be the musical guests on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this coming Monday, March 16th. Rock Daily recently talked to the Roots while the band rehearsed upwards of 200 songs in preparation for their nightly gig as Fallon’s house band. For much more from ?uestlove and the rest of the crew, check out our exclusive behind-the-scenes video here: Up Past Midnight With The Roots: Hanging With Jimmy Fallon’s New House Band

Published: 2009-03-13 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

New Music Report: Van Morrison, Dan Auerbach, Plus Top Stories

This week’s news and reviews report has a very special guest: Metal kings Mastodon stopped by the Rolling Stone office last week to offer up their Grammy predictions, insisting that Robert Plant & Alison Krauss should win the Record of the Year award for “Please Read the Letter” if only because the Led Zeppelin frontman has “loose leaf papers flying around his home, desperately in need of a paper weight.” The band also talked about their notorious walk down the Grammy red carpet two years ago, when Brooke Hogan gave Mastodon the distinction of being the “Worst Dressed.” Check out footage of Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor’s interview, above. RollingStone.com deputy editor Caryn Ganz also breaks down the Grammys, where Mastodon’s prognosticating came true as Robert Plant & Alison Krauss cleaned house by winning a best-in-show five awards, including the prestigious Album of the Year for their Raising Sand. Lil Wayne took home four awards, including Best Rap Album for Tha Carter III, while Chris Martin and the rest of Coldplay secured three trophies of their own, including Best Rock Album for Viva La Vida. All three artists also performed at the ceremony, along with Radiohead, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, the Jonas Brothers and many more. We also talk shop about some of this week’s biggest releases: Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the iconic 1968 LP that Rolling Stone says takes on a more bluesy identity when it was performed in its entirety in 2008. Plus, a look at Dan Auerbach’s Keep It Hid, the first solo album from the Black Keys’ frontman. >>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Published: 2009-02-11 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Videos, New Music Report

The Raconteurs, Bob Dylan Highlight New American Music Union in Pittsburgh

Even before he took the stage to close out the inaugural New American Music Union festival, Bob Dylan cast an exceptionally large shadow over the proceedings. The fest, organized by American Eagle and presented around the corner from their corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, featured an eclectic lineup whose musical DNA could all be traced back to the most American of genres: the blues. It was in the Roots’ hard-times funk and the Black Keys’ garage noise on Saturday night and in the barroom soul of Spoon, the space-hop of Gnarls Barkley and the muscular arena thump of the Raconteurs on Sunday. Dylan provided the first-person account of the early blues — a generation-bridging link to the past. Saturday’s highlights included Spoon’s set, where Britt Daniel crooned and spat over his band’s horn-soaked grooves on “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb,” “Don’t Make Me a Target” and the always-excellent “I Turn My Camera On.” The Raconteurs’ extended jams on “Rich Kid Blues,” “Blue Veins” and “Top Yourself” were big enough to fill stadiums, and Jack White bellowed and strutted like a truly killer frontman. Dylan focused mostly on more recent material but dropped in stripped-down variations of some of his classics like “Tangled Up in Blue” and the festival-closing “Like a Rolling Stone.” Rarely picking up a guitar (he mostly played keys) and constantly making jokes to himself, Dylan proved that he’s the best kind of old bluesman: a knowing outlaw with a never-ending bag of tricks. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2008-08-11 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Festivals

SXSW Day Three Wrap-Up: N.E.R.D., The Black Keys, Dizzee Rascal, Does It Offend You, Yeah?

Follow all of Rolling Stone’s ongoing SXSW coverage — photos, video, interviews and live reports — here. It was a surprisingly scorching afternoon in Austin on Friday, but the weather didn’t explain the high number of scantily clad women packed into Stubb’s well after the sun went down to check out N.E.R.D.’s show. Pharrell Williams and Co. took over the outdoor venue with a set that featured a handful of songs from their forthcoming Seeing Sounds and all of the band’s past singles (save “Provider”). The two drum kits — tandem drum solos! — added a large dose of power, and Williams just could not stop darting around the stage. The atmosphere was like an aggressive rock show, complete with guitar solos and Williams calling for mosh pits. The pits may not have materialized, but muthafuckin’ noise was made, hands were waved in the air, and caring, in that respect, was at a minimum. New track “Everyone Nose” manages to make “All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom” a viable chorus, and closer “She Wants to Move” was a strong reminder that “Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride” remains a fantastic lyric. A few hours earlier at the same venue, the Cribs showed signs of shaking off the Strokes comparisons, adding a ferocious attack to older tunes like “Mirror Kissers” and newer ones like “Mens Needs, Womens Needs,” during a short set that was both lean and loose. The Kings of Leon’s Nathan Folowill came to check out MGMT’s extremely well-attended gig, but while the Brooklyn band were stretching out their psych-pop tunes in jammier directions he was raving about the Panics, an Aussie act he’d seen the day prior. “You know how normally when you hear a band you can list the bands that influenced them or that they ripped off straight away?” he asked. “We couldn’t do it for them,

Published: 2008-03-15 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, SXSW

Smoking Section: Mark Ronson, Rod Stewart, the Grammys

Two days before he took home three Grammys, including Producer of the Year, Mark Ronson nailed what makes the awards show so boring. “They don’t serve booze in the Staples Center,” he explained from a couch in L.A.’s Roosevelt Hotel, sipping vodka. “At those awards things in Europe, they encourage you to get tanked.” Exactly! But at least the stars have those Grammy parties to get lubed up. Ronson threw a bash of his own, featuring hot protégés like Washington, D.C., rapper Wale and Brooklyn’s Santogold. While Ronson shook up the world last year with his throwback Motown sound, 2008 will see him parlay his love for the Band and Traffic, beginning with an album by Australian soul singer Daniel Merriweather. He also told us he was taking a page from Justin Timberlake’s book: being a nice boy and taking his mom to the Grammys. “I could get caught in a hotel room with Gary Coleman, four hookers and an ounce of blow,” he said, “but since I brought my mom . . . ” Touché! * * * * The following night, Ronson recovered from his hangover to swipe Slash’s empty pack of Gitanes cigarettes at Clive Davis’ ridiculous throwdown at the Beverly Hilton. Foo Fighters kicked off that jam with a version of “The Pretender” that rattled the silverware, and we were stoked to see our old pal Rod Stewart. “I want to make a blues record,” he whispered to us. “You know, Muddy Waters, the old stuff, and I want to be backed by the Black Keys. What do you think about that?” Hell, yeah! “Do you think they know who I am?” Rod asked, so we checked with Keys drummer Patrick Carney. “We just Googled him, so now we do,” Carney told us. “We’re interested as long as we don’t have to wear suits.” Done! * * * * Finally, the Grammys rolled around. Aside from Kanye hooking up with Daft Punk for “Stronger” and

Published: 2008-03-03 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Smoking Section, Grammy Awards

In the Studio: The Black Keys

Suma studios in rural northeast Ohio has an amazing history: In its 1970s heyday, it was the birthplace of both Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” and Pere Ubu’s Dub Housing. More recently, Akron locals the Black Keys settled down there with Gnarls Barkley’s Danger Mouse — the first outside producer that the avant-blues duo has ever worked with. In the cavernous main room, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney plunks away at a bass while singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach vamps on an electric piano. As the pair lock into an awkward waltz-time figure, Danger Mouse (real name Brian Burton) watches from the control room. “Keep playing it slow, then we’ll reverse it and speed it up,” Danger calls through the control-room microphone. The thus-twisted track is played back; Auerbach bellows, “When you work the streets, darlin’/Make sure your sneaker laces, they get tied” — and suddenly a song appears from what seemed like drowsy noodling. In early 2007, Danger Mouse began work on a comeback album by rock & roll pioneer Ike Turner. Danger enticed the Keys (”One of my favorite bands,” he says) to write some songs for the project. The Keys turned in demos for Turner to learn, but when sessions bogged down, the project was temporarily shelved. The band eventually decided to make the tunes the heart of its fifth album, and Danger Mouse was the natural choice as producer. “Even when we gave the songs to Ike, they felt like Black Keys songs,” Auerbach says. The result is the first Black Keys record that rewards headphone scrutiny, with enfolded layers of bass guitar, Moog fizz, bongos and female vocal harmonies (from Jessica Lea Mayfield, a local teenage singer discovered by Auerbach). Danger Mouse’s dusted arrangements and electronic touches are deftly incorporated, while Carney’s drumming sounds awesomely like Ringo Starr. “Same Old Thing” rides a wooz

Published: 2008-02-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, In the Studio

Pearl Jam, Amy Winehouse, Ben Harper: Behind the Scenes at Lollapalooza With the Smoking Section

The Smoking Section has to give it up for Eddie Vedder, who swept through Chicago and made our Lollapalooza worth living. We arrived on Thursday, and instead of selling our Pearl Jam ticket to one of the desperate fans outside of the Vic Theater (one offer: $5,000 in cash), we caught a bizarrely original gig by the band — no big hits. The gig started with Eddie and his acoustic guitar and a dope song about the Chicago Cubs. “Someday we’ll go all the way!” he screamed, and so did the crowd. The next afternoon, about a half-hour before the start of the Mets v. Cubs game at Wrigley, Eddie threw about fifteen solid pitches in the Cubbies bullpen, before delivering a fastball strike for the game’s first pitch. Lollapalooza was insanely hot. In the middle of Grant Park, where Lolla went down for the third straight year, is the massive fountain in the opening credits of “Married… With Children” — but you can’t jump in. And there was a bit of a weird vibe along with the sweat. Though Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney told us that Lolla “is one of the few festivals where you can hop in a cab and be on your way to a neighborhood bar”, there was very little communal spirit. It was no Bonnaroo, where people are forced to suffer the trials and tribulations of living in the shit with one another for three days straight. Corporate sponsorship was everywhere, with scary old people dotting the air-conditioned tents (fetching up to $75,000 a piece) that perched about a hundred yards away from the two main stages (which are a twenty minute walk away from each other). Still, there was a lot to love. On Friday, while Pete and Ashlee Wentz (née Simpson) held hands in the backstage bar, we caught dope sets from Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem and afrobeat heir Femi Kuti and his sick band, Positive Force. The Daft Punk set was killer, but more fans were drawn to Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals show on the oth

Published: 2007-08-07 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows, Festivals, Lollapalooza, Smoking Section

Readers’ Rock List: Color Bands

Photo: Mazur/WireImage Despite one street team’s attempt to ballot-stuff this weekend’s Rock List, echoing the Great “Killers-gate” of 2008, San Francisco punks and inspirers of musicals Green Day were voted the Best Color Band by the Rock Daily readers, edging out other colorful artists like the White Stripes, Pink Floyd and Black Flag. Our Top 20 reads like a rainbow, even if it is missing Agent Orange, the Silver Apples and the Indigo Girls, so check out the entire Rock List: Color Bands below: 1. Green Day 2. The White Stripes 3. Black Sabbath 4. Red Hot Chili Peppers 5. Pink Floyd 6. Deep Purple 7. Black Flag 8. Black Keys 9. James Brown 10. Black Lips 11. Al Green 12. Blue Oyster Cult 13. White Zombie 14. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club 15. Black Kids 16. Frank Black 17. Godspeed You! Black Emperor 18. Yellowcard 19. Silversun Pickups 20.  The Red Krayola

Published: 2009-03-30 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock Lists

Fricke’s Picks: A Family Affair

Photo: Sandy Carson Hacienda are a band of brothers from San Antonio, formed in 2006 by Abraham, Jaime and Rene Villanueva — pianist, drummer and bassist, in that order, and all singers — with guitarist-vocalist Dante Schwebel. Unlike Austin’s heavy-blues brother trios Los Lonely Boys and Amplified Heat, Hacienda write eccentric pop songs and play them with flashes of T. Rex (”She’s Got a Hold on Me”) and the Friends-era Beach Boys (”Sun,” “Degree of Murder”) on the fine debut album Loud Is the Night (Alive). Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys produced the record with a kitchen-jam, bathroom-echo touch, like a central-Texas version of Paul McCartney’s 1970 home-made solo debut, while the Tex-Mex groove Hacienda put under their cover of Sonny and Cher’s “Baby Don’t Go” reminds me of the great early-Seventies Chicano band Louie and the Lovers, who were not brothers but sure sounded like it. [From Issue 1063 — October 16, 2008] Related Stories: • Fricke’s Picks: Rebel Yellers • Fricke’s Picks: Mercury Rev • Fricke’s Picks: Roy Harper

Published: 2008-10-14 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Fricke's Picks

Bob Dylan, The Raconteurs, The Roots Headline New Festival

Add another multi-day music event to your summer schedule, as Bob Dylan, the Raconteurs, the Roots, Gnarls Barkley and Spoon will headline the inaugural New American Music Festival on August 8 & 9 at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, PA. The festival is sponsored by American Eagle Outfitters and curated by Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Rounding out the lineup will be fifteen bands from various colleges across the country who will compete in a competition, with the winner receiving recording time in a Los Angeles studio. Tickets go on sale Friday and cost a mere $25 for students. Follow the jump for the full lineup. The New American Music Festival Bob Dylan and His Band The Raconteurs Gnarls Barkley The Roots Spoon The Black Keys Black Mountain The Duke Spirit NASA Tiny Masters of Today College Bands Bears (Kent State University) Flying Machines (The New School) Gospel Gossip (Carleton College) Magic Bullets (University of California Berkley) Math the Band (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) My Dear Disco (University of Michigan) Nothing Unexpected (Robert Morris University) The Black Fortys (University of Southern Illinois) The Company Kang (Whitman College) The Delicious (Indiana University) The Depreciation Guild (New York University) The Elizabethan Report (Brigham Young University) The French Horn Rebellion (Northwestern University) The Royal Bangs (University of Tennessee) The Steps (University of Texas Austin)

Published: 2008-05-15 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

News Ticker: Outside Lands Fest, Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, John Lennon

Lupe Fiasco, the Black Keys, Liars and Kaki King are among the performers that have been added to the inaugural Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. The fest, to be held August 22-24, already boasts headliners Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Ben Harper and more. Vivid Video, proud sellers of sex tapes starring Kim Kardashian and Pamela Anderson, are getting set to release a video that supposedly features Jimi Hendrix cavorting with two brunettes. Critics have dismissed the man in the grainy video (selling for $39.95) is Hendrix, while two former lovers of the rocker insist it’s Jimi. As promised, Coldplay are now allowing fans to download the song “Violet Hill,” the first single from the band’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends for free free one week. If you don’t want to submit your email info, you can also listen at the band’s MySpace page. John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for “Give Peace a Chance” will hit Christie’s auction block in July. The lyrics are expected to retrieve between an estimated four and six hundred thousand dollars. [Photo: Getty]

Published: 2008-04-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Afternoon News Roundup