I find this wonderful rendition of Auerbach’s “Trouble Weighs a Ton” from Sirius XMU and I’m now sans-beard.  I had a straight-razor shave the other night and I can’t but think how much more soulful I’d be with a full on beard.  I just know that my facial hair will never reach the level of the mythical Black Keys frontman.

without further adieu . . .

Dan Auerbach (feat. Dante Schwebel of Hacienda)

BLAKROC is the thrilling new collaborative project from The Black Keys and a star-studded line-up of influential hip-hop artists that includes Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Pharoahe Monch, Ludacris, Jim Jones, Nicole Wray, NOE and Billy Danze (M.O.P). BLAKROC will be released on 27th of November Ireland on V2/Cooperative Music, the same day as its US release  (to be dubbed “Blak Friday” by the independent record stores that will sell the album). Of the album, The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach said “no samples were used on the record, it’s all live instruments and live vocals.”

Sessions began in early summer in Brooklyn with Mos Def’s songs among the first put to tape… Over the following weeks the ten other artists joined the party to play their part in what is unquestionably one of the most forward-thinking and exciting hip hop records of recent years…

“It was fun and refreshing to work with The Black Keys on the project… We all had one common denominator – The Love of Music” (RZA)

“Experimenting with different sounds and genres of music has always been important to me. While collaborating in the studio with The Black Keys and Damon Dash may seem like an unusual fit, it felt natural. We were able to bring our own unique strengths and experiences together, that signifies the true artistry of music. I think this is something that all fans of music will appreciate.” (Q-Tip)

“What it meant to me was something I always knew; great rock music and great hip-hop music fused together can create undeniable greatness.” (Pharaohe Monch)

For more informations on Blakroc visit their continually updated website here or their myspace here.

Już dawno nie zwariowałam tak na punkcie jakiegoś zespołu, jak na punkcie The Black Keys. Nie ma w ich muzyce fajerwerków i może to właśnie ta prostota przekazu tak mnie urzekła. Tylko gitara i perkusja. I głos Dana Auerbacha, który przeszywa. Chcę go słyszeć ciągle więcej i częściej.
Ponieważ grają ze sobą już od lat, zdumiewa mnie ciągły brak wiadomości o zespole w polskich mediach. Podobno w Australii są gwiazdami, ale tam wszystko jest na odwrót.
Dan Auerbach i Patrick Carney pochodzą z Ohio. Byli sąsiadami i tak się poznali. Zaczęli grać dla własnej przyjemności, co, kilka lat później, przerodziło się w nagrania na taśmę i debiut płytowy w 2002 roku – The Big Come Up. Dwa lata później otwierali koncerty dla Pearl Jam, Beck’a czy Radiohead. Mimo tych sukcesów nadal nie są zbyt znani w Ameryce. Kiedy Auerbach chciał wydać swoją solową płytę, wszystkie wytwórnie zamykały przed nim drzwi. Dlatego założył własną.
Poza tym Auerbach jest wiecznie zajęty realizowaniem miliona pomysłów, które przychodzą mu do głowy i trasą koncertową. Sam przyznaje, że nie potrzebuje wiele snu, a przez resztę doby myśli tylko o muzyce.
27 listopada do sklepów wchodzi płyta Blakroc nagrana przez Black Keys wspólnie z raperami, takimi jak, Mos Def, Q Tip, RZA. Zapowiada się świetnie.

Black Keys, “The Lenghts”

Dan Auerbach “Mean Monsoon”

Pharoahe Monch blesses the new Black Keys project with a verse he wrote at the last minute.

So it’s cold outside now and my lips are chapped which has led me on a scavenger hunt for the Burt’s Bees Wax

Of course I can’t find the damn thing anywhere. You know at first you think that they make those things small so that they will be convenient and easy to carry around. Now that I think of it though, I have never used an entire tube of chap stick in my life. Never even seen the bottom of the tube. I’m starting to think that they just make them that small so you have to buy 3-4 during the winter and then of course you lose them all over the warmer months causing you to start the cycle all over again.

You would think with all that money ole Burt would try to look a little better. Check him out;

Here he his pictured with Dave;

Off the lip subject, pretty sure I am going to the Dan Auerbach concert at Minglewood Hall on Friday. He is the lead singer of The Black Keys. Should be a pretty good concert. He was influenced a lot by Junior Kimbrough who is from a town in Mississippi about an hour from here. He even recorded a CD of all Junior covers so I’m sure we will hear some good shit. If anyone wants to go give me a call. See songs below.

Junior Kimbrough- I Gotta Try You Girl; This song got me hooked on this guy

The Black Keys- Your Touch

Billy Danze of M.O.P. comes thru to meet up with the Black Keys for their new project. He gets his drink on and then laces a track featuring Pharoahe, Nikki Wray and Jim Jones. Shit is Fire!!!

And that’s saying a lot, folks, because I never buy anything!

If you dig The Black Keys and hip-hop, get your own copy on 11-27-09!

Holy crap. I can’t wait.

Blakeys,

-Shady

]]> http://comeroundhere.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/aint-nothin-like-blackroc/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:14:15 +0000 Räusche http://comeroundhere.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/aint-nothin-like-blackroc/

It’s kinda crazy to see Dan Auerbach with his megabeard shaved off.  Those drums are pretty ridiculous. 

Jim Jones 4 President.

-Räusche

An album featuring the Black Keys and some of the biggest names in hip-hop will be released Nov. 27 2009 (the so-called “Black Friday” day after Thanksgiving) under the name Blakroc.

The project was spearheaded by rapper Jim Jones and also sports contributions from Mos Def, Q-Tip, RZA, Raekwon, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch, NOE, Nicole Wray, Billy Danze and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

An album featuring the Black Keys and some of the biggest names in hip-hop will be released Nov. 27 2009 (the so-called “Black Friday” day after Thanksgiving) under the name Blakroc.

Mos Def in the studio with the Black Keys

Jim Jones in the studio with the Black Keys

RZA lays down some guitar and vocals with the Black Keys

The good news this morning is that the teriyaki sauce has come out of my City shirt. Just in time for the next round of Premiership fixtures, goodo.

With regards to getting to Tirana it looks like my best shot tomorrow will be just to get the earliest (12:10) bus to Ulcinj on the Montenegro border, then try and transfer to Shkodra and from there hopefully get a direct bus to Tirana. I’ve just got to hope that the timings all work out otherwise I’ll be stranded and I don’t like the sound of that.

Okay I’ve spent ages digging through travel forums online and I think by the time I get to Ulcinj tomorrow it would be between 15:00 and 16:00 and the last bus to Shkoder in Albania will have left at 12:00. This is all far from concrete though but I’m going to take it it as being that way so I’ve booked a hostel in Ulcinj for tomorrow night, I don’t want to but it makes most sense.

Then I’ll get the 12:00 bus to Shkoder ( if indeed there is one) on Wednesday which should take about 2 hours. From there I’ve read that buses run to Tirana (where i’ve booked a hostel for Weds and Thurs night) on an hourly basis but only up to 16:00, there seems to be a bit of confusion around the stations as well but I’ll deal with that on the day.

I’ll probably get the evening bus to Ulcinj tomorrow now (which will get me in about 22:00) as that will give me the day in Kotor and as I’ve already said, I really like it here. Unfortunately it’s still chucking it down though.

The grumpster who runs the hostel seems a lot friendlier today, maybe he was just having a bad day yesterday. I’ll give him a 2nd chance.

Kotor Fortress was the most enjoyable part of my day. It should cost €2 but there was no attendant probably because of the bad weather so result. It’s built directly into the mountain behind the town and it will take you a good 40 minutes or so to get to the top. There’s loads of different paths and old crumbing stair cases to take, not to mention dark mysterious caves that could be harbouring all sorts of ghouls and goblins. Basically there’s a lot of opportunity for boyish adventuring and I took full advantage. There was hardly anyone else about which made it even better. Today’s picture is the view from near the top.

As a reward for my efforts I treated myself to a jam donut when I got back down. It was nice but it was the tiniest portion of jam imaginable. One solitary bit had a vague jam like taste.

My company while hiking was Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys fame. His ‘Keep It Hid’ album is decent but nothing spectacular, a lot of is just the same (but generally poorer) than the dirty blues he belts out with The Black Keys. There is enough here to make it worth a listen though and if it was all as strong as the last third it would be a very good album.

The old walled town (which the hostel is actually within) is great for just wandering around aimlessly. It’s got enough little guinnels and passages to make it interesting but not so many that you can’t stumble upon anywhere you want to find within 10 or 15 minutes.

Whilst just outside a local mini-mart near the old-town, I was getting some beers out of the fridge when the guy came out and said you can only buy them if you have an empty bottle for each one first. That’s ridiculous. In Croatia and Romania the price would be a bit higher than advertised if you didn’t have an empty but no beer at all without an empty is a funny approach. It’s a classic chicken and egg scenario, erm I think. No matter, I just went to the supermarket on the other side of town that I used last night and 4 pivos are now mine.

After dropping my supplies off I was going to venture back out and look for a decent meal but once more very heavy rain abounds??. So it’s the pizza parlour directly next to the hostel for me. I’ve ate a lot of pizza on this trip, in my defense they are usually one of the cheapest thing on the menu though and needs must. I’ve gone for the ‘Diavola’ which is tomato, mozzarella, pork sausage, hot chilli pepper and pepper apparently. When it came it was basically just a pepperoni pizza with a couple of large chillis (which were mingin’ as they’d been drowned in vinegar so I didn’t bother with them) and it was pretty good.

As nice as Kotor is there isn’t really that much to see so I’ve changed my mind again and will probably now get the early bus as originally intended. I don’t think there is much going on on Ulcinj but at least if I get in at 16:00ish I’ll have the evening to relax.

Which funnily enough is exactly what I intend to do with this one, I’ve just opened a bottle of Nirsickro (it’s not actually called that but it’s something similar, I can’t quite make it out) with my Swiss army knife and now I’m away.

Best search today – ‘how much are a bag maltesers’. TTFN.

SUSCRIBE

Heavy Crosses by Gossip

God’s Away on Business by Tom Waits

Whispered Words by Dan Auerbach

SUSCRIBE

Dan Auerbach: Keep It Hid (V2 Music, 2009)

I’m not the biggest The Black Keys fan out there, but I bought used copy of their Attack & Release album last year and noticed that I can enjoy blues rock to a certain degree. Therefore I decided to give this solo album by Dan Auerbach a chance as well even though I knew that it might not be totally my slice of cheese cake. Not a bad decision, because Keep It Hid is an enjoyable affair. It doesn’t hit the jackpot though. The problem with the bluesy material is that it feels that The Black Keys could make it sound more powerful and dangerous. However, Keep It Hid is more than just bluesy guitars. There’s quite a lot of variation actually and for me the highlights are beautiful ballad When The Night Comes that features wonderful Jessica Lea Mayfield on harmony vocals, folkier Whispered Words (Pretty Lies) that was written by his father and My Last Mistake that has a Fogerty-ish pop sense.

Dan Auerbach at myspace

SUSCRIBE

Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden

Trouble Weighs a Ton by Dan Auerbach

SUSCRIBE

When i saw this video, i had to post it. This music is right up my alley. Although im not the biggest fan of Jim Jones, he did right with this one.

The Black Keys are originally a blues-rock duo from Ohio consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. Now, the Black Keys are going hip-hop by collaborating with Jim Jones to make an album. Guest appearances on the album will include Mos Def, Q-Tip, Raekwon, RZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard (R.I.P.) , Ludacris, Pharohe Monch, NOE, MOP’s Billy Danze, and R&B singer Nicole Wray. Oh yea and Dame Dash produces this album. lol

I will DEFINITELY pick up this album. Especially if it sounds like the track in the video.

The Black Keys, FTW (usually when i use this acronym it means “fuck the what?!”….. this time it means for the win.) lol