I've had a love/hate relationship with The Black Keys for some time now. Well...I guess it could more accurately be called a "love/becoming vaguely indifferent" relationship. Initially, it bothered me that they had no bass player. Then I got over it, because I realized I liked the songs. Then it bothered me again, because I thought they were doing the songs a disservice by leaving out what could potentially some badass low-end (given the right bassist). For a while, I thought The Black Keys' material kind of approached disingenuous white-boy pseudo-blues, but then I listened to Rubber Factory and realized it was just a really solid album any way you slice it—and their version of "Grown So Ugly" didn't hurt.
But around the release of Attack and Release, I started to get over them. I thought the fact that Danger Mouse produced might change things up a bit, but all the material was same-old, save slightly fuller arrangements. So it's from this state of cautious interest that I approach Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach's forthcoming release Keep It Hid. The album is due out on Feb. 10. Auerbach, whose new label Polymer Sounds is co-based in Nashville (according to their MySpace), will be touring with Those Darlins. Despite all the Music City ties, it looks like Auerbach won't be playing here. Bummer. You can pre-order Keep It Hid here. Brief review after the jump.
