Attack & Release

モダンでありながらレトロな肌触りを持つサウンドで、現シーンに堂々たる存在感持って君臨するダン・オーバックとパトリック・カーニーからなる唯一無二のロック・デュオ、ザ・ブラック・キーズ。『BROTHERS』での世界的ブレイクの前夜ともいえる2006年と2008年にリリースされた2枚のアルバムが、現所属レーベルであるNonesuchのワールドワイド盤としてリイシュー! こちらはデンジャー・マウスをプロデューサーに起用し全世界から注目を集める存在へと駆け上っていくこととなった、2008年発表の通算5作目となるアルバム『ATTACK & RELEASE』!

2001年にオハイオ州アクロンで産声を上げ、現在まで9枚のアルバムを発表、圧倒的なグルーヴに基づいたロックンロールやガレージ、ブルースをベースにしたストレートなロック・サウンドで、常にシーンを刺激し続ける現シーンにおける最重要アクト、ザ・ブラック・キーズ。現在までに6度のグラミー賞を受賞し、コーチェラやロラパルーザ、ガバナーズ・ボールといった最大規模のフェスティヴァルでヘッドラインを務め、そのモダン・レトロな唯一無二のサウンドで世界中を熱狂させる彼らは、間違えいなく現音楽シーンにおける最重要アーティストの一つだと言えるだろう。

昨年までUS以外のテリトリーではV2レコードからリリースされていた2006年発表の4作目『MAGIC POTION』と、2008年発表の5作目『ATTACK & RELEASE』が、今回現レーベルのNonesuchからリリースされることとなった。2010年発表の『BROTHERS』で商業的な成功を収めた彼らだが、その世界的ブレイクの足固めを行ってきたこの2枚の作品は、ロック史においても重要なアルバムだと言えるだろう。

==================================================
『ATTACK & RELEASE』(2008年作品)
彼らが初めて外部プロデューサーを起用し、プロフェッショナル・スタジオでレコーディングを行った2008年発表の通算5作目となるアルバム。デンジャー・マウスをプロデューサーに迎え、ヴィンテージ感漂うブルース/ガレージ・ロック・テイストのサウンドはそのままに、より疾走感と哀愁漂うアメリカン・ロックンロールの王道を行くサウンドでファンのみならずメディアや他アーティストからも大きな注目を集める存在となった作品だ。"Strange Times"や"I Got Mine"、"Oceans And Streams"、そして"Same Old Thing"といったシングル・トラックを収録した今作は、全米チャート17位をはじめ、全英チャートでも34位を記録、USとカナダ、そしてUKでゴールド・ディスクに輝いている。
==================================================

Rolling Stone (p.66) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he Keys' most multicolored set: A psychedelic hybrid of vintage Southern R&B, brutish British invasion rock, and country blues..." Rolling Stone (p.90) - Ranked #15 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "You don't count the parts inside; you just dig the sum." Spin (p.92) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Here, the Akron, Ohio twosome teams with producer Danger Mouse, who quietly unfolds in the occasional breakbeat, even adding that classic hipster signifier -- the funk flute -- to 'Same Old Thing.'" Entertainment Weekly (p.61) - "[T]he quirks enhance the power of the desolation at the Keys' core, and prove that gut-grabbing and ear-stroking needn't be mutually exclusive." -- Grade: A- Uncut (p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The Black Keys are on the cusp of greatness....'Lies' is Motown-apeing bliss, while 'Things Ain't What They Used To Be' is a bone fide classic." Magnet (p.98) - "[T]here's no question that singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney are proficient purveyors of heavy-duty, greased-up garage blues with a ridiculous amount of swagger." Vibe (p.74) - "[T]he album has a pedigree -- originally written for Ike Turner, A&R now stands as a graceful marker of the legend's last planned project." Q (Magazine) (p.126) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Danger Mouse's effect is apparent, the sparse guitar-and-drums template fleshed out with organ and banjo..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.111) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "The signature raw blues sound is still there, but now it's spiced up with classic R&B, garage, country and even electronic flavours, all rich with melody and driving power." Mojo (Publisher) (p.65) - Ranked #40 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[A] cascade of country-soul, heavy-psych and melancholy balladry..." Blender (Magazine) (p.76) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir music often sounds broadcast from another planet. Thank indie-minded hip-hop producer for that; he fleshes out the band's bare-fisted approach..." Pitchfork (Website) - "ATTACK AND RELEASE subtly expands the Black Keys sound....A sequence of slow burns, the record's tempos allow you to relish the details and the textures." Clash (Magazine) (p.111) - "[A] harrowingly dark yet astoundingly brilliant batch of songs..."

Back in 2002, it seemed easy to discern which of the Midwestern minimalist blues-rock duos was which: the White Stripes were the art-punks, naming albums after Dutch art movements, while the Black Keys were the nasty primitives, bashing out thrilling, raw records like their 2002 debut The Big Come Up and its 2003 follow-up Thickfreakness. Six years later, the duos appear to have switched camps, as Jack White leads the Stripes down a path of obstinate traditionalism while the Black Keys get out, way out, on their fifth album, Attack & Release. Evidently, their 2004 mini-masterpiece Rubber Factory represented the crest of their brutal blues wave, as ever since singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney have receded from the gnarled precision of their writing and the big, brutal blues thump, they started to float into the atmosphere with their 2006 EP-length tribute to Junior Kimbrough, Chulahoma. Ever since then, the Black Keys have emphasized waves of sound over either ballast or song, something that should be evident from the choice of Danger Mouse as the producer of Attack & Release, a seemingly unlikely pair that found common ground in the form of Ike Turner. Danger Mouse worked with the rock & roll renegade when he produced the Gorillaz's Demon Days and the plan was to have the Black Keys cut an album with Ike but Turner's death turned the project into a full-fledged Keys album. That's the official story, anyway, but the timeline doesn't quite seem to fit -- Ike died December 12, 2007 and a finished copy of Attack & Release was out in February, which is an awfully short turnaround to complete an album -- nor does the sound of the album seem to fit that timeline, either, as it's elliptical, open-ended, and reliant on the spacy sonics the Black Keys have sketched out since Rubber Factory, so it's hard to imagine where Turner would have fit into this. But it's not hard at all to see how avant guitarist Marc Ribot fits into this elastic mix, as this is the kind of restless, textural roots-aware rock reminiscent of the spirit, if not quite the sound, of Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, two mavericks Ribot has played with in years past. This shift to sound over song has been so gradual for the Black Keys that Ribot's cameo doesn't seem intrusive, nor does Danger Mouse's hazy production feel forced upon the band, it's filled with details so sly they're almost imperceptible. As always, Danger Mouse encourages the band to intensify what's already there, and so Attack & Release willfully drifts, as dreamy, artfully sonic sculptures are punctured by Auerbach's rumbling guitars and Carney's clattering drums. But where the interplay of the Auerbach and Carney always felt immediate in their earliest work, there's a bit of a remove here, with the riffs used as paint brushes instead of blunt objects. The same can be said of the songs, where even the most immediate tunes -- "Psychotic Girl," the B-side "Remember When" -- don't grab and hold like those on the group's earliest records, and they're not really growers either, as the point here is not the individual tunes but rather the greater picture, as everything here weaves together to create a mood: one that shifts but doesn't stray, one that's nebulous but not formless, one that's evocative but not haunting. To be sure, it's an accomplishment and one that showcases the Black Keys' deepening skills but at times it's hard not to miss how the duo used to grab a listener by the neck and not let go. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

ムサ苦しいオッサンたちが世界を震撼させる!?　映画「スクール・オブ・ロック」に楽曲が起用されて話題となったギター／ヴォーカルとドラムスから成るブルース・ロック・ユニットの新作は、あのデンジャー・マウスがプロデュースを担当。隙間だらけの無骨な楽曲に、鼠印の偏執的なアレンジが加わると……アラ不思議!　2枚歯から一気に5枚歯カミソリになったような、ソリッドなサウンドが展開されているじゃないですか。幽玄なシンセ・サウンドなどこれまでになかった驚きのアイテムが追加されているが、バリバリのファズ・ギターと力強いドラムでロック街道のド真ん中を相も変わらず大爆走。彼らを前座に抜擢したレディオヘッドのトム・ヨークも、ジャック・ブラックも黙っちゃいられないね、こりゃ!
bounce (C)柴田 かずえ