It seems that half my office went and saw The Black Keys at the Warfield last night. The cube farm was all atwitter with it this morning.
The Black Keys are a blues duo from Akron. I first heard about them a couple of weeks ago. I looked them up on MySpace, and they have two tracks there. Now, you can’t really tell much about a band from two tracks, but based on those two tracks, I wasn’t very inspired to go looking any further. I was underwhelmed, to say the least.
The very tiny place in my heart reserved for a guitar/drum blues combo has long been held by Two Gallants. I am slightly biased. They recorded their first album at the studio where I worked in my early twenties. They earned a nickname from our mastering engineer, Tom Carr, that I smile to think about still to this day. They’re also a local group, and we all know the soft spot I have for local musicians. ::cough:: ::cough:: Maldroid CD release Friday. ::cough::
Two Gallants is more akin to my taste due to their more melodic style. They’re more of a folky, indie blues. Their tracks are a lot cleaner than what I’ve heard from The Black Keys, who seem to be all about the distortion. I’m not such a fan of the distortion. Well, at least not since I O.D.ed on it in the 90s. I also think that The Black Keys sound way too much like stuff I’ve heard too much before. I know that’s an odd critique coming from a girl who spends the majority of her time listening to throw back ska and reggae, but it is what it is. Two Gallants remind me of other things, too, but it’s more like the last wisps of a dream I had once, rather than a smack over the head with a 1970s KFOG skillet.
Plus, Two Gallants are named after a short story by Joyce.
Peggy Lu Who's Just Sayin' 