The Black Keys – Howlin’ For You
It’s the blues-rock OK Go!…
[Video][Website]
[5.11]
Rebecca Toennessen: This is my favourite song from Brothers – it’s snappy and catchy but with all the sleazy raunch-blues that The Black Keys can muster. Is pop-blues a genre? I’m still amazed it took me this long to become a fan. Thanks, Singles Jukebox. Thukebox.
[10]
Anthony Easton: I have been on record as loving the Black Keys, but maybe it is the video, which reminds me of Hobo with a Shotgun, with its recursive nostalgia for trash that is no longer being made, or this article from the lead singer’s ex-wife, or the weird buzzy undertones (in how it’s mixed, the sound of buzzing, not buzzing as in hype), or a rock and roll chorus that still genuinely fails to commit to the full rawk experience, but this single is the first where the law of diminishing returns sets in.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: Retro blues rock, lumbering along clumsy with weirdly tinny production (is this Danger Mouse?), sounding as if it is glued together badly from countless old blues and rock cliches. Apparently their videos are very amusing, but the music is just imagination-free crap.
[2]
Iain Mew: This wants to be fuzzy and off the cuff bluesy, and makes numerous gestures to that effect, but is totally unconvincing. Not least because you get the impression they spent forever working out how to get that guitar tone. On the other hand it actually seems to show a bit of a talent at being clean and precise, and the more low key guitar interplay towards the end sounds like a starting point for a better song.
[4]
Chuck Eddy: Sounds like White Stripes with a Gary Glitter beat underneath, more or less; not bad, but just about anything on Indiana blues-rock duo Left Lane Cruiser’s new Junkyard Speed Ball has more grime, groove, and gobble to it. Have always wanted to like these Ohioans more than I do, but they’ve never killed me. Was really stumped about the critical acclaim suddenly bestowed upon them last year, when I don’t get the idea their boogie ever even changed that much. Maybe it’s just that tracks licensed to TV make them ubiquitous now — at least for people who watch more TV than I do.
[6]
Jer Fairall: Catchier and more succinct than what I’m used to from these guys, with some cool fuzzed-out guitar helpfully covering up the colourlessness of the vocals, but I’d much rather watch its great faux Tarantino trailer of a video again than have to hear this or “Tighten Up” one more goddamn time.
[5]
Ian Mathers: Every so often the Black Keys manage to put together a likeable single, usually in that “oh, this is a NEW song?” kind of way, but most of their work is dull as dishwater. “Howlin’ for You” is pretty half-assed, expecting to get by on some “da da da da”s and a little bit of fuzz. Which means it’s not that far from ”Satellite,” really. The difference is that there I liked the atmosphere, here I’m just waiting for the next song. Minus an extra point for a really uniquely awful video.
[4]
Alfred Soto: A couple of friends are crazy about these guys. I don’t hear the fuss – I’m not crazy about George Thorogood or Steve Miller. Innocuous if not for the affected modernization (please lose the echo, gentlemen).
[5]
Al Shipley: OK, white guys singing the blues, with varying levels of black vocal affectations, make up a huge piece of the history of American music. It can and has been done well. But here it’s just embarrassing.
[3]