Heavy, fuzz-drenched blues rock recorded in an Akron basement. A raw, stomp-heavy collection of original songs that define the duo's early rust-belt grit.
It sounds like a blues band playing in a concrete bunker, and it's awesome.
A gritty, stomp-heavy collection of rust-belt blues that feels both claustrophobic and defiant.
Magic Potion (2006) serves as a pivotal moment in The Black Keys' discography, marking their transition to Nonesuch Records and their first album consisting entirely of original compositions. Despite the move to a major-affiliated label, the duo retreated to Patrick Carney's basement in Akron, Ohio, to record. The production is famously primitive, utilizing a 'tool desk' as a mixing station and leaning into the natural, harsh acoustics of concrete walls. This 'Midwest basement' sound was a deliberate choice by Dan Auerbach to avoid the 'lack of individuality' in modern recordings. Sonically, it is a bridge between the raw covers of their debut and the more structured, soulful songwriting of 'Attack & Release'. While Carney later expressed regret over the thin bass response in the final mastering, the album's skeletal, high-gain aesthetic has become a hallmark of the 2000s garage rock revival. It remains their most 'pure' blues-rock statement before incorporating outside producers like Danger Mouse.
Put this on for
Garage door open, oil on your hands, and a wrench that won't budgeNeon sign flickering in a bar where nobody knows your nameHeadlights cutting through a humid Ohio midnightLast call at the local haunt when the floor is still stickyDust motes dancing in the light of a single bare basement bulbTearing down a highway with the windows down and the heater onPacing a small room while the rain hits the siding outside
Moments worth waiting for
The explosive, jagged opening riff of Your Touch that immediately sets the basement-rock tone.
The slow-burn psychedelic sprawl of Goodbye Babylon as it stretches into a five-minute heavy blues jam.
The way the drums hit with a hollow, concrete-room echo on Just Got to Be.
Sounds like
2006s production with a 2000s soul
Sits beside
White Blood Cells - The White Stripes, Thickfreakness - The Black Keys, Rubber Factory - The Black Keys, Gallowsbird's Bark - The Fiery Furnaces
Lyrical territory
love_romantic, love_lost
03Deviation
Magic Potion · vs · The Black Keys
Artist
This Album
High Energy
Energy · ↑ +13% more than usual
On this album, high energy sits about 13% more prominent than across the rest of the artist's catalogue.
