This article is reviewing the newish black keys album, el camino.
I have been a fan of the black keys ever since I first heard their blusey guitar riffs way back in 2007, with their album Attack and Release.I remember listening to that album my senior year of high school and listening to their hit single “Strange Times”, and thinking I can definitely get behind this bands sound. What drew me into this bands style was their mix of blues and rock to create a unique sound, very 1970s rock esque. The Black Keys are unique in their musical style and the way they play just two guys Dan Auerbach who does guitar and vocals, and Patrick Carney on the drums.
Their newish album El Camino was released in January, and after listened to it all the way through several times now I believe I am qualified to give an album review. While not my favorite Black Keys album overall(that honor would go to their Brothers album of 2010), I really enjoyed this latest release. The thing about this album is it has the usual bluesy catchy songs of past albums in the likes of Little Black Submarines, and Lonely Boy, but it also experiments with some techno and some fusion in catchy songs like Nova Baby and Hell of a Season.
The album goes from an energetic starting point in Lonely Boy, to slower songs in Dead and Gone, and Gold on the Ceiling. Then it explodes into an energetic guitar ballad very Zeppelin like in Little Black Submarines, which was my favorite song of the cd. The song starts off slow and slowly builds up its pace until it hits a point about halfway through when it just lets go with some sick guitar solos and good drum beats.
After the awesomesauce that was Submarines, it then slows down with Money Maker, Run Right Back, Sister, and Hell of a Season. With the exception of Hell of a Season I thought this part of the cd was not very good, the songs lacking that traditional Keys catchy drum beats and guitar riffing.
Good news is that the album puts itself back into gear for the last three songs, with all three of them being excellent from the halting guitar of Stop Stop, to the techno infused Nova Baby to the finale Mind Eraser.
Mind Eraser was a very good classic rock sounding song to end the cd on, and my second favorite song of the album with great haunting vocals and excellent guitar.
All in all, my second favorite Black Keys cd after 2010s phenomenal Brothers, the cd started out well enough with Lonely Boy, then slowed down, picked up in the middle with the amazing Little Black Submarines, and then slowed again, but picked it back up for the excellent trio of songs at the end toped off by an the awesome Mind Eraser.
All in all out of 10, I would give this album a 9, rating it a very good album, with the exception of about three lackluster songs most of the songs on this cd hit hard and are excellent, while overall this cd is not full of as many hits as Brothers, you cant fault the Keys for not making as good a cd as that amazing grammy award winning one.
So ya, solid 9s across the board, definitely worth a listen to readers, so go out and get it you can buy it at most music stores in the world I would assume, and there is always iTunes, and downloading it in other ways for all you naughty readers out there.
edit: I found the entire album for free on youtube for yall, you can listen to it in full, even listed are the song titles, and what time they start in the hour long playthrough. enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrC08CsIOoM
Until next time readers.
#justin
Hey boys and girls, sorry it took a while to finish this post, we have been quite busy with stuff lately.
So without any further hullabaloo, this is our list of videogames to look forward to in 2012. Cheers!
Also clicking on links will take you away from this post so hold down control to open up a new tab.
Mass Effect 3
A game I have been quite looking forward to since the last one in 2010.
The game puts you in the shoes of commander Shepard, a futuristic soldier on the frontlines in a war against an extra-galactic menace known as the Reapers.
This game starts off with a massive reaper invasion of the human home world of Earth, which you have to escape and try and unite the various races of the galaxy to come back and try to help save Earth before it is destroyed.
This is a shooter/RPG hybrid game, you level up your character the more you progress in the game and you use guns and special abilities to take down your enemies. Another thing that makes this game unique apart from its future sci-fi setting, is the ability to import old saved games from your previous adventures in Mass effect 1 and 2, that depending on choices you made in those games affect how you start off in Mass Effect 3. This game is going to be a fun romp through the galaxy trying to unite the various races of the galaxy in an attempt to save Earth.
Here is a link to watch the ME3 trailer, enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2mdZ23eP8
Bioshock Infinite
As a sort of spiritual sequel to Bioshock, the awesome game that took place under the sea. Instead of fighting Andrew Ryan’s forces in an alternate 1960s, you are fighting high amongst the clouds. The place is a city forged out of the turn of the 20th century ideals of American exceptionalism.
You play the role of agent Booker Dewitt a pinkerton agent in the early 1900s,(pinkertons were an sort of national private police force). While the first Bioshock game could be described as an art deco undersea world, i think the motif the developers are going for now is a steampunk city in the clouds.
You were paid a lot of money to infiltrate the floating city of Colombia and rescue a woman named Elizabeth. But like all things in this floating city she, and the city is not as it seems. There are factions fighting for control of Columbia the Vox Populi, claiming to fight for the common man, and the Founders, who are the people who were or are still trying to maintain power in Columbia. This game is going to be a unique steampunk experience among the clouds, and is one of my favorite new games for 2012.
Watch the trailer and be amazed, warning this is a long video like 15 minutes long, but so awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEBwKO4RFOU
Assassin’s Creed III
ACIII, is a long time coming.
For fans of the series like myself the last two updates just sort of built on the awesome ACII, but I felt unsatisfied with the last two games Brotherhood and Revelations.
I for one am excited at this new direction for this franchise and I think it has the potential to be the most interesting and best of the series.
The game takes place in a new setting, the American revolution against the dastardly Brits.
You play as young assassin Connor, who must aid the Americans in their attempted revolution against the world superpower at the time, Great Britain.
Not a whole lot is known about this game right now, other than the fact that you will be interacting with famous revolutionary characters like George Washington and Benedict Arnold, and you will be aiding the american forces, and traveling to revolution era Boston, New York and Philadelphia among others.
Like I said earlier this game has a lot of potential in it, I really enjoy the period that it is set in and I think it will be one of the big hits of 2012.
trailer is as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVUMPrv8oRw
Minecraft
We're sure you've heard of Minecraft, the craft-anything Java game for PCs where the world is molded from giant Atari 2600-style 3D cubes; where you're building gizmos and gadgets either for the sake of building or to defend against wolves, "spider jockeys," and ghoulish ghasts that come looking to pulverize your handiwork at night. This is truly a game where anything is possible feel free to explore your imagination and build whatever you want, wherever you want, in whatever fashion you want to.
Well, it's coming to the Xbox 360, exclusively, and--surprise, surprise--it features full-on Kinect support.
This is one of those rare games that is simplistic in nature, but it is only limited by the limitations of your imagination, I for one am excited to hop in and see what I can imagine into this reality.
Seriously im not joking someone built this… ridiculous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWPk5zlKAEM
The Last Guardian
New unique adventure for the playstation3, from the guys behind the cult artistic hits Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus comes The Last Guardian.
Not a whole lot is known about this secretive game other than the fact that you play as a young man who must aid the titular character known as the “last guardian”.
This character is part dog part eagle, and he protects a series of temples which with each others aid you must go through in order to restore balance to this world.
The main reason we included this game on our list is because of the pedigree of the developers behind this game. Shadow of the Colossus was a stunning if not confusing game that really filled the niche in gaming that you get when you are tired of killing zombies and or nazis and just want to sit down and have your brain challenged.
This is a very laid back, type of game and I expect it to be another cult hit in the vain of Ico and Shadow.
here is the trailer and it will show a bit more, about this confusing beautiful game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42nM2KYZiWo
Halo 4
I honestly don’t think I need to tell you, the reader why this game is going to be awesome do i?
This is another halo game which is awesome in itself, but its another halo game with Master Chief, which is like awesome multiplied by infinty.
So anyways after the events of Halo 3 , way back in 2007, master chief found himself adrift in a cryo pod somewhere in space, and tells cortana to wake him when she needs him.
So he goes into cryo sleep for an unknown amount of time, and boom he is awake again and we are starting a brand new trilogy called the reclaimer trilogy which will feature Master Chief again kicking alien ass and discovering all new kinds of universe destroying mega weapons.
So to sum up this is my game I am looking forward to the most in 2012, so ya Master Chief + Halo = one super happy me.
here is a reveal trailer for halo 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9iQiHNXgMU, like I said awesome.
and here is the newest making of halo 4 trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6UL63Zo-uo
Honorable Mentions:
Darksiders II
Fable 4
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Diablo III
Resident Evil 6
So boys and girls that about sums up my list of awesome games for 2012, I am looking forward to hearing any feedback from any of you guys and you need to definatley try out these games you will not regret it, until next time cheers!
We will add games to this list that we think deserve to be added in due time.
#justin
