Rolling Stone - USA (2019-07)

Music

ILLUSTRATION BY

Jan Feindt

I

F ROCK IS DEAD, that

memo did not reach

Nashville, where these

albums were recorded. And

Detroit — the Raconteurs’ real

home, where singer-guitarists

Jack White and Brendan

Benson each grew up in the

local garage-punk ruckus

— has always ignored that

message. “I’ve been riding

this thing out since I was

eight years old,” Benson

sings on Help Us Stranger,

in “Somedays (I Don’t Feel

Like Trying),” which starts

in Seventies-arena-ballad

distress but jumps to a

thumping, electric vengeance

as he and White crow “I’m

here right now/I’m not dead

yet” like a super-caffeinated

Queen.

The Black Keys, in turn, af-

firm their continuing mission

in the title of their first album

in five years. Singer-guitarist

Dan Auerbach and drum-

mer Patrick Carney bring a

heightened purism too,

The Raconteurs

and the Black Keys

affirm the undying

power of garage-

band thunder

By DAVID FRICKE

TAKING ROCK

BACK TO

THE FUTURE

The Black

Keys

“Let’s Rock”

4

The

Raconteurs

Help Us

Stranger

4