growth for the keys.

What El Camino told me on first listen today is that the Black Keys have matured as a band and they continue to improve. They continue to grow with every album. 7 records deep, El Camino shows us a brand new side of the Keys. Stripping down to the bare essentials, the album takes us on an emotional ride of despair, love, anger, break-up, loneliness and everything in between. Tracks like Little Black Submarine shows the diversity of band lead, Dan Auerbach where he channels Bob Dylan at first but by the ending you'd think he's part of The White Stripes. While they wear their inspirations on their sleeve, they still remain true and generate such an indie sound that the new bands trying to be them, just sound like a washed-up version of the Keys from a 2008. It's like when they find out everyone has found out their answers, they change their questions. And it just makes them even that much better. Keeping them guessing while still rocking and rolling.  Best rock album of the year? For sure. And maybe will tread into the top lists for 2012. It'll be hard to top this release unless it's another Keys release, which will just show us another brand new side of the band. For now, enjoy El Camino. It's rock music in its most natural, gritty form from a band that continues to be  consistently exhilarating.