The White Stripes
Icky Thump

THE REVIEW

The nagging doubt? Obviously that one, meaning whether "Get Behind Me Satan" was just a (happy) interlude or not. And the answer came back strong: yes, it was.

The "white stripes" return after a two-year absence from the music scene; meanwhile, Jack White's new, excellent project with Brendan Benson under the name The Raconteurs came about. A "fling" that allowed Mr. White to get back to his favorite object, after the unusual piano indulgence of "Get Behind...": his majesty the guitar.

An experience, therefore, that most likely influenced the making of the new full-length album from the Detroit duo, named "Icky Thump" and recorded in Nashville. The new album is clearly influenced by hard rock and seventies rock sounds, even though the main threads confirm the band's excellent taste in mixing a rather raw garage rock with more or less evident blues elements. The album is aptly described by Jack White as one of the hardest things the Stripes have ever produced; a sort of return to basics, at least in sonic aggression.

The title track, placed at the beginning of the work, flaunts an obviously Zeppelin-like riff, interrupted here and there by sudden prog-style solos; a single far from radio-friendly. Even though the focus then shifts to "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)", very seventies, but more centered on a straightforward pop 'n roll. "300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues" is Dylan-esque from the title, while pieces like "Bone Broke", "Little Cream Soda", and "Rag And Bone" navigate the classic garage-blues territories of the group.

The more peculiar things are especially found in the chaotic interlude of "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)" or the irreverent and quirky folk of "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn". "Conquest" (a cover of Patti Page and a new single, which will feature a handful of b-sides recorded at Beck's house) is a head-on collision between a flashy hard rock and an oblique tex-mex. "I'm Slowly Turning Into You" calls back to Deep Purple with its organ arrangement, while the guitar remains dry and acidic. Of the final trio, the splendid rock ballad "A Martyr For My Love For You" stands out.

"Icky Thump" is a great album, made even richer by new sounds, which the Detroit duo loves to incorporate into each new record. An inspired, compact, and nicely aggressive work, that will re-convince even the early fans, who fell in love with the garage twists of their beginnings.

In short, if they continue like this, that annoying "po-poroppo-po-pooo-po" will quickly fade away.