The Black Keys | Ohio Players (LP)

Ohio Players is The Black Keys’ fourth album in five years, a momentum with a simple explanation, Auerbach says: “We never stopped recording.” There was his and Carney’s reunion, after a five-year hiatus, on 2019’s "Let’s Rock”, then the 2021 blast of Mississippi-hill-country covers, Delta Kream. A rapid-fire follow-up of new originals, 2022’s Dropout Boogie, featured the duo working with outside writers for the first time: Greg Cartwright of Memphis rockers Reigning Sound and Angelo Petraglia, who has worked with Kings of Leon and the teenage Taylor Swift. (Cartwright and Petraglia are back for Ohio Players too.)
“We'd never worked harder to make a record,” Dan Auerbach says. “It's never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.”
 
“What we wanted to accomplish with this record was make something that was fun,” Patrick Carney says. “And something that most bands 20 years into their career don’t make, which is an approachable, fun record that is also cool.”
While making Ohio Players, a title inspired by the legendary Dayton, OH funk band of the same name, The Black Keys were also DJing dance parties in cities around the world that they called “record hangs,” spinning 45s from their own eclectic and growing collections. Mojo reports, “The spirit of those parties infused the album’s DNA. ‘That’s been the fun of it,’ [says] Auerbach. ‘Letting go a little bit.’” 

Tracklist

A1        This Is Nowhere
A2        Don’t Let Me Go
A3        Beautiful People (Stay High)
A4        On The Game
A5        Only Love Matters
A6        Candy and Her Friends
A7        I Forgot To Be Your Lover
B1        Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)
B2        You’ll Pay
B3        Paper Crown
B4        Live Till I Die
B5        Read Em And Weep
B6        Fever Tree
B7        Every Time You Leave

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the vinyl version.

Label: Nonesuch Records / Warner Record
Rel. Date: 04/05/2024
UPC: 075597906196

• Genre: Alternative
• Format: Vinyl