Icky Thump

13 June 2007

I just got back from seeing The White Stripes perform a tiny – for them at least – gig at the Rivoli Ballroom, deep in the depths of nowhere (i.e. South London).

Unsurprisingly, they were utterly amazing.

Every time I see The White Stripes live I’m just bowled over by how good they are, and this was no exception. Jack White is simply one of the best guitar players of all time, and the format of him and Meg just works so well. The key thing that elevates it all above the best of the rest is the spontaneity – they’re quite happy to switch songs halfway though, without missing a beat, or rework a classic seemingly on the fly: they shifted from ‘Apple Blossom’ seamlessly to ‘Hardest Button to Button’, but to make it work ‘Hardest Button to Button’ – one of their larger hits – was in a completely different time signature and key.

In many ways Meg is the perfect foil to Jack; where he is on the ragged edge, cheap guitars and lots of distortion – using his skill to get him out of any sticky situations – Meg is the opposite; simple (although clean may be a better word), controlled and measured.

The new album ‘Icky Thump’ is out next week – not to be confused with the single ‘Icky Thump’ out this week – is a glorious return to form. I’ll be honest: I’m not the biggest “Get Behind Me Satan” fan. It was too experimental – but not in a good way – for my tastes; if I was to try and pin-point the problem, I think it’s that it sounds fun for the musician playing it, but not really for the listener. I’m not against experimentation, as long as it’s not self-centered, selfish experimentation.

Icky Thump is a whole different kettle of fish; yes, in places it is very experimental, but in contrast to the previous album it sounds like they were trying to find an interesting sound for the listener, instead of for themselves, and it really pays off. This is definitely up there with both Elephant and the self-titled debut, which are my favorite Stripes albums.

The other big change with Icky Thump is that the guitars are back. It was incredibly relieving, I have to say, after the piano and organ biased ‘Satan, but they are back, and they sound better then ever. If I had to pick out tracks I’d probably choose ‘Little Cream Soda’ as my pick of the bunch – it has some of the best guitar riffs that they’ve ever committed to tape.

It’s turning into a very good year for new albums by existing artists. Last year we went through a bit of a patch of disappointing albums by established names, but this year we’ve had crackers from LCD Soundsystem, Modest Mouse, Queens of the Stone Age ( ‘Era Vulgaris’, which is also out this week ) and now The White Stripes as well.

The White Stripes performing Icky Thump on Later With Jools Holland:

From: Articles

13 June 2007