Steady Rotation: Jack White's Blunderbuss

While these days I consider the White Stripes one of the best rock bands of the 21st century, I'll confess to never being the hugest White Stripes fan when they were in their prime. I really only started listening to them seriously in the past few years, after a viewing of the phenomenal film Under Great White Northern Lights (seriously, check it out, it's wonderful). Of course, songs like "10 Nation Army" and "Blue Orchid" were familiar to me, as they were to any kid who listened to music in the early 2000s. But sadly, I really only discovered the depth and brilliance of the Stripes after they were well on their way to dissolution. But out of the ashes of the Stripes' creative dissolution were born a pair of bands that I love, the Dead Weather and the Raconteurs, as well as the emergence of Jack White as one of the current shining lights in rock and roll. Hell, along with the Black Keys, White is literally keeping old fashioned, blue collar-esque rock alive and shaping it into something new and dangerous.

All of this is merely to preface the fact that I cannot stop listening to White's first solo album, Blunderbuss. I don't think it's the best album of this young year (we'll get to that in my next post), but it is certainly the one i've listened to the most, by a wide margin. Part of that is due to the extremely relatable nature of the album, at least to a middle class white kid from an urban area with artistic ambitions and a dash of self loathing. The album is exquisitely composed from start to finish, although some of the songs don't ever push past that - they are content to be good pieces of music, but not necessarily great songs. However, on the standout tracks, White's lyrics and emotion really bring the musical virtuosity to life. Some of my personal favorites include the title track "Blunderbuss", "I'm Shakin" (with a bo diddley shout out), "Hip Eponymous Poor Boy" and the standout (and last) track "Take Me with You When You Go".

As I said above, this isn't the best album of the year, or even the best album of Jack White's career. It never approaches the brilliance of some of the Stripes albums, nor the raw and grimy power of the Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards. Yet, it signals a wonderful new direction for White's music, and is an incredibly enjoyable album. Along with Hanni El Khatib's "When the Guns Come Out", "Blunderbuss" signals (to me, at least) the advent of a new strain of solo guitar rock, singer songwriters with honest, direct lyrics and honest, direct rock and roll instrumentation - able to switch from slow ballads to barn burners. Artists with dirty guitar rock in their souls who aren't afraid to wear their hearts on their torn and dirty sleeves. Reminiscent, in fact, of one of Jack White's heroes, another Midwesterner who made an indelible impact on American popular culture, Bob Dylan. As noted in the excellent NYT piece on White, he has always idolized Dylan - and it shows in this latest album. Pulling, in essence, a reverse of Dylan's 'Judas' moment, White is moving from heavy electric "Rock and Roll" towards something more personal, more composed and more mature. I'm really excited to hear where he goes next.

Next time on Red Hat Radio i'll be waxing rhapsodic about a few new hip-hop releases i'm loving; El-P's Cancer for Cure, Killer Mike's R.A.P Music and Ab Soul's #Control System .