The Black Keys are back with a new album, Dropout Boogie, due out on May 13 via Nonesuch (pre-order). Much of the record was recorded live in the studio, including a few first takes. “That’s always been the beauty of the thing Pat and I do. It’s instant,” Dan Auerbach says. “We’ve never really had to work at it. Whenever we’d get together, we’d just make music, you know? We didn’t know what we were going to do, but we’d just do it and it would sound cool. It’s the natural chemistry Pat and I have. Being in a band this long is a testament to that. It was a real gift that we were given. I mean, the odds of being plopped down a block-and-a-half from each other in Akron, Ohio – it just seems crazy.”
Dropout Boogie features contributions from Billy F. Gibbons (ZZ Top), Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound), and Angelo Petraglia (Kings of Leon). Cartwright and Petraglia both feature on the album's catchy first single, "Wild Child." Listen to that below. A video will premiere at 10 AM.
The Black Keys will be on tour with Band of Horses this summer, including NYC-area shows at Jones Beach on July 22 and NJ's PNC Bank Arts Center on July 23. All dates are listed below.