Now that the holidays have passed and we’re in that grey, horrible grip of winter signalling the slow slog that is January (and February, for that matter), I found myself succumbing to SAD – seasonal affect disorder. If you’re a fellow suffer, you’re not alone… reach out if you need help. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to survive all of these sub zero temps and frigid arctic air…then this morning we had an ice storm…Yay! The answer for me, at least in 2024, in terms of getting through this time of year has been a plethora of new rock n roll!! Music is always the answer. Accompanying the snow flurries that many of us have suffered has been a flurry of new music! We’ve had new songs – and better yet, the songs herald new LPs on the way – from the Black Crowes (“Wanting And Waiting”) and Liam Gallagher/John Squire (“Just Another Rainbow”) to name but a few.

Around the same time I discovered that first new Crowes song in 15 years, I stumbled upon a new song from the Black Keys, “Beautiful People (Stay High).” B&V hasn’t been around that long and this new album Ohio Players will be the 4th album from these guys in that short time span. They’re so old school they’re cranking consistently kick ass music out almost every year! We’ve had Let’s Rock (2019), their blues covers LP Delta Kream (2021), and the great Dropout Boogie (2022). That’s not counting a solo Dan Auerbach LP, Waiting On A Song. They’re describing the upcoming Ohio Players as their “party record” and I don’t know about you, I’m ready for a good party. If “Beautiful People (Stay High)” is any indication, this feels like it’s going to be a pretty wild party indeed!

Ohio Players – I love that name, as I loved the soul band from the 70s, the Ohio Players… their LP covers got me through puberty – will see the Black Keys (Dan Auerbach, guitar/vocals; Pat Carney, drums) coming full circle. They collaborated on the upcoming disc with Beck, the man who took them out on tour as opening act early in the Keys career. I read somewhere that Pat Carney, then but a young man, got backstage at a Beck concert and actually got to meet Beck, his first celebrity “brush with fame.” The Keys had been talking about collaborating with Beck for 20 years and they finally made it happen. I’ve been leaning into Beck’s more acoustic stuff of late, like his song from last year, “Thinking About You,” but I’ve always dug his upbeat stuff like Odelay. He certainly brings his upbeat side to “Beautiful People (Stay High).” It’s one of two songs the Black Keys and Beck wrote together. I don’t know if Beck was involved in the production or not… I would suspect so.

The track starts off with a choppy, Beck-ish beat complete with handclaps and funky guitar… several funky guitars. It sounds like Beck sings the opening line, “All those beautiful people say, Hey, all those beautiful people stay high.” Beck’s voice falls away and then Auerbach sings the verses. The track has a big “Na na na, never comin’ back down,” in the chorus that I’m guessing will soon be sung by everyone in the arena. I’m not known for my prowess on the dance floor (I’m a wallflower), but if this track doesn’t get you up and moving around, you might require the services of a medical professional. There are horns and back up singers and about everything else you can imagine. This is a big noisy, slinky rock n roll song. Here’s the video.

The lyric, “Hard as it’s been to begin once again, Just a friend on the wind seekin’ shelter, There’s a crack in the sky and a light from on high, I get higher and higher when I’m with her,” may just be how I felt when I first met my wife. This is the sound of a man coming out of the darkness and back into the light. I could imagine John Travolta and Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction getting down on the dancefloor to this song. Although the influence of Beck is stamped on this song, I still get the underpinnings of that blues rock vibe that the Keys specialize in.

For my money, the Black Keys are one of the best bands around these days. They still play that great ol’ blues based rock n roll. They are just consistently great. I love that they’re expanding their sound pallet and bringing some funky Beck influenced groove to the party.

Stay warm, stay safe, it’s awful wintertime but we’re almost through January. There’s more new music popping out this January than I’ve ever seen… even I’m having trouble keeping up, but I sure like trying to!

Cheers!