Thickfreakness by The Black Keys

While the blues were being embalmed over on PBS, this twenty-something Akron white-boy duo released a great, contemporary blues album — to absolutely no acclaim. The Keys may pillage the occasional Stevie Ray Vaughn or Hendrix lick, but they're not playing the blues to be precocious. They're doing it because Dan Auerbach's rusty holler is 100% pure ache.

Best Tracks: "Thickfreakness," "Midnight in Her Eyes," "Hard Row"

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