Pages tagged “the raconteurs”

In the course of a 70-minute interview for Paste's July feature, the Raconteurs spoke on subjects ranging from tintype photography, Mike Wallace, words that end in -eur, and cleaning gutters. But as much as any other topic, they spoke about living and working in Nashville.

The Raconteurs have added 12 fall tour dates to their previously reported nationwide tour.

Jack White is not the same boy we've always known. Although he's played the part of both the coy adolescent and the Southern-gentleman-on-the-skids in the past, the lead White Stripe's work with the Raconteurs is perhaps most akin to late musical puberty. Given the former Jack Gillis' preoccupation with stage character, it doesn't seem far-fetched to hear the Raconteurs as an acknowledgment that White needed a new creative persona to deal with these tingly arena-rock feelings he's been having lately.

With a machine gun groove, parts of the album-opening title track on the quartet's surprise new release, Consolers of the Lonely, sound like the "love gun's loaded" bridge to Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom." And while one can easily imagine smoke machines spurting during many of the album's 13 other tracks, there is no irony in the mix. Just fun.

After all, it's White and the dudes: indie-pop charmer Brendan Benson and the Greenhornes' Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler. Sometimes, White and Benson play off each other in pleasingly predictable ways. On "You Don't Understand Me," they pull a Lennon/McCartney: White digs into a typical put-down ballad ("you don't understand me, but if the feeling was right, you might comprehend me") before they alight into a rich, obvious Benson chorus ("and there's always another point of view, a better way to do the things we do"), eventually combining to echo one another. There's also the spitfire joy of first single "Salute Your Solution" and plenty that sounds like it could've been on a Stripes disc, like the Stonesy refrain of "Hold Up."

They also seem a bit more ambitious, even employing horns. On "The Switch and the Spur," the brass adds mariachi flourishes, eventually building towards a Tenacious D finale ("as sure as the sun doth shine!"). But Benson's "Many Shades of Black" just as earnestly channels Stevie Wonder.

The negative space White carved between the Stripes' peppermint swirls remains such a strong gravitational force that it all but carries the record's first listens. Likewise, it is fine to declare, as the Raconteurs did in a press release, that they wanted "to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding its availability, reception, or perception." But it also helps if you're the Raconteurs and make big, joyous songs that sound, in the first anticipatory listens of early spring, like they have all the trappings of delicious summer jams.

The new Raconteurs album, Consolers of the Lonely, will be available everywhere in one week—from local vinyl stores to favorite (legal) digital sources for music. The band will also release a music video for the first single, “Salute Your Solution,” the day of the release.

Similar to the approach Radiohead and Trent Reznor took, this new business model only further illustrates the record industry's constant evolution. But with great change comes an opportunity to do things differently.

Thus, the Raconteurs seem to be seizing this opportunity to make a somewhat unprecedented move. As previously reported, last August, the band has been working on a second album. What is unusual is the band has opted to go forth with the 14-track sophomore release using more of a purist approach—no fanfare and very limited media attention. Abandoning the typical months of lag time makes sense in an era where radio seems all but irrelevant to the process anymore. Plus, the album will be the same beginning to end, no matter where it is purchased. That means no exclusive bonus tracks will be available via certain mass retailers.

The point: the band wants listeners to know that, to them, it is about the music.

“We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it's availability, reception or perception,” said the band in a press release.

The release also states that “the Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by its first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it.”

Essentially, the Raconteurs chose to release the album on March 25 because it was the earliest date that all of the available formats could be ready at virtually the same time (vinyl, CD, digital). Third Man Records is releasing the album globally alongside XL Recordings and Warner Bros. It was priority that consumers could have their choice of how to enjoy Consolers in every corner of the world.

“In Japan, fans will be able to download the record via their mobile phones, as that is how a majority of recorded music is consumed there,” they said in the release.

As for Jack White and the rest of the Raconteurs, they recommend enjoying the album by way of vinyl.

And if your favorite format happens to be live, they have that covered as well:

April
20 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
21 - Seattle, Wash. @ Neumo’s
22 - Portland, Ore. @ Wonder Ballroom
23 - San Francisco, Ca. @ Bimbo’s 365 Club
25 - Indio, Ca. @ Coachella
26 - Las Vegas, Nev. @ the Joint
28 - Denver, Co. @ the Fillmore Auditorium
29 - Kansas City, Mo. @ Uptown Theatre

May
1 - Dallas, Texas @ House of Blues
2 - Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s BBQ
3 - Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s BBQ
4 - New Orleans, La. @ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest

June
13 - Machester, Tenn. @ Bonnaroo
26 - Arendal, Norway @ Hove Festival

July
12 - Kinross, Scotland @ T in the Park
13 - Naas, Ireland @ Oxegen Festival

Related links:
TheRaconteurs.com
The Raconeurs’ MySpace
Paste: Jack White talks about Hank Williams album

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Award-winning director Jim Jarmusch has teamed up with cinematographer Christopher Doyle to direct the Raconteurs’ first video, “Steady As She Goes.” The video was shot in part by V-Cams from Toys R Us.

The Raconteurs played their first show yesterday in Liverpool, England. Their album, Broken Boy Soldiers, will be released on May 16.

Watch the video at theraconteurs.com.