DAN-TASTIC!

Auerbach’s best bits, with The Black Keys and beyond.

THE BLUES EXPLOSION

The Black Keys Chulahoma FAT POSSUM, 2006

This 29-minute parting gift to Fat Possum, as Carney and Auerbach departed to record Magic Potion with major Nonesuch, somehow captures their explosive early-years blues power the best. Auerbach’s guitar-playing is mesmerising, Zuma-esque, across six full-blooded covers of his hero, Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough. In his linernotes, he describes himself as “blessed with some sort of mind and heart connection to the vibrations I find in the music I love.” Roger to that.

THE GROOVE GODSEND The Black Keys Brothers NONESUCH, 2010

Hard to resent the duo’s breakthrough on this flat-out classic. Brothers is all about the Keys’ transcendence of the garage-blues niche, into funk, soul and outright pop, all underscored by their mastery of full-thrust groove. Worth flagging up Auerbach’s voice, too: Duane Eddy recently compared his singing to Ray Charles and George Jones – versatility, from falsetto to gutsy roar, that’s a crucial asset.

THE POP PRODUCTION Lana Del Rey Ultraviolence POLYDOR, 2014

The most glamorous entry on Auerbach’s production CV is also his most impressive. It was a tough gig: expectation was feverish after Del Rey’s slo-mo torch-pop debut, Born To Die, had established her as an overnight international star. Nevertheless, Auerbach fearlessly supplanted her Lynchian template with the subtly warmer, Axelrod-esque sound of his Arcs combo, felt via in-the-room flourishes of orchestration, reverb guitar, and analogue keyboards. Testament, indeed, to the man’s iron will.