Released to widespread critical acclaim in December, El Camino debuted at # 2 on the Billboard Top 200 and has already been certified Platinum in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, and Gold in France, the UK and US amongst others. Produced by Danger Mouse and The Black Keys, the 11-track album was recorded in the band’s new hometown of Nashville during the spring of 2011. El Camino includes the hit single Lonely Boy, the video for which has been viewed 17 million times on YouTube and nominated for an MTV Music Video Award, as well as Gold On The Ceiling, which the band recently performed with Johnny Depp at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. The new single, Little Black Submarines, was released on October 8.
Describing the sound of the album, drummer Patrick Carney told Rolling Stone, “Every record, we figure out the mood and stick with that. With Brothers, we were listening to a lot of hip-hop and old R&B and drawing from that. This is the first record we’ve made where it’s all rock & roll.” And in an interview with Spin Magazine Auerbach said: “I’ve never been into guitar solos. I really like when every instrument in the band is a rhythm instrument. This record has a lot of that going on - guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards all working together as a rhythm instrument. But unlike Brothers, which has more of these slower songs with an open feeling, [the new LP] is definitely fast.”
The Black Keys - Akron, OH natives Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney - released their debut album, The Big Come Up, in 2002, followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004). In 2006 they signed to Nonesuch Records in the US and released their fourth album, Magic Potion, which was followed by the Danger Mouse-produced Attack & Release in 2008. El Camino is the first Black Keys album Nonesuch released worldwide.
