Chris Schulz: The Black Keys - Peaches!

Early fans of The Black Keys will be delighted by the duo’s latest release. 

‘Peaches!’ is the 14th studio album from the American rock duo, a live-recorded covers album returning to their blues roots. 

Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to give his thoughts on the release. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks at b OH.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's good night. That kind of grungey sound that she
does it right By the Black Keys, they've got a
brand new album. It's called Peaches, their fourteenth studio album.
Chris Shultz, our musical viewer, is here with us this morning.
Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I don't think I've presented a more perfect Saturday soundtrack
to you than that. That is what I want to
hear in the coffee and my pastry when the sun's
out on a Saturday morning.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Interesting that it covers right, this is.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's the second covers five years, which always screams like
stop gap to me or contract negotiations, like there's some
kind of album that needs to be fulfilled here, let's
toss out a covers album. This isn't that. So this
is Patrick Karney and Dan Auerback, the Ohio duo been
around a very long time. Dan Auerback's father had a

(01:25):
terminal illness and he was struggling with that. So Patrick
dragged him into the studio and said, let's just do
this for the hell of it. Let's have some fun.
Let's play our favorite songs. And so this is all
recorded live and you can hear that spirit. It sounds fun,
it's got d energy there. I actually played this back
to back with their first album, right, and it matches
that brilliantly, Like this just pairs up with it. They've

(01:47):
picked these songs that just match their kind of blues
rock sound and it's delightful. I think a covers album
can only ever really be a three star album. You
know it's not in original.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but this is a really.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Good three star covers album.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
This doesn't feel like it's just a stop gap. It
doesn't feel like it's just a plugging a whole like
oh hey, oh yeah, yeah, now this is music that
we really love. It doesn't feel like they're just kind of.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Not at all invaded in they have made those albums
like Black Keys are in a really weird spot. They
haven't embraced nostalgia like a lot of their peers. They're
not on the road like Kings of Leon.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
But that does sound quite that. Even that sound right there,
that little snippet did feel like early Black Keys to me.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Percent.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Yes, they should totally be doing that. Yeah, they do
have some reservations about touring like they used to tour
all the time. They played some incendiary shows at the
King's Arms here in Auckland back in the early days.
Their last show yere was twenty fifteen at Spark Arena.
They just don't like touring and they've made some really
weird decisions, like they they played a cryptocurrency convention for

(02:48):
the dollars you know that those things.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
But if you don't, I mean, they're tours and touring
the way that artists make money these days. He's like
to totally be doing it.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I want the old Camino tour. I want the Brothers
to you know these They've got these classic albums. They've
never played like a full album, you know, done that
full album tour. Yep, it's no shame in that anymore.
You can do that. Everyone's doing that. Those fans want that.
I would. I would totally go to that show. But
also I would I would go to this show.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
This sounds yeah, great, yeah, fantastic. Okay, I'm looking forward
to having a bit more of a listen to it
as a whole. What did you give the Black Keys
peaches for it? Spoiled?

Speaker 3 (03:24):
It's three stars, but it's a really good three stars.
I will be getting this on final Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh okay, Yeah, that's very good. So we're gonna have
to listen to that in a couple of minutes. We'll
pick out another song to play from the album in
a couple of minutes close out the show this morning.
But we wanted to ask you about the Tate Music
Prize this week. I didn't realize you were a judge. Yeah,
that's cool.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I'm not allowed to say too much, but it was
very passionate and anyone could have won that award. Marlin
Williams took it out with to Fuddy to Wickerwiker. I
believe we have some audio.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
We're going to Yeah, this is so. This is Marlon
Williams acceptance speech. He was in Norway when the winners
were announced this week, but this is Marlon Williams accepting
the Tit Music Prize for T Fuddy T.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Wickerwiker.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Thank you very much for this incredible award. Tate Prize
is a very illustrious and then prestigious thing and a
get their Momahata Dylan Tate into the Tate family. Thank
you for your legacy not only with this award but
also with the incredible standard you brought to journalism in

(04:26):
New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Oh no, so that's that's Marlon Williams accepting the Tate
Music Prize for We Wiker. I know you can't say much,
but was it like just being the guy in charge
of fascinating?

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Well, it takes a couple of hours. Everyone gets in
a room and you just bash it out together. Yeah.
There were ten finalists. Oh wow, and everyone gets a
chance to say their peace about each of them. I
don't think anyone could argue with Marlon Williams taking it.
It seemed like an obvious choice in the end. He
was up against some really good talent, you know, Reb Fountain,
the com punk band Dick Move, Tom Scott was up there,

(05:00):
to the Wellington artist Mars. She's also incredible. But Marlon
will spent six years learning a new language. It's entirely
in today. Yeah, and I don't know about you, Jack,
but learning a language is hard.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I know.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Writing a whole album and then presenting it like he
is is another thing. So this is also he said,
this is kind of the last we're going to hear
from him for a while. He's got a couple of
he's got a few shows coming up in New Zealand
in March, and then he is taking a good long break,
the first break his hand, he said, since he left
school right so I had a look yesterday. There's only
a few tickets left for those shows. They're going to

(05:36):
be really popular, especially after this one.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
So fantastic.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
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