the black keys / albums

2,925,292 plays
509 SHARES
2,278 FAVS
337 fans

- Chulahoma
- - 52,598 plays
  - 12 favs
  - 1 shares
The Black Keys
Released 2006

Have Mercy on Me
04:42
8,636 plays

Keep Your Hands off Her
03:06
8,610 plays

Nobody But You
05:21
7,964 plays

- Add to cart
- buy
- share

songs

- 1
- Keep Your Hands off Her
- 03:06
- 8,610 plays

- 2
- Have Mercy on Me
- 04:42
- 8,636 plays

- 3
- Work Me
- 04:15
- 7,655 plays

- 4
- Meet Me in the City
- 03:38
- 10,186 plays

- 5
- Nobody But You
- 05:21
- 7,964 plays

- 6
- My Mind Is Ramblin'
- 06:45
- 7,443 plays

- 7
- [Untitled Track]
- 00:32
- 2,105 plays

album review

Chulahoma is a stopgap EP from the Black Keys, a collection of six covers of songs by cult bluesman Junior Kimbrough, whose "Do the Rump" they covered on their 2002 debut, Big Come Up. Considering that this is the first time the blues-rock guitar-n-drums duo has devoted an album to nothing but straight-ahead blues songs, it wound seem logical that Chulahoma would be the bluesiest recording in their catalog, but the Black Keys aren't that simple. The six songs on this 28-minute EP are hardly replications of Kimbrough's gritty originals, nor do they have the dirty, punch-to-the-gut feel of any of the duo's three proper albums. Instead, this is the weirdest set of music the band has done to date, a trippy, murky excursion into territory that floats somewhere between the primal urgency of the duo's best work and the dark, moody psychedelia of late-'60s blues-rock. Take "Have Mercy on Me" -- its winding, narcotic blues groove settles into a bed of droning organ and bongos, but the interplay between guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney prevents it from sounding as affected as psychedelia, while infusing it with a real sense of danger. That unsettling undercurrent flows throughout this brief EP, and it makes Chulahoma an album that's ideal for pitch-black nights, where the music can worm its way into your imagination and then run wild. That alone would make it a unique, noteworthy detour for the Black Keys, but when this is compared to Kimbrough's original recordings, it becomes an instructive listen since a side-by-side listen reveals how Auerbach drew inspiration from Kimbrough's stripped-down, idiosyncratic grooves and took it into some place entirely different. And while that might mean that Chulahoma doesn't necessarily sound like a kissing cousin to Kimbrough's originals, it does make it a greater, richer tribute than most cover albums, and it certainly proves that Auerbach's testimonial in the liner notes about how Junior Kimbrough changed his life is no lie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

more albums by this artist

See all

- - Attack & Release
  - Released 2008

- - Magic Potion
  - Released 2006

- - The Big Come Up
  - Released 2002

- - Thickfreakness
  - Released 2003

listener reviews

- - The Album That Got Away
  - - By OG Phenix
    - 3/12/2009 10:45:43
  - In the notes for this Record, The Black Keys state that the work of Junior Kimbraugh led them to quit college to make music. Listening to this albulm, one can almost picture their starry-eyed apprecition of Kimbrough's work. This albulm is a a labor of love, pure and simple.
    
    Slow, smoldering, and undeniably powerful, this albulm stands as one of their finest works. Even if you're not a fan of Kimbroughs' originals, Auerbachs' more moody interpretation makes these covers sound distict from the originals.
    
    Appreciative to the source, but not slavishly so, the record stands as perhaps the finest kind of tribute- the one where you can visualize the cover artist, striving for years to sound like the original. Listening to the original and then the cover, you can hear precisely where Auerbach took a musical cue from Kimbrough, and where he truely owned the song for his own band. Patrick Carney is once again magnificent on the drums, finding a smooth line between powerful strokes and the slow beats demanded by this record.
    
    Simply put, a must-own record for any fan of the Black Keys, Junior Kimbrough, or any fan of blues rock. Don't let this album be the one that got away.
  - 1 out of 1 people
  - think this is useful