Icky Thump

Performer: The White Stripes
Producer: Jack White III
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: The White Stripes: Jack White , Meg White. Following the arty explorations of its predecessor, GET BEHIND ME SATAN, ICKY THUMP finds everybody's favorite platinum-selling, post-modern garage-rock duo returning to their bang-and-stomp rock-&-roll roots. The marimbas and pianos of the former are kicked to the curb in favor of the kind of Led Zeppelin-in-a-trash-can riffs on which Jack and Meg White built their cooler-than-ice reputation. There's an overwhelming sense of urgency and catharsis on most tracks, as on the title cut, where Jack's Robert Plant-ish wail falls into a near-rap full of breathless cadences. That dirty, primal groove evoked by said title is the organizing principle of the album, sweaty blues-rock writ large and gritty. Even though there are a couple of brief stylistic diversions when the Whites veer into folkier territory, there's no mistaking ICKY THUMP's status as a thick slab of heavy rock capable of handily crushing lesser sonic statements.

Rolling Stone (p.69) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Jack hauled more than bagpipes to his garage to make ICKY THUMP, which is easily his loudest album....Like his sometime heroes, Led Zeppelin, Jack White builds monuments." Rolling Stone (p.110) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "Delta-garage wallop made from the fewest, finest ingredients." Entertainment Weekly (p.68) - "Whether howling or crooning, picking or ripping, Jack comes across as earnest and fully invested in every ICKY moment." -- Grade: A Uncut (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "By turns direct, quizzical, loose, and intense, it's more eclectic in terms of approach than any previous White Stripes recording." Vibe (p.72) - "THUMP is a return to form....It sounds like everything here was written on a guitar, bursting with razor-wire anthems..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.57) - "[T]he most obvious inspiration throughout is Led Zeppelin....It confirms Detroit's biggest band as a singular talent and a genuinely great American band." Q (Magazine) (p.88) - Ranked #02 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "[A] classic White Stripes record."

Amidst a field overcrowded with teen-pop and nu-metal, Detroit's White Stripes emerged at the tail end of the 1990s as a new hope for gutsy, no-frills rock & roll. Their doggedly minimalist sound--just one guitar and a drum kit--heralded a return to the raw, gritty garage-rock of the '60s and early '70s, as practiced by such hometown acts as the venerable MC5 and the Stooges. Even the band's image was striking, as Meg and Jack White employed only primary colors in their wardrobe. Reinventing blues riffs for the 21st century in a sonically crushing rock context, they could be either the Led Zeppelin of the modern age or the little siblings of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but either way, they make a glorious racket.

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