Black Keys Still 'Evolving' On Brothers Follow-Up

The Black Keys typically keep it simple: two guys, drums, guitars and thick slabs of bluesy goodness. They also keep it quick, which explains how the duo has already recorded their follow-up to 2010's breakthrough album, Brothers, according to drummer Patrick Carney.  

"We just finished making a new album. So that's going to come out either later this year or early next year," Carney told of the seventh disc from the group fronted by guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach. The band spoke to us on the black carpet of the VMAs, where they were up for Best Rock Video for "Howlin' for You" but lost out to veteran rockers the Foo Fighters.

After producing their first four albums by themselves, the Keys hooked up with studio wiz Danger Mouse for 2008's Attack & Release and then again on Brothers.

"He's a really good friend of ours and he's super talented. It's always ... interesting," Carney said, pondering the best way to describe working with the Gnarls Barkley producer who has expanded his résumé lately to include work with U2, Broken Bells and Italian composer Daniele Luppi. "It's comfortable, but at the same time difficult because he does push us to do things we normally wouldn't do."

Asked how their latest hook-up with Danger will push their mix of blues and garage rock forward, Carney said, "I hope it sounds different enough that people see that ... we're still evolving."

In a recent interview with Voir Quebec, Auerbach described the sound as "more guitar rock 'n roll," citing the Clash, Rolling Stones and the Cramps as influences.

In the meantime, the Keys are revisiting their Blakroc collaborative series with hip-hop boss Damon Dash with the upcoming Blakroc 2. According to a just released teaser video for the second album in the series, they will be joined this time around by Wiz Khalifa, Talib Kweli, U-God, Curren$y, Jim Jones, the Cool Kids, Jay Electronica, OC and Sean Price. No release date has been announced for the album yet.

The first Blakroc album, released in 2009, featured collaborations with Raekwon, RZA and ODB, Jim Jones, Q-Tip, Mos Def and Ludacris.