New Jack White: Frozen Charlotte

If I was forced to write four word review of Jack White's new album, Frozen Charlotte, it would go like this: Heavy, grooving, fuzzy, classic.

Jack White [Tape Op #82] has a knack for keeping music simple and boiled down to the basics. Heavy riffs, fat grooves, headbanging tempos, and great tones. Frozen Charlotte delivers all of the above from start to finish. It sounds like just what it is; a tight band captured live. There are wisps of The Stooges, The Who, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top, Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, and Thin Lizzy. The playing throughout is fantastic, in the pocket, and although the tones are generally "classic" sounding, the guitar and bass sounds range from firmly rooted in the '60s and '70s to moments of interstellar alien planet Whammy pedal space lasers.

Fans of guitar heroics will be satisfied by the amount of epic solos, but the songs still maintain an element of the punk rock aesthetic, and are generally compact offerings.

Frozen Charlotte was produced by Jack White, engineered by Bill Skibbe [Tape Op #44], mixed by Jack White and Bill Skibbe, and mastered by Skibbe.