Ohio Players

The Black Keys kick off the New Year with the release of their new single ‘Beautiful People (Stay High)’.  The song arrives alongside the announcement of the multiple-Grammy Award-winning, Akron, Ohio natives’ twelfth studio album, Ohio Players. 

Written by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney with longtime friends Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and Beck, the celebratory, joyful ‘Beautiful People (Stay High)’ is one of several songs on the album that feature collaborations between the band and various additional friends and colleagues, including Noel Gallagher, Greg Kurstin, and others.  Speaking on the collaborative nature of the album, Carney shares, “We had this epiphany: ‘We can call our friends to help us make music.’  It’s funny because we both write songs with other people – Dan all the time [as a solo artist and producer], me when I'm producing a record.  That’s what we do.”

Auerbach adds, “No matter who we work with, it never feels like we're sacrificing who we are. It only feels like it adds some special flavor.  We just expanded that palette with people we wanted to work with.  We were there to support them and their ideas, to do whatever we could to see that moment flourish.  But when it came time to finish the album, it was just Pat and me.  We'd never worked harder to make a record,” he continues.  “It's never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.”

“What we wanted to accomplish with this record was make something that was fun,” Carney says.  “And something that most bands 20 years into their career don’t make, which is an approachable, fun record that is also cool.”

While making Ohio Players, a title inspired by the legendary Dayton, OH funk band of the same name, The Black Keys were also DJing dance parties in cities around the world that they called “record hangs”, spinning 45s from their own eclectic and growing collections.  Mojo reports, ‘The spirit of those parties infused the album’s DNA.  ‘That’s been the fun of it,’ [says] Auerbach. ‘Letting go a little bit.’”

2LP (Trophy Edition):

This deluxe edition of the band’s twelfth studio album is a two LP set, in a gatefold jacket, with an alternate cover and new album sequencing.  The set includes a new song, ‘Mi Tormenta’ featuring the band’s singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and DannyLux both singing in Spanish, a first on a Black Keys record.  Other special guests on the new Trophy Edition tracks, in addition to the many collaborations on the original Ohio Players songs, include Alice Cooper and Beck.

Tracklist

LP/CD:
This Is Nowhere    
Don’t Let Me Go    
Beautiful People (Stay High)    
On The Game    
Only Love Matters    
Candy and Her Friends    
I Forgot To Be Your Lover    
Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)    
You’ll Pay    
Paper Crown    
Live Till I Die    
Read Em And Weep    
Fever Tree    
Every Time You Leave

2LP (Trophy Edition):
Side A:
1.     This Is Nowhere
2.     Don’t Let Me Go
3.     Beautiful People (Stay High)
4.     On The Game

Side B:
1.     Sin City*
2.     Candy And Her Friends (feat. Lil Noid)
3.     Read Em And Weep
4.     I Forgot To Be Your Lover
5.     Only Love Matters

Side C:
1.     Every Time You Leave
2.     Mi Tormenta (feat. DannyLux)*
3.     You’ll Pay
4.     Paper Crown (feat. Beck and Juicy J)

Side D:
1.     Live Till I Die
2.     Stay in Your Grave (feat. Alice Cooper)*
3.     Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)
4.     Fever Tree
5.     I’m With The Band (feat. Beck)*

*Previously unreleased