The Black Keys - Brothers

After years of making spare blues-rock records, something happened to the Black Keys: they recorded with Danger Mouse, then Wu-Tang members and Mos Def, and Dan Auerbach released a soulful – if a little scattershot – solo joint. All these things seem to come to a head on Brothers, a second Mouse-produced disc. Because, even though the boys still have brilliant blues chops, this album’s as funky as week-worn socks.

Long down-tuned self recorders, the Akron duo now have a fuller sound; they’re not afraid to bring in session bass and keys, which help in smoked-out juke-joint jams such as Next Girl and Too Afraid to Love You. Diversifying further, Never Give You Up conjures 60s northern soul spectres – something King Khan might be jealous of for his playbook – and lead-off track Everlasting Light sounds akin to a Prince outtake.

The Keys sound like they're morphing into a bold new beast, but if this slab of wax is any indication they’ll keep putting quality over experimentation every time. [Jason Morton]