The guitar is more than just an instrument comprised of six strings, but rather and extension of one’s personality. A device when skillfully played transforms an ordinary ‘John Doe’ into a mythical gunslinger. White Stripes guitarist Jack White doesn’t create sonic poetry in the tradition of Jimi Hendrix. His abrasive style generates Earthquakes that makes your head pulsate with sounds you never thought could exist in today’s current pop landscape.
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The White Stripes |  Entertainment
Art
"Icky Thump"
(Warner Bros)
Released June 19, 2007
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For the better part of a decade, The White Stripes have recorded some of the best music despite the music industry’s shortcomings. True, their previous release Get Behind Me Satan wasn’t the rock and roll powerhouse we expected from the Detroit duo. But that particular album showed a band willing to buck all conventions and make a record that could be exciting without all the constraints of a market driven by singles, downloads, and actors turned singers.
Their sixth album Icky Thump is a return to the reverb-soaked sound of their self-titled debut album which was released in 1999. But things are a little bit different.
“There comes a time when you just want to explore the creativity of a studio,” said Jack White in a recent interview.
The music of Icky Thump incorporates sounds such as bagpipes, a horn player, and a wicked synth solo on the album’s title track. Meg and Jack have always done a fantastic job in leading their audience to places they’ve never been to before, but on this record they’re taking us back to the days when they were just an upcoming band from Detroit with just a pinch of eccentricity at the end. It’s as if Meg and Jack purposely recorded an album to please both sectors of their fanbase. One group which has followed the band by accident due to the catchy hit single of 2001, “Fell in Love with the Girl.” The other group made up of indie rock fans who wondered if the White Stripes would ever return to that aggressive sound of their first release. That’s not to say the duo’s music doesn’t rock as a whole, it was just a question of when they would revisit their indie roots.
The album’s opener is vintage White Stripes. Meg and Jack just don’t knock on your door they barge in unexpectedly and leave you in shambles. “Icky Thump” is a monster of a song with a swipe at those who fear illegal immigrants - “White Americans, what?/Nothing better to do/Why don’t you kick yourself/You’re an immigrant too”.
“Rag and Bone” is a witty number sung by both Meg and Jack about door-to-door junk collectors. The song “Conquest” originally performed by Patti Page is an anti-sexist romp that features an exciting battle between Jack and trumpeter Regulo Aldama . “Catch Hell Blues” is Jackie White at his best, playing white-hot blues with the passion of a man still troubled by the hellhound on his trail. “Prickly Thorn but Sweetly Worn” and “St. Andrew (This Battle Is In the Air)” are tracks that give an ode to Jack and Meg’s Scottish ancestry. And, don’t let the title “Little Cream Soda” fool you. This number features a slashing, hardcore metal riff that would put many of the current so-called metal groups to shame.
The greatness of the White Stripes is their ability to create great music out of the bare essentials - guitar, drum kit, and analog tape. The biggest complaint is that they’re too minimalist. Those critics are correct in their opinions and, what’s even more accurate is that Meg isn’t a great drummer. But Rock and Roll isn’t about bloated solos or massive egos or even larger than life hit singles. It’s about the core. The striped down ingredients that make a kid stuck in his room believe that he can change the world with his or her guitar.
The White Stripes are the last of that breed. And, Icky Thump is a remarkable testament to their love for the genre.
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