Black Key's Side Band The Arcs Outta This World

Since I don't have a readily available identification of who's playing what in Dan Auerbach's side outfit The Arcs I'm going to experiment this evening. This is free flow creativity giving the finger to how badly this may or may not suck. The drumming hypnotizes like an old-fashioned old pocket watch. Back and forth playing sinister games with your head. You've really got the sensation that one could manage a fair lot of pot smoking using this as the background. You don't have to dig very far to note the guitar playing pays homage to old school greatness. Is The Arcs "Outta My Mind" a decade defying juggernaut. Let's just say the tools are in the kit ready to be applied by the right steady hand. Dan's won over plenty of rock devotees as member of The Black Keys so nobody's likely going to give him much grief for opting to sashay into a made with love side project. There's much chord vitality at work. You and I get to wring out maximum bliss from each octave because The Arcs don't speed race through the technique. What draws me in is how smoky the attitude is. Dan's lyrics lean towards the perils of fame, one man who alienated everybody but he "made it" in the modern parlance, soul sold but pockets lined with baubles. His self control took a powder but everything he did just went and turned to gold. That sounds to me like an indictment of the record industry that doesn't even try to hide the contempt with which the industry is viewed. Grit predominates on this single. Can you smell the Dutch Masters smoke rings? Dan's to be lauded for incorporating some psychedelic haze into his overall body of work. The Keys forge straight ahead with their rock artistry. If "Outta My Mind" is any indication, The Arcs are apt to go on many winding, skull expanding side trips, each one captivating in its own way. Hearing the tune in its entirety I can't shake Lava Lamps. Everywhere in my cranium oozing, comfy, focus establishing liquid harmony. There are snacks scattered in this tightly wound tribute to inhaling for sheer pleasure. All signs hint at pretzels, chips and, yes, beer nuts. This demands (well, maybe) that the question be asked "Is 'Outta My Mind' a party record? Only if what we're celebrating is willingly being corrupted by a music industry happy to take no prisoners, give no quarter. Dave fancies himself a button pusher who does so to save his sanity. His Black Keys work errs high on grungy. The Arcs use the narcotic inspired backdrop to hydroplane smoothly across the lyric sheet. "Outta My Mind" gets into the vulnerable head spaces and jiggles as if its life were in the balance. Dan's extra identity serves to keep him relevant as the Black Keys cool their jets a spell.