Jack White's New Band Opens Strong

Jack White’s rise to stardom in the postmillennial world of the struggling blues rocker is “remarkable,” and he continues to “honor the blues’ authenticity” while also exploiting its “capacity for mythology” with his third project, writes Stuart Berman for Pitchfork. On Horehound, the Dead Weather—including members of the Raconteurs, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Kills—delves “even deeper into the blues’ swampy roots and devil’s-music deviancy.”

This time around, White is back on the drums, giving him “an even better vantage point to direct his cast”—which showcases lead vocalist Alison Mosshart and “her cat-in-heat performances,” occasionally on duets with White. If his “continued dominance over contemporary blues-rock is in fact the product of some deal with the devil—and if that means more bands as fully realized as the Dead Weather, let's hope that Beelzebub will consider a contract renewal.”