Sampling: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

THE WHITE STRIPES
ICKY THUMP
THIRD MAN/WARNER BROS. 2007

By Nick McGregor

As The White Stripes celebrate their 10th anniversary this year, it’s time we reflect on what this little garage band from Detroit has done for modern music. Forget the early years’ melding of punk, blues and rock; ignore the later mixtures of country, folk and pop; and look past the contemporary juxtaposition of Celtic and Latin themes. What this duo has done, from humble beginnings to international stardom, is remain committed to their musical vision, record companies and critical acclaim be damned. Of course, their success has made them darlings of the music industry. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a band with the same combination of sustained prosperity and unbridled creativity.

So where does their latest release Icky Thump stand? Well, besides venturing across the usual ground of plodding Sabbath-like metal on the title track, Delta blues-inspired freak-outs on “Catch Hell Blues,” and staggering garage stomps on “Bone Broke,” the new album explores uncharted regions of galloping bagpipes on “Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn” and psychotic flamenco/mariachi/lounge combinations on “Conquest.” Jack’s buzzing guitar solos gain battering-ram power from jagged synthesizer effects, and his multifaceted voice shifts from spoken-word ditties like “Rag and Bone” to the confrontational narrative of “Little Cream Soda” and into quavering mountain simplicity on “Effect and Cause.” There are low points on Icky Thump, but as any experienced fan will tell you, the downtime (in this case, only about two minutes) is bracketed by another 40 minutes or so of unimpeded brilliance.

So how to evaluate The White Stripes after 10 years? A large chunk of indie fans wistfully recall the days around 2000 when the Stripes were “theirs”, and not so beholden to hordes of global fans clamoring for all things red (or black, or white, or whatever color scheme the Stripes chose for their latest tour). But Icky Thump is, whether we realize it or not, another notch in an immense and extraordinary discography representative of American music. If you’re not already on the program, Icky Thump is an excellent primer. If you are, keep reveling in how lucky we are to have artists like The White Stripes around.