''Ohio Players'' is the twelfth studio album by American rock duo

the Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...

. It was released on April 5, 2024, by Easy Eye Sound and

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

. It was preceded by lead single "Beautiful People (Stay High)" on January 12, 2024, and the second single "I Forgot to Be Your Lover", a cover of William Bell's 1968 song of the same title.

Critical reception

The album currently has a

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

score of 76, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' stated the presence of guest musicians such as

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

and

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

made ''Ohio Players'' "one of their best LPs". Several reviews positively noted the Black Keys' ability to reinvent their sound while remaining in touch with their garage rock and blues roots. A positive review from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' called the album "lively, fresh and colorful." A mixed review from ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' felt the guest musicians caused The Black Keys to be lost in their own album, and criticized the song "Beautiful People (Stay High)" for sounding as if it was AI generated and trying hard to appeal to "lifestyle brands". A mixed review from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called the album an "underwhelming diffusion of the band's once heady magic." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' in comparison found the album to be too familiar, and stated the album showed how "The Black Keys might have a killer record collection but ''Ohio Players'' is the work of a band who are perhaps too good at being themselves."

Track listing

Note * "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" is a cover of the song of the same name, written by William Bell and Booker T. Jones and performed by Bell.

Personnel

The Black Keys *

Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach (; born May 14, 1979) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has ...

– lead vocals, bass, electric guitar,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

(all tracks); Moog (tracks 6, 8, 10); claps, drum machine (6, 10);

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

, shaker (6);

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

(9),

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

(10) *

Patrick Carney Patrick James Carney (born April 15, 1980) is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. Early life Carney's father, Jim, is a retired reporter for the '' Akron Beacon Journ ...

– claps, drum machine, drums, production (all tracks); electric guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 9, 14),

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

(1, 5, 9, 12), Moog (1, 6, 9, 10, 13), Mellotron (2, 5), shaker (5, 9, 12),

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

(5, 9), synthesizer (12) Additional musicians * Andy Gabbard – backing vocals (tracks 1–6, 8, 10, 13), electric guitar (13) *

– backing vocals (tracks 1–3, 11, 13),

celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

keyboards (3), organ (10, 12), electric guitar (10), synthesizer (12), acoustic guitar (13) * Sam Bacco – shaker (tracks 1–3, 7, 9–11, 13), tambourine (1, 2, 5–7, 9, 10, 13), cowbell (1, 2, 8, 11, 13),

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

s (1, 7, 8),

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11), additional percussion (2, 9),

bongo drum Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

s (3, 9), bells (3), woodblock (5),

chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

(6),

wind chime Wind chimes are a type of percussion instrument constructed from suspended tubes, rods, bells or other objects that are often made of metal or wood. The tubes or rods are suspended along with some type of weight or surface which the tubes or rods ...

s (7, 13),

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

s (13) *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in Sou ...

– electric guitar (tracks 1–6, 8, 9, 11, 14), acoustic guitar (2) * Ray Jacildo – piano (tracks 1–3, 5, 11), Hammond organ (1, 2);

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

, Moog, organ,

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Wurlitzer organ The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

(2); Wurlitzer piano (3),

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

(6) * Mike Rojas – piano (tracks 1, 3–5, 7, 9, 11); Mellotron, Moog (1); strings (2); vibraphone, Wurlitzer (9) * Jake Botts –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

(tracks 2, 3) * Ray Mason – trombone (tracks 2, 3), trumpet (2) * Ashley Wilcoxson – backing vocals (tracks 3–5, 10, 11, 13, 14) * Leisa Hans – backing vocals (tracks 3–5, 10, 11, 13, 14) * Zach Gabbard – backing vocals (tracks 3, 8, 12), claps (3) * Chris St. Hilaire – claps (track 3), backing vocals (8, 12) *

Dan the Automator Daniel M. Nakamura better known by his stage name Dan the Automator, is an American record producer from San Francisco, California. He is the founder of the publishing company Sharkman Music and the record label 75 Ark. Early life Nakamura was bo ...

– samples (track 3) *

– backing vocals (tracks 4, 5, 9), electric guitar (4) *

Leon Michels Leon Marcus Michels is an American music producer, record executive, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known as the leader of the eclectic soul project El Michels Affair and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records. He ...

– electric guitar (tracks 4, 5, 9), organ (4, 5, 12); baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone (5, 9, 12); glockenspiel, Mellotron (5); Hammond organ,

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

, piano (9) * Trey Keller – backing vocals (track 5) *

Angelo Petraglia Angelo Petraglia (born May 5, 1954) is an American record producer and songwriter. He was a member of the new wave band Face to Face and is best known for his work with Kings of Leon. Early life He was born in the Bronx and grew up in Pelham, N ...

– electric guitar (track 6) * Kelly Finnegan – backing vocals, Hammond organ (track 7) * Tommy Brenneck –

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

, electric guitar (track 7) *

Matt Combs Matt Combs is an American studio musician, record producer, composer, arranger, and author in Nashville, Tennessee. Early life Growing up in Wichita, Kansas, his musical life began after seeing a performance by violinist Itzhak Perlm ...

– strings (track 7) * Aaron Frazer – backing vocals (track 10) *

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...

– backing vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, percussion, synthesizer (track 14) Technical * Dan the Automator – production (tracks 2, 3) * Greg Kurstin – production (track 14) *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

– mastering * Will Borza – mastering *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

– mixing * M. Allen Parker –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Liam Watson – engineering (tracks 4, 5, 9) * Greg Kurstin – engineering (track 14) * Julian Burg – engineering (track 14) * Matt Tuggle – engineering (track 14) * Caleb VanBuskirk – additional engineering * Trey Keller – additional engineering (tracks 4, 5, 9) * Michael Foster – additional engineering (track 10) * Matt Wolach – mixing assistance * Jonny Ullman – engineering assistance * McKinley James – engineering assistance * Andy Petr – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 5, 7, 12, 14) * Franky Fox – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 5, 7, 12, 14) * Travis Pavur – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 5, 7, 12, 14) * Tyler Zwiep – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 5, 7, 12, 14)

Charts

References

{{The Black Keys 2024 albums Albums produced by Dan the Automator The Black Keys albums Nonesuch Records albums Easy Eye Sound (record label) albums Albums recorded at Easy Eye Sound (studio)