Print Tease: The Black Keys – 1982

This is a preview of the new Print Tease feature on Live Music Blog. Beginning Monday, each week I’ll be looking at a new poster that’s caught my eye, usually for a recent or upcoming gig. Tons of great posters are being produced every week for concerts all across the country and world; hopefully these quick posts will show you some new artists and some exciting prints. Let me know what you think about my picks, and if something has recently held your attention, let us know about it.

The Black Keys are back. Their latest record, Attack and Release, hit stores this past Tuesday and I’ve been loving the album. It is classic, raw Black Keys, but the production by Danger Mouse really invigorates a band I thought had gotten a little stale.

The Keys are on tour, and although I missed their appearances at SXSW, I have been hearing good things. They have also had some nice posters made for them in the past, but along with the fancy new production, it looks like they’ll be bringing some fancy new posters with them on tour.

I saw this poster pop up on the web yesterday and couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Designed for their show tomorrow at The Showbox in Seattle, it is a collaboration between two great artists, Nate Duval and Jon Smith. Although Nate and Jon both have been successful on their own, they’ve done a number of collaborations under the title of 1982.

What I love about this poster is that it effectively brings together the dichotomy of the new Keys sound, and melds the individual style’s of Nate and Jon so well. The background pattern of the poster, bisecting circles, is a Nate Duval staple. Those patterns always remind of a funky, lounge-y feeling, in line with Danger Mouse’ production flourishes. But it’s printed here in muted blues and greens that speak to the Key’s blues revivalist sound.

The same can be said about the portraits of guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. They are rendered to look like stained glass (the old), but updated in a bright and fractured style (the new), with almost fluorescent colors which can be found all over Jon Smith’s posters. To me this poster is a great representation of where The Black Keys are musically right now. Plus you can expect a lot more Keys posters to come. It sounds like they’ve been trying to set up posters for all their gigs on this tour, including a seven-poster series from Dan Grzeca which is sure to impress.

So what do you think, LMB audience? Does it work for you?