Birthday present

Jack White is an odd egg (which, I suppose, makes him an egg white) but he does make great music.

His latest side project is a mini-supergroup made up of bands from around Detroit - featuring Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence of the Green Hornes, Brendon Benson, and Jack White himself.

As you can see none of the constituent groups could previously have been considered super unless they were called the White Stripes. But that's by the by, as their first single Steady As She Goes is a fantastic slab of poppy punk.

White has always had a talent for melody but a seeming inability to finish writing a song. Luckily, the rest of the Raconteurs seem not to suffer from attention deficit order, and they've beautifully fleshed out this track without detracting from the raw power that makes the White Stripes so unique.

Various blogs have (rightly) commented on the intro's similarity to Joe Jackson's Is She Really Going Out With Him but in a world where every other guitar band is content to plagiarise Coldplay, and nobody but Coldplay, you have to admire White's sass. But don't say that phrase out loud. People might get the wrong idea.

By the way, it was my little sister who brought this song to my attention (noting that she'd 'already heard it twice' and was therefore 'much cooler' than me). Since I'll be missing her birthday next week, here's a cheeky download of the song especially for her. But don't expect it to be here for long - that White fellow is quite litigious, you know.

Steady As She Goes - get it here

Watch the video - on the Apple Quicktime website

The Raconteurs - fabulous retro website

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