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So much so that The Raconteur and White Striper wrote a poem about it and sent it off to the Detroit Free Press.  “The following poem is the Detroit from my mind,” he said. “The Detroit that is in my heart. The home that encapsulates and envelops those who are truly blessed with the experience of living within its boundaries.”  So essentially, it’s a rose-tinted Detroit.  Read “Courageous Dream’s Concern” here.

Kate Nash, whom we sorta love for all her charms and whimsy, put out a pretty good debut album, Made of Bricks. Nash writes songs that recall the kind of childlike moments when you spin and spin and spin in one place and it’s all very fun and makes you fall apart on the ground.

It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. Here, however, covering The White Stripes’s “Seven Nation Army” she’s playing it absolutely straight. Just banging on the piano and accompanied with the drums. She manages to strip the song of it’s furor and anger, exemplified by Jack White’s ripping it up. Instead of a song that fills you with fury and vengeance at society, Kate makes you feel like she’s singing about a jilted lover.

Mp3: Kate Nash - “Seven Nation Army”
Myspace: Kate Nash
Video: Foundations

Back when Icky Thump came out I was having a chat with one of my buddies, who might possibly love The White Stripes more than me. Anyway, we were talking about the merits of the album, how it was very worldly with Spanish, Mexican, Scottish influences among many other. The downside was that it was a White Stripes album and after awhile you begin to get an idea of what exactly a “White Stripes” album will inevitably soundlike.

And then my buddy Jay goes, “well all I can say is Cooooooooonnnnnqqqqqquuuuuuuuessst!” And I have to hand it to him, that might be the best one word review of any album this year. Here’s the bullfighting vid, with Jack doing his matador thing and Meg looking on at the puppy eyed bull.

Not as good as the eBay commercial though.

Jack and Meg have a new video out, for what is probably the best song off of Icky Thump.  It’s catchy as hell and really harkens back to a day when rock music got heavier, darker and generally better.  Which is strange, because the song is one of the tamer Stripes tunes.

Regardless, you can check out the cool video over at MTV2.

And just because we love you, we’ve dug up some video footage of their recent secret shows jaunt through Canada.  In case you haven’t heard, Jack and Meg toured Canada, with the goal of playing every city and province, and at several concert stops they played a stripped down secret show in some strange place.  Like at a YMCA for a bunch of kids attending day camp, for a children’s hospital or on a bus, etc.  Take the jump for some hightlights. MORE »

As if Jack and Meg need a publicity push the week leading up to the release of their sixth-studio effort Icky Thump. They’re pretty much at a point where the record either sells itself or just gets downloaded by lots of people. The name of the band is enough to sell whatever new release they’re offering. Few contemporary bands reach that status, maybe Radiohead is another.

Anyway The White Stripes are making the rounds over at the NY Times and in an interesting article from The LA Times comparing Jack White and John Mayer.

Both make for interesting reads, especially when advanced word on Icky Thump is that it may be the finest Stripes album since De Stijl.

The White Stripes go south of the border this time, with Jack as a gringo ending up in a seedy red themed brothel.  Of course Meg’s there dressed up as a Moulin Rouge type senorita.  No donkey shows sadly, which I thought was the only reason to go to Mexico.  Anyway, is it just me or is Meg really attractive?  She might be the most attractive un-attractive person around.  Maybe it’s just because she plays the drums.  Malcolm Gladwell needs to look into this for his next book.

Jack and Meg are back. No sooner than did Jack pronounce his love for side-project The Raconteurs and go touring with them, did he jump back into bed with one-time sister, one-time wife Meg. Regardless The White Stripes will drop their sixth-full length album on June 19, aptly titled “Icky Thump.” Which, I guess we’re told is a play on words for a British slang “Ecky Thump.” And that folks is slang Brits use for “fucking hell.”

Anyway, Paste Magazine has the tracklist for the album. “Set for release by Warner Bros. Records on June 19th, the LP promises to be the most “sonically bombastic” album of the duo’s career, and features tracks such as “St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)” (with drummer Meg White on vocals), spoken-word track “Rag And Bone,” and “I’m Slowly Turning Into You,” inspired by a Michel Gondry video treatment.”

Icky Thump tracklist:

1 - Icky Thump
2 - You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)
3 - 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues
4 - Conquest
5 - Bone Broke
6 - Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
7 - St. Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)
8 - Little Cream Soda
9 - Rag And Bone
10 - I’m Slowly Turning Into You
11 - A Martyr For My Love For You
12 - Catch Hell Blues
13 - Effect And Cause

And if you’re still wondering what the hell they are wearing on the cover, it’s not some Mexican Bandidos thing. Stereogum has the inside scoop. Apparantly Jack and Meg are wearing their Pearly Kings and Pearly Queens.