Magic Potion | ||||
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Studio album by The Black Keys | ||||
Released | September 12, 2006 | |||
Recorded | The Audio Eagle Nest, Akron, Ohio | |||
Genre | Garage rock, blues rock | |||
Length | 40:55 | |||
Label | Nonesuch | |||
Producer | The Black Keys | |||
The Black Keys chronology | ||||
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Singles from Magic Potion | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 69/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The A.V. Club | B |
Entertainment Weekly | A− |
Mojo | |
NME | 6/10 |
Pitchfork Media | 6.0/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
Slant Magazine | |
Spin |
Magic Potion is the fourth studio album by American rock duo the Black Keys. It was released in 2006 and was their first record released on Nonesuch Records, the band's current label. This album marks the first time they wrote and composed entirely original material, unlike on previous albums and EPs.
Like the group's first two albums, Magic Potion was recorded in the basement of drummer Patrick Carney; in his estimation, the record was made using "$5,000 worth of crappy equipment". The group's guitarist Dan Auerbach explained the decision behind the recording location:
We like the sound of odd rooms. It's got concrete floors and walls. The upstairs floor is the ceiling. The mixing desk and computer are on top of the tool desk built by the old guy who used to live there. You can hear all of that. Lots of new records have no individuality to the sound. I wanted it to sound like a band in the basement of a house in the Midwest.
Carney expressed disappointment in the quality of the finished record:
We paid $350 to get it mastered, took it home and there was, like, no bass on it. And we just dropped it in a FedEx envelope, mailed it to Warner Brothers and were done with it. Of all things that we've ever done, that's my biggest regret — is that we just kind of were like, "Oh, OK."
All tracks written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney.
The cover art depicts a Fabergé egg. Inside the album is a picture of a fried egg. The back cover depicts a falcon.