Album: The Black Keys, Brothers (V2/Cooperative)

Just six months on from the excellent Blakroc – on which the Keys backed hip-hoppers Mos Def, Ludacris and the like – the next move for the former White Stripes wannabes was always going to be crucial.

And that urgency is palpable here. Experimental, dirty blues, played with passion and purpose; Brothers is proof that funky lessons have been learnt and business is refreshed rather than resumed. Just six months on from showing us how far they'd come, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney give us a glimpse of how far they can still go.