Unless you've been hiding in a hermit hole during the last few weeks, you've been inundated by "best of" lists touting opinions that may or may not be agreeable. Generally, I find myself in disagreement with the idea of such lists since opinion, particularly in the arts, is often relative. I tend to disregard the categorical aspect of these lists, but from them make my own list of work I have never seen/heard of before and try to remedy that disparity. This year however, I would like to give a nod to Jack White, who is well deserving of an “Artist of the Decade” title.The beginning of the decade was marked with several White Stripes releases, including their breakthrough album White Blood Cells and the acclaimed Elephant album... and yes, Meg, (although painful to watch) is entitled to her props as well. White has often said that her drumming style is unique in its simplicity. Meg does seem to know just when not to play and anything more would crowd the lyrics and complexity of White's guitar work.
After contributing 5 songs to the Cold Mountain soundtrack, White produced and performed on Loretta Lynn's “rebirth” album Van Lear Rose. Then, in between The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump albums, Jack formed The Raconteurs, releasing Broken Boy Soldiers in 2006 and Consolers of the Lonely in 2008.
In 2009, as a result of Jack losing his voice during a Raconteurs tour and apparently not having enough to do already, The Dead Weather was formed. As The Kills were warming up for their turn on stage, White's voice began to fade, so Alison Mosshart stepped in. Shorty after the show and a recording that was supposed to be just 7”, White, Mosshart, Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence and Queen's of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita, recorded their debut album Horehound. From this album also came one of my favorite videos of the year for the song “Treat Me Like Your Mother” (below). According to Jack, “The song is algebraic” and the short film by director Johnathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) equals a brilliant balance between the searing and the subtle.
Last year also saw the premier of the film Under Great White Northern Lights. The story of The White Stripes gallivanting across the great white north opened to stellar reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and is slated to release as an epic box set this March. It will supposedly include: A DVD of the film itself, a DVD of White Stripes 10th anniversary show -"The White Stripes Under Nova Scotian Lights", a 16-track White Stripes live album recorded during the Canadian tour on both vinyl and CD, a live 7" (featuring "Icky Thump" and "The Wheels on the Bus"), a 208-page book with photos, AND a silk screen print...I think I just wet myself...
Finally, as if his solid, prolific and profoundly outstanding career needed the volume cranked any further, Jack White starred in the documentary It Might Get Loud, along side the Edge and Jimmy Page, for which he released the track “Fly Farm Blues” under his own name.
Jack says he doesn't trust anyone that doesn't like Led Zeppelin...I don't trust anyone that doesn't like (or at the very least can't appreciate) Jack White. White is not only prolific, but revolutionary in inventing and reinventing how sound is processed as music. He distorts the concepts of that which is tangible, raw and real, while simultaneously maintaining a quality untouchable brilliance.
-Emma Jeanmarie
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