One of the worst things about the demise of the White Stripes is that it’s allowed us to see what an epic nutbar, Jack White is. From his almost reverse stalker behavior with the bro from the Black Keys to turning Dead Weather into the worst collection of high priced talent this side of the 2014 Knicks, White’s solo career has been a series of spectacular fails. What’s endearing is how little of a fuck he gives about it. He probably has concocted an array of conspiracy theories that range from a global suspicion of the number 3 to the Internet putting fluoride in everyone’s fedoras and thus making them anti-White. You have to respect his madness. He’s one-step away from inviting people to his Nashville mansion to regale them with impromptu concerts of Dock Boggs covers and arm-wrestling contests.
I’ve gone on the record as an unrequited White Stripes diehard, so it’s been a bit disheartening to watch the slide into “remembering when you was the man, homie” territory. So it’s nice to see White back to doing what he does best: ripping guitars with the force of the fireball in the “Out Here Grindin” video. This is some filthy stab-you-with-a-screwdriver guitar that sounds designed for a Tarantino and RZA collaboration. It’s all instrumental so you avoid the pinched-nerve ghost yawp and just focus on the beats, the skittering piano, the simple drums, the same formula that worked in the Stripes but with a slightly different approach. This is frenetic sludge not often-precious recreations of folklore or pure nostalgia. It’s probably the closest thing to what goes on in his mind: intermittently beautiful stretches followed by the desire to blow shit up. During the last minute, he turns his guitars into guillotines and starts lopping our necks off. Classic Jack White move.
