Album per day: Day 19

Artist: The White Stripes
Album: White Blood Cells
Released: 2001

Brother and sister/husband and wife/brother and wife/husband and sister duo The White Stripes mixes Meg White's somewhat basic drumming with Jack White's songwriting prowess and fuzzy distortion. Emerging during the time that nu-metal was at its pinnacle, one would wonder how a band as such as The White Stripes came to be so big. Garage rock wasn't cool then, but it's a lot cooler now.
Beginning with Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground, a minimalist rock track that mixes dirty riffs with clean melodies, it's a pleasing start to the album. It is then followed by a short acoustic number called Hotel Yorba, that mixes rock drumming with a country boogie. I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman adds a piano into the mix, and compliments Jack White's power chords very well. Hit single Fell In Love With A Girl has all the grit of indie rock, and in the process makes Jet sound like mere mortals; I just wish it lasted longer, but this tends to be the case with a lot of the songs on White Blood Cells.
The Union Forever slows the pace down a bit more, with Jack White ringing out on the chords and quoting Citizen Kane. This could be the most "experimental" track on the record, so to speak. The radiant beauty of Jack White's voice shines through on The Same Boy You've Always Known, which tugs at the heartstrings, whilst the album hits a curveball on We're Going To Be Friends, a tender acoustic song about, well, love really. This is all before turning the amps back up to seven on Offend In Every Way and I Think I Smell A Rat, the former a soft, yet loud blues tune, and the latter a proto-punk song with fire in its belly; the chords are loud and the guitar scales are delicate. For a track that is basically two minutes of dysfunctional noise that sounds like its coming out of a guitar that is being rubbed up against a door, the annoyingly titled instrumental Aluminum strangely works.
Catchy alt-rock prevails on I Can't Wait, and the pace picks up again on Now Mary as it's over before it has even begun. Climaxing in what sounds like a John Lennon number, This Protector is short and sweet on the ivories, with Jack White pouring his heart and soul into its deep message.
For an album that lasts around 40 minutes, but with 16 tracks, this album isn't exactly made up of magnus opus'. There are catchy numbers, and not necessarily a disappointing song in sight. They would go on to bigger things with Elephant, and would headline festivals around the world. This isn't the sound of a band reaching their peak, but it is the sound of a band who are comfortable in what they're doing. This album will never go out of fashion, and we should continue to bathe in its relevance.

Rating: 8/10
Recommended songs: Hotel Yorba, Fell In Love With A Girl