No Name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 19, 2024 | |||
Recorded | 2023–2024 | |||
Studio | Third Man (Nashville) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:03 | |||
Label | Third Man | |||
Producer | Jack White | |||
Jack White chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from No Name | ||||
|
No Name is the sixth studio album by American rock musician Jack White. It was initially surprise released in physical formats on July 19, 2024, as a gift to customers of Third Man Records, before a wider digital release on August 2, 2024. The record was written, recorded, and produced entirely by White at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Musically, it is a garage rock, blues rock, and punk blues album.
Initially, the album was released through unmarked white vinyl records secretly included with purchases at Third Man Records store locations in Detroit, London, and Nashville, and mailed to vinyl subscribers. A number of copies on blue vinyl were then sold at White's live shows, before a wide release of the album, revealed to be titled No Name, was announced. The unconventional release structure of the album drew attention and has been discussed by media outlets.
No Name received acclaim from music critics, who praised White for returning to his blues and garage roots, and favorably compared it to his work with the White Stripes. It debuted at number 130 on the Billboard 200, the lowest of his albums, which is believed to be due to its release method. [1] No Name is nominated at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album. [2]
White recorded No Name in 2023 and 2024 at Third Man Studio in Nashville. [3] White produced the album solo and mixed it alongside Bill Skibbe. [3] The album features contributions from White's wife Olivia Jean, who provided bass and drums on some tracks, as well as White's daughter Scarlett, who played bass on two tracks. [4]
No Name has generally been described musically as garage rock, [5] [6] [7] blues rock, [8] [7] and punk blues. [9] [10] Many commentators noted the album's distinctly raw nature, [6] [7] [11] [12] as well as a similarity to the sound championed by White when he initially became popular with the White Stripes. [9] [13] Lee DeVito of the Detroit Metro Times described the album's sound as being "more stripped down and guitar-heavy" than White's previous two albums, Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive (both 2022). [11] On his WDET-FM radio show, Ryan Patrick Hooper described the album as being "dirty, grimy, [and] gritty". [12]
On July 19, 2024, Third Man Records included a free 12-inch vinyl record with all purchases made at their store locations in Detroit, London, and Nashville, without offering customers any details about the record. [14] Employees at the locations were also not briefed about the record's contents, only being instructed by their management to include it with every purchase made free of charge. [15] The record was also mailed to certain members of the Third Man Vault vinyl subscription service. [15] The white-colored record consists of a generic white sleeve with a white label that only has "No Name" in all-capitals stamped onto it. [16] Side A of the record has "Heaven and Hell" etched into its dead wax area, while side B has "Black and Blue" etched into it. [15] The record was also given the catalog number TMR-1000. [11]
News about the record spread online through word of mouth after customers realized that White was the artist of the record, and that it was an entirely new album of original recordings from him. [15] This method of releasing the album was compared to when White hid 7-inch vinyl singles inside of furniture when he previously worked as an upholsterer. [10] Detroit's public radio station WDET-FM also played a selection of songs from the album live on the air after radio show host Ryan Patrick Hooper obtained the album while shopping at Third Man earlier in the day. [17] Later that day, Third Man took to social media to encourage those who obtained the record to rip its audio digitally and share it online. [18] Vinyl copies of the album were put up for sale on eBay shortly after release, generally being priced between $500 and $1,000. [19]
Shortly after the album's release on July 27, White played a show at American Legion Post 82 in Nashville where new LP copies of No Name on blue vinyl with a cover art, track titles, and liner notes were made available for attendees to purchase. [20] White announced on July 31 that No Name would receive a digital release on August 2 as well as releases on blue vinyl, limited to independent record stores, and standard black vinyl; Third Man stores sold the album exclusively one day early, on August 1. [21] A music video for "That's How I'm Feeling" composed of montaged live show footage was released on September 12. [22]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.2/10 [23] |
Metacritic | 86/100 [24] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [25] |
Exclaim! | 7/10 [9] |
The Guardian | [13] |
The Line of Best Fit | 8/10 [26] |
Mojo | [5] |
musicOMH | [27] |
Paste | 9.0/10 [28] |
Pitchfork | 7.6/10 [10] |
Rolling Stone | [29] |
Uncut | 9/10 [30] |
According to review aggregator Metacritic, No Name received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 from 17 critic scores. [24] Variety 's Jem Aswad lauded the album as "the freshest and most exciting rock and roll album to come down the pike in years", also applauding White's ability to return to his original White Stripes sound "without seeming retro or leaning too heavily on nostalgia". [31] Paste 's Matt Mitchell considered No Name to be White's best solo album to date, as well his third-best album when including his band works, [28] while Uncut 's Peter Watts said that it "has some of White's most memorable riffs since Blunderbuss and is his most red-blooded rock record since Elephant ". [30] Ross Horton of musicOMH called No Name "wonderful, magical, truthful and the most consistently surprising rock album of the year by some margin", complimenting the album's consistency in particular. [27]
Mojo 's John Mulvey wrote that "No Name is packed end to end with tracks that balance great riffs and catchy tunes" and that White continues to be "a master at expressing his range within tight, self-imposed restrictions". [5] The Guardian 's Stevie Chick praised the album as one of White's best, calling it "dark, heavy, thrilling, beautiful." Chick wrote that the album finds White sounding "leaner and sharper than he has for some time" and commended it for recapturing his "gift for heavy rock studded with hooks and a pop-oriented lightness of step." [13] Rolling Stone 's Jon Dolan lauded White's ability to merge the straightforward rock sound of his past with the experimental nature of his recent works, additionally complimenting the album's conciseness and certain moments that he felt were akin to the works of artists like Willie Dixon, Led Zeppelin, and the Stooges. [29] Writing for AllMusic, Mark Deming called No Name "the most straightforward rock & roll album he has delivered in some time", adding that it was "the sort of idiosyncratic but lean and mean rock album he's needed to make for a while". [25]
Evan Rytlewski of Pitchfork complimented the "all killer, no filler ethos" of No Name, considering it to be a step up from the experimental approaches White took on his previous solo albums as well as a comeback album for his discography. Additionally, he celebrated White's decision to revisit the earlier sound that launched his career, adding that "even the last couple of White Stripes albums weren't this stacked". [10] Alex Hudson of Exclaim! wrote that despite the album not being "quite as white-knuckled as the first time White made music like this, nor is it as hooky as those White Stripes songs that took them from underground weirdos to superstars", he nevertheless enjoyed White's return to the sound he originally broke out and became popular with. [9]
In regards to White's method of releasing No Name, Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press applauded White's choice to release the album secretly, without announcement, and only through vinyl, claiming that he "made a stand for rock mystique" as a result. He also felt that the album's physical-only release falling on the same day as the CrowdStrike outage added to the returned prestige of both vinyl records and physical media as a whole, adding that "the Internet was a sideshow to the real magic of White's Friday gambit. The quiet album rollout wasn't just a clever, headline-grabbing gimmick. It was a throwback to the days when mystique meant something as a music lover." [32] Noah Barker of The Line of Best Fit similarly praised White's ability to maintain his mystique in the digital age, saying: "Modern music releasing has made easier the focus-grouping, corporatization of music, but also the hyper-individualization of art. You can cut your tree and let it fall extravagantly, and if it's never heard by another soul, that's your mystery to keep. White lets a new mystique seep through on every release, a different angle into a wondrously fretful mind". [26]
Numerous critics and publications listed No Name in their year-end ranking of the best albums of 2024, often inside the top fifteen.
Publication/critic | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
Exclaim! | 50 Best Albums of 2024 | 13 | [33] |
MOJO | 75 Best Albums of 2024 | 1 | [34] |
Rough Trade UK | Albums of the Year 2024 | 29 | [35] |
Time Out | The Best Albums of 2024 | 14 | [36] |
Uncut | 80 Best Albums of 2024 | 15 | [37] |
All tracks are written by Jack White [3]
No. | Title | Side | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Old Scratch Blues" | Heaven and Hell | 3:30 |
2. | "Bless Yourself" | Heaven and Hell | 2:34 |
3. | "That's How I'm Feeling" | Heaven and Hell | 3:11 |
4. | "It's Rough on Rats (If You're Asking)" | Heaven and Hell | 4:09 |
5. | "Archbishop Harold Holmes" | Heaven and Hell | 2:51 |
6. | "Bombing Out" | Heaven and Hell | 2:32 |
7. | "What's the Rumpus?" | Heaven and Hell | 3:23 |
8. | "Tonight (Was a Long Time Ago)" | Black and Blue | 4:11 |
9. | "Underground" | Black and Blue | 3:45 |
10. | "Number One With a Bullet" | Black and Blue | 3:19 |
11. | "Morning at Midnight" | Black and Blue | 3:05 |
12. | "Missionary" | Black and Blue | 2:29 |
13. | "Terminal Archenemy Endling" | Black and Blue | 4:04 |
Total length: | 43:03 |
Personnel adapted from album liner notes. [3]
Musicians
| Technical personnel
Other personnel
|
Chart (2024) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Vinyl Albums (ARIA) [38] | 9 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [39] | 14 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [40] | 23 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [41] | 31 |
Croatian International Albums (HDU) [42] | 10 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [43] | 20 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [44] | 34 |
Polish Albums (ZPAV) [45] | 67 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [46] | 6 |
Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [47] | 9 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [48] | 7 |
UK Albums (OCC) [49] | 33 |
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [50] | 1 |
US Billboard 200 [51] | 108 |
The White Stripes were an American rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White and Meg White. They were a leading group of the 2000s indie rock and garage rock revival.
Elephant is the fourth studio album by the American rock duo The White Stripes. It was released on April 1, 2003, through V2, XL, and Third Man records. The album was produced by the band's guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White, and continues their "back-to-basics" approach seen in White Blood Cells (2001). It was mostly recorded at Maida Vale and Toe Rag Studios across two weeks in April 2002, and was produced without the use of computers, instead utilizing a duct-taped 8 track tape machine and various gear no more recent than 1963.
De Stijl is the second studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes, released on June 20, 2000, by the Sympathy for the Record Industry. Produced by the band's guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White, the album was recorded on an 8-track analog tape in his living room following the covert divorce of members Jack and Meg White, who nevertheless continued working together. The album takes its name from the art movement of the same name, and features their early blues-inspired sound.
The White Stripes is the debut studio album by American rock duo the White Stripes, released on June 15, 1999. The album was produced by Jim Diamond and vocalist/guitarist Jack White, recorded in January 1999 at Ghetto Recorders and Third Man Studios in Detroit. White dedicated the album to deceased blues musician Son House.
John Anthony White is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subsequent collaborations, and business ventures.
The Von Bondies are an American rock band formed in 1997. The band's breakthrough album, Pawn Shoppe Heart, was released in 2004 and features the singles "C'mon C'mon" and "Tell Me What You See".
Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth studio album by the American rock duo the White Stripes. It was released on June 7, 2005, through V2 and XL Records. It was conceived after band members Jack and Meg White faced a creative slump, and was recorded in Jack's living room between February and March 2005. Jack was responsible for the album's production in its entirety.
Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entities expanding upon the offerings of a traditional record label, including multiple live music venues, vinyl pressing plant, film studio and dark room, guitar pedal and gear company, mastering studio, vinyl subscription service, and a publishing arm.
"Seven Nation Army" is a song by American rock duo the White Stripes. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album, Elephant (2003). V2 Records released the song to American alternative radio on February 17, 2003, as the lead single from the album. Worldwide, the single was issued through XL Recordings. Written and produced by Jack White, the song consists of distorted vocals, a simple drumbeat, and a bass line created by playing a guitar through a pitch shift effect.
Benjamin Jesse Blackwell is an American musician, writer, and record company executive. He is the creator and director of Cass Records, one of two drummers in the Detroit-based rock band The Dirtbombs, a co-founder and minority owner at Third Man Records, and the official archivist of The White Stripes.
Soledad Brothers were an American garage rock trio from Maumee, Ohio. Taking strong influence from blues rock, the band consisted of Ben Swank on drums, Johnny Walker on guitar and vocals, and Oliver Henry on sax and guitar. The band produced four albums: Soledad Brothers (2000), Steal Your Soul and Dare Your Spirit to Move (2002), Voice of Treason (2003), and The Hardest Walk (2006).
Icky Thump is the sixth and final studio album by American rock duo The White Stripes, released through Warner Bros. and Third Man Records in June 2007, with XL Recordings handling the United Kingdom release. Its first release came on June 15, 2007, in Germany, with the release for the rest of Europe occurring on June 18 and the rest of the world on June 19.
The Dead Weather is an American rock supergroup, formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2009. Composed of Alison Mosshart, Jack White, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence. The Dead Weather debuted at the opening of Third Man Records' Nashville headquarters on March 11, 2009. The band performed live for the first time at the event, immediately before releasing their debut single "Hang You from the Heavens".
Four Stars is the fourth and final studio album by rock band The Greenhornes. It was made available on iTunes on October 26, 2010, and the CD and LP versions released on November 9, 2010. It is their first studio album in eight years, with Dual Mono in 2002 and their first original release since East Grand Blues, an EP released in 2005. After the recording and release of East Grand Blues and their compilation album Sewed Soles in 2005, the group was on temporary hiatus, and Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence formed The Raconteurs with Detroit friends Jack White and Brendan Benson. After recording two albums and immense touring through North America, the UK and Australia, the group announced they would be taking a break and returning to their other bands. During this time, Lawrence and Keeler also performed as "The Do-Whatters", Jack White's rhythm band for a collaboration with Loretta Lynn on her album Van Lear Rose. After these projects, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler reunited with Craig Fox again in Ohio, where they recorded Four Stars in mid-2010.
Blunderbuss is the debut solo studio album by American musician Jack White. It was released in digital and physical formats beginning April 23, 2012, through Third Man Records, in association with XL Recordings and Columbia Records. Written almost entirely by White, the album was recorded and produced by him at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Various musical styles appear throughout, including blues rock, folk, and country soul.
Acoustic Recordings 1998–2016 is a compilation album by Jack White, released on September 9, 2016, through White's label Third Man Records. The album is composed of album tracks, B-sides, remixes, alternate versions and previously unreleased tracks he originally recorded for The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and his own solo career. It was released as a double vinyl LP.
Boarding House Reach is the third studio album by American rock musician Jack White. It was released on March 23, 2018, through Third Man Records, Columbia Records, and XL Recordings. The album was written in Nashville and recorded throughout 2017 at Third Man Studio in Nashville, Sear Sound in New York City, and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.
"Over and Over and Over" is a song by American musician Jack White. It was released as the third single from his third solo studio album, Boarding House Reach (2018), on March 1, 2018. In the US, the song peaked at number 20 on the Alternative Songs chart and number 33 on the Hot Rock Songs chart.
White Blood Cells is the third studio album by American rock duo the White Stripes, independently released by the Sympathy for the Record Industry on July 3, 2001. Recording took place in Memphis, Tennessee at Easley-McCain Recording over three days, and was produced by guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White. Production was rushed in order to capture a "real tense feeling" and the band's energy, and was their first album to be mastered in a studio.
Fear of the Dawn is the fourth studio album by the American rock musician Jack White, released on April 8, 2022, through Third Man Records. The album was written in Nashville and recorded throughout 2021 at Third Man Studio. It was ranked as the 13th best guitar album of 2022 by Guitar World readers.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)