The White Stripes The White Stripes 180g LP

Recorded in a cold, amenity-free studio during the Midwestern winter of 1999, the White Stripes' debut LP stands alone as the most raw, unpolished and "Detroit"-sounding recording the White Stripes would ever birth. The vinyl here is cut directly from the original 1/4" master tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a sturdy, beautiful tip-on sleeve.

Minimal to the point of sounding monumental, this Detroit guitar-drums-voice duo makes the most of its aesthetic choices and the spaces between riffage and the big beat. In fact, the White Stripes sound like arena rock as hand-crafted in the attic. Singer/guitarist Jack White's voice is a singular, evocative combination of punk, metal, blues, and backwoods while his guitar work is grand and banging with just enough lyrical touches of slide and subtle solo work to let you know he means to use the metal-blues riff collisions just so. Drummer Meg White balances out the fretwork and the fretting with methodical, spare, and booming cymbal, bass drum, and snare cracks. In a word, economy (and that goes for both of the players)... All D.I.Y. punk-country-blues-metal singer/songwriting duos should sound this good.