After a couple weeks of teasing, covert marketing, vinyl leaks and intimate shows, Jack White‘s new solo album, No Name, is officially out. If you didn’t already listen to YouTube rips of the white-label vinyl Third Man Records snuck into customer bags at their Detroit, Nashville and London stores, it’s now on all streaming services and you can listen below.
No Name is a back-to-basics album for White, as Andrew wrote in his Notable Releases review:
After leading The White Stripes for over a decade, Jack White abandoned his beloved, stripped-down guitar/drums setup in favor of a solo career that’s found him fleshing out his albums and live shows with a much fuller-sounding, multi-member approach. Reviews have been mixed for most of his solo career–though he’s got some great moments in there and remains a firecracker live act–but critics have been calling his new album his best since The White Stripes and it’s easy to see why. Whether or not it is in fact his best, it’s undeniably his most White Stripes-y album since The White Stripes. These are raw, blistering garage rock/punk/blues hybrids that sound more like the Jack White who made “Fell In Love With A Girl” than the Jack White who made “Lazaretto.” And if you’re wondering if Jack White can still fuck shit up like he did when The White Stripes played Letterman, all signs point to yes. Adding to the instant lore that this isn’t just a regular old Jack White album, Jack only made it available as a surprise, one-day-only vinyl release on July 19 that was included with any purchases made at the Detroit, London, and Nashville locations of his Third Man Records store. It came in an unmarked white sleeve with no song titles, and it just says “NO NAME” on the record’s white label. (It still hasn’t gotten a wider release, but bootleg digital versions are aplenty.) The release itself stirred up a new kind of buzz for circa-2024 Jack White, but in our all-too-fast-moving music world, that buzz would’ve already died off if the music wasn’t hitting the way it is. Jack White wasn’t in desperate need of a return-to-form album or anything, but it sure as hell is fun to get one.
Jack White heads to Korea this weekend for the Pentaport Rock Festival, and then jets back to the US to play a Detroit record release show at St. Andrew’s Hall on August 5. Then it’s off to Europe for festival appearances at Sweden’s Way Out West, Norway’s Øyafestivalen, and Denmark’s Syd for Solen. His only fall date currently is California’s Desert Daze, though that is likely to change. Stay tuned.