Rocktober '00s Song #4: "10 A.M. Automatic" by The Black Keys (2004)

The White Stripes weren't the only Midwestern garage rock duo that did some damage in the aughts.  Akron's The Black Keys -- with Dan Auerbach on guitar and Patrick Carney on drums -- emerged in the early 2000s, and as soon as I heard their mix of fuzzed-out blues-influenced garage rock, I was a fan.  In fact, I've seen them live more than any band not named The Hold Steady.

2004's Rubber Factory was the band's third album, and it got its name because the album was actually recorded in an abandoned Akron rubber tire factory. The result is a gritty, bluesy, stripped-down offering that I consider to be the band's best album.  My favorite song from the album -- and my favorite Black Keys song period -- is "10 A.M. Automatic."  It's a gritty, fuzzy garage rock masterpiece.  Auerbach provides a great riff, and Carney pounds away like a mad man.  The opening line is fantastic:  "What about the night makes you change / Oh, from sweet to deranged." For me, it's whiskey, but that's neither here nor there.

And the video is pretty cool too.  Directed by comedian David Cross and featuring comedian Jon Glaser as a rabbi, the video features the band playing on a local cable access show in front of a small crowd of geriatrics.