LEAK OF THE WEEK: THE RACONTEURS

Jack White had a pretty batshit 2005: He got hitched in a Brazillian rain forest, wrote a Coke jingle, and, worst of all, started moseying around in a muscular, mustachioed gaucho get-up that was one part Carlos Santana, one part Snidely Whiplash.

Thankfully, he also found time to record an album with Brendan Benson—a supremely underrated power-popper who looks like a skeleton but who often sounds like a much cooler Todd Rundgren—and a few members of the Detroit garage-rock outfit the Greenhornes. Calling themselves the Raconteurs (or the Saboteurs, if you live in Perth) their Broken Boy Soldiers album is a great clang of ‘70s classic-rock revivalism, kind of like Houses of the Holy meets “Holy Diver.” It’s probably the most relaxed White has sounded since the “Hotel Yorba” days, and, accordingly, you can find tracks from the May 23 release all over the Internet. We strongly recommended the lead-off single “Steady as She Goes” and this live version of its B-Side "Store Bought Bones." You can also snag much of the album on The Hype Machine, of course.