Jack White
High Ball Stepper: By Jack White, is from the forthcoming Lazaretto album(Third Man Records)
Jack be nimble. (He'll release Lazaretto, his second solo album, on June 9 in the UK; he is also going to appear on Neil Young's upcoming covers album this spring; and he'll continue issuing singles with the band the Dead Weather.)
Jack be quick. (He has announced plans for "the world's fastest released record" on Record Store Day.) And Jack plays the six string, but sick.
The former White Stripes front man has been making a lot of noise of late, no more so than on High Ball Stepper, an extreme electric workout that serves as the audacious first taste of his impending LP Lazaretto.
The instrumental track recalls a heavy-footed Led Zeppelin, with thudding drums, unexpected piano rolls and guitar riffs gnarly enough to make Robert Plant's chest hairs stand on end. Not kids stuff, or anything close to it.
Brad Wheeler