
The White Stripes' self-titled single from the upcoming
Icky Thump is currently available on iTunes, having gone on sale today at 12:01 a.m. We really recommend you purchase the song, especially given the continued slump in music industry sales... but here's a free MP3 anyway. The song was played over XFM radio before iTunes got their hands on it, and you can get the radio rip at
Web Vomit. Interesting instrumentation... recognizable riffs... some odd disjointed solos... Overall, we like it. "Icky" thumps in all the right places.
Of course, the folks at
Rolling Stone are cooler than all of us. They were treated to a sneak preview of the
entire album during a recent post-lunch afternoon lull. The magazine approves:
"Icky Thump (out June 19th) reflects the bands continued allegiance to the blues-influenced garage rock that has made the White Stripes one of the most formidable bands of the decade, but theyve fleshed out their sound in ways we havent heard before. Gone is the super-basic, sometimes rigid minimalism. Its been replaced with looser, more muscular and expansive instrumentation. Also, in between big Zeppelin-esque rock tunes, there are some playfully weird sounds on this album. We heard everything from bagpipes to the old school Univox synthesizer, and on the particularly crazy cover of Conquest (a Corky Robbins tune) there are some wild mariachi horns at work."

Icky Thump will be released stateside on June 19th, around the same time that the Raconteurs should be wrapping up the recording of their follow-up to last year's
Broken Boy Soliders. Head to
Pitchfork for a big picture of
Thump's country-fried album art, and check out the band's
website for their most recent tour accouncement. (
Hint - it involves all ten of the Canadian provinces. Move over, Bryan Adams!) For assorted media goodies, check out the videos and audio bootlegs at
WhiteStripes.net.