Icky Thump

With its title an Americanization of the Northern British phrase "ecky thump" and its cover featuring Jack and Meg bedecked as a Pearly King and Queen, "Icky Thump" is a centered, powerful statement as the final studio album from the duo. Recorded in the lush environs of Nashville's Blackbird Studios, the trumpet, bagpipes and 1940's synthesizer all feel appropriate here, driving home the idea that the White Stripes were consistent through whatever disparate elements they chose. Cut directly from the original 1" master tapes, pressed at the state-of-the-art Third Man Pressing in Detroit, housed in a luxe Stoughton gatefold jacket and sealed with a custom...sealing sticker? "Icky Thump" is the Stripes release most-resembling a postage stamp, surely to appreciate in value like the Inverted Jenny.