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Broken Bells
Broken Bells
While most of us wait for a new Gnarls Barkley album, Danger Mouse is busy making music with James Mercer (lead singer/songwriter of The Shins). Luckily the music these two make together as Broken Bells is beautiful & inspiring. After taking a break from their main gigs (Danger Mouse producing some of the 21st century's best albums & Mercer with the Shins) the two got together & gave us 2009's self-titled album. 2010 gave us the Meyrin Fields E.P. 2013 gave us the more up-beat & straight-forward disco-hangover inspired album After the Disco. We've gotten a few singles since then: 2018's "Shelter" and 2019's "Good Luck". Broken Bells is all about quality over quantity. The music sounds amazing as you'd imagine from these two pop geniuses. The clean-retro production of Danger Mouse with the pop-melodies of Mercer give us some of the best music you can find being made today. I'll leave you with some quotes about the band from today's respected music publications.
Rolling Stone on their second album: "[After the Disco] is at once sleek and world-weary, often homing in on that sexy moment of malaise when the Seventies wanted to turn into the Eighties so badly but didn't quite know how to do it yet."
Pitchfork on their first album: "Unlike its creators' best prior accomplishments, Broken Bells doesn't seem prepared, or even attempting, to cross over. Nor does it feel like a new direction or outlet for either artist-- it's more of a nice detour."
Stereogum on their single "Shelter": "It’s just as adventurous as always, with Mercer’s tender vocals pressed against Danger Mouse’s skeletal funk tinkerings. And the lyrics are a dreamy recollection of love. “Do you still remember all of those moments you gave me shelter/ Out of the swelter out of the sun?” Mercer sings."
NME on Broken Bells: "‘Supergroup’ is a word that’s fallen out of vogue lately, having become synonymous with unions that aren’t built to last and albums that seldom add up to the sum of their parts. Yet while Broken Bells’ individual elements – Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (founder of The Shins) – certainly qualify as ‘super’, the undisputed It-producer of the last decade and His Royal Alt-ness of post-millennial US indie have been unequivocal about the fact that this is not some casual, it-happens-when-it-happens side-project, but their primary creative outlet. Broken Bells is a priority, not just a passion."
That's what they have to say. What I have to say has already been said... but if you don't know where to start- I would start where I did- with their song "The High Road".
What the hell?...... It's...
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
Broken Bells
While most of us wait for a new Gnarls Barkley album, Danger Mouse is busy making music with James Mercer (lead singer/songwriter of The Shins). Luckily the music these two make together as Broken Bells is beautiful & inspiring. After taking a break from their main gigs (Danger Mouse producing some of the 21st century's best albums & Mercer with the Shins) the two got together & gave us 2009's self-titled album. 2010 gave us the Meyrin Fields E.P. 2013 gave us the more up-beat & straight-forward disco-hangover inspired album After the Disco. We've gotten a few singles since then: 2018's "Shelter" and 2019's "Good Luck". Broken Bells is all about quality over quantity. The music sounds amazing as you'd imagine from these two pop geniuses. The clean-retro production of Danger Mouse with the pop-melodies of Mercer give us some of the best music you can find being made today. I'll leave you with some quotes about the band from today's respected music publications.
Rolling Stone on their second album: "[After the Disco] is at once sleek and world-weary, often homing in on that sexy moment of malaise when the Seventies wanted to turn into the Eighties so badly but didn't quite know how to do it yet."
Pitchfork on their first album: "Unlike its creators' best prior accomplishments, Broken Bells doesn't seem prepared, or even attempting, to cross over. Nor does it feel like a new direction or outlet for either artist-- it's more of a nice detour."
Stereogum on their single "Shelter": "It’s just as adventurous as always, with Mercer’s tender vocals pressed against Danger Mouse’s skeletal funk tinkerings. And the lyrics are a dreamy recollection of love. “Do you still remember all of those moments you gave me shelter/ Out of the swelter out of the sun?” Mercer sings."
NME on Broken Bells: "‘Supergroup’ is a word that’s fallen out of vogue lately, having become synonymous with unions that aren’t built to last and albums that seldom add up to the sum of their parts. Yet while Broken Bells’ individual elements – Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer (founder of The Shins) – certainly qualify as ‘super’, the undisputed It-producer of the last decade and His Royal Alt-ness of post-millennial US indie have been unequivocal about the fact that this is not some casual, it-happens-when-it-happens side-project, but their primary creative outlet. Broken Bells is a priority, not just a passion."
That's what they have to say. What I have to say has already been said... but if you don't know where to start- I would start where I did- with their song "The High Road".
What the hell?...... It's...
Broken Bells
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