Danger Mouse knows how to take what would appear routine and morph it into something colorful, memorable and completely his own. First he mashed Jay-Z and The Beatles to illegal yet hypnotizing results, went on to tame Damon Albarn's always spectacular ambitions into Gorillaz's masterwork Demon Days, and rewarded The Black Keys, The Good The Bad & The Queen and Beck with surprisingly rich rewards. Yet his greatest claim to fame is turning Cee Lo Green of the Goodie Mob into the saddest soul man of a generation with Gnarls Barkley.
Danger Mouse, whose real name is Brian Burton, blends hip hop, soul, funk, pop and hints of psychedelic shimmers the way Kanye West is a master of ego. Everything he's ever touched bleeds authenticity and reeks of retro coolness. And the best part of it is that he makes it look so easy.
Broken Bells, a new project that features The Shin's James Mercer with vocal duties, continues the trend of excellence. New age glitter music with enough real world tone to keep everything in perspective, the band's self titled debut sails by with the greatest of ease. Danger Mouse creates an ambient atmosphere consisted of soulful organ, rattled electric guitars and straight forward beats where Mercer finds a place for his voice, akin to Ben Bridwell of Band Of Horses, to fill up the rest of the arrangement in an effortless manner.
The opening track "The High Road" begins like vintage Mouse. A stuttering synthesizer straight out of Nintendo whizzes into the stratosphere before being anchored by a melancholy lyric about the struggles of just making it by. "Come on and get the minimum," Mercer croons. "The high road is hard to find."
"Vaporize" is Mercer achieving the dream he's always wanted, yet still feeling shallow on the inside. "Where did it go? All that precious time?" He's a downer indeed but that's what the kid want these days. In a post Bush world things seem to still be in a flux. "I was lost then and I am lost now." That sums up the entire generation Mercer is singing too.
But that's where Danger Mouse comes in. He's here for the party, yet to be introspective as well. There's always enough ear candy for the indie kids to get their fill, and enough soul food for your feet that you can't help but nod your head or go on the dance floor. These are paranoid times and he recognizes that, so why not just admit your anxieties and forget about them with a warm groove?
Danger Mouse's presence also seems to do Mercer wonders as well. "The Ghost Inside" finds him exercising his falsetto and broadening his vocal capabilities in a way he's never done before. The Shins were always to content to chug along in Zac Braff land to mediocre results, but with Broken Bells Mercer seems to be having some fun - even if it doesn't want to let you think so.
Is this a pairing that anyone would have thought of other than Danger Mouse? Probably not. And that's exactly why it's appealing and succeeds. He's attracted to the unexpected and off beat. But unlike others who experiment simply for the sake of looking "different" Danger Mouse uses the best tools from all of music and applies them in moderation. The sum is greater than the individual parts. Have fun reading Plato while tapping your toes.
Grade: B
The opening track "The High Road" begins like vintage Mouse. A stuttering synthesizer straight out of Nintendo whizzes into the stratosphere before being anchored by a melancholy lyric about the struggles of just making it by. "Come on and get the minimum," Mercer croons. "The high road is hard to find."
"Vaporize" is Mercer achieving the dream he's always wanted, yet still feeling shallow on the inside. "Where did it go? All that precious time?" He's a downer indeed but that's what the kid want these days. In a post Bush world things seem to still be in a flux. "I was lost then and I am lost now." That sums up the entire generation Mercer is singing too.
But that's where Danger Mouse comes in. He's here for the party, yet to be introspective as well. There's always enough ear candy for the indie kids to get their fill, and enough soul food for your feet that you can't help but nod your head or go on the dance floor. These are paranoid times and he recognizes that, so why not just admit your anxieties and forget about them with a warm groove?
Danger Mouse's presence also seems to do Mercer wonders as well. "The Ghost Inside" finds him exercising his falsetto and broadening his vocal capabilities in a way he's never done before. The Shins were always to content to chug along in Zac Braff land to mediocre results, but with Broken Bells Mercer seems to be having some fun - even if it doesn't want to let you think so.
Is this a pairing that anyone would have thought of other than Danger Mouse? Probably not. And that's exactly why it's appealing and succeeds. He's attracted to the unexpected and off beat. But unlike others who experiment simply for the sake of looking "different" Danger Mouse uses the best tools from all of music and applies them in moderation. The sum is greater than the individual parts. Have fun reading Plato while tapping your toes.
Grade: B
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