Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Broken Bells



Once upon a time, in 2004, Brian Burton was roaming the grounds at Roskilde - happy to quiet his overactive genius since finishing up production of "Modern Guilt." He stumbled upon James Mercer, willing himself into hypnosis at the Bugge Wesseltoft show. After some "heyhowareyas," the two gents got to talking.

"Danger Mouse," James claps. "I gotta say, I'm a real fan of your work. What you're doing with that Dark Night of the Soul project - that shit's insane. I don't really get it, but the stills I've seen with David Lynch are pretty fucked. Respect."

"Jimmy," Brian smiles. "Can I call you that? Solid. Jimmy, I've been listening to The Shins since before caring was creepy. I know you're overhauling the lineup, but whadya say after the dust settles - we get a little thing going? See what happens, make a little magic, fry up some aebleskiver?"

"I'm not down with aebleskiver, I'm off white sugar - " Brian sweeps the air with his hands in dismissal, throws his arms around the shoulders of his new friend and they off the head into the sunset.

(*note: i might be fibbing a bit. Regardless, it's the basics of how
Danger Mouse and James Mercer have partnered up as Broken Bells - an effort, they say, is taking them to uncharted territory on their musical maps. Danger Mouse has forsook sampling for held-in-hand instruments. James puts his vocals in ranges not oft climbed on previous recordings. The first single gives us a taste of spacey sound effects, melody, a little darkness and a splash of soul. Surreal video to match and a self-titled album out next month.)



Broken Bells // The High Road

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ryan Bingham/Crazy Heart


From the new country music film Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, this track by Ryan Bingham should have you crying into your beer by lunchtime. I haven't seen the movie so I can't comment on it, but I have heard the song and after just seeing Willie Nelson last night, it seemed appropriate for Hump day. And to be the first post since Nam.

P.S. The image is Jeff Bridges, not Ryan Bingham. Jeff is much cooler looking.

Ryan Bingham // The Weary Kind