The first album by Broken Bells, a self-titled collaboration between The Shins’ James Mercer and Brian Burton (AKA Danger Mouse), came out on March 9th. To my ears, it is the best release of 2010 thus far.
Let’s learn a a bit about the principles. James Mercer is best known as the lead guy in The Shins, who have been making albums since 1997. They are recognized for the song “New Slang”, their contribution to the Garden State Soundtrack. It is a crazy good track and fit perfectly with that movie. Some people like to talk smack about the Garden State Soundtrack now, but at the time it was pretty big. Grammy, anyone? (Not that Grammies really mean anything anymore. I’ll grant you that.) I still like that song, though.
Danger Mouse’s biography will take a little more time. He started out as an electronic artist in Athens, Georgia. The first thing that most people heard about Danger Mouse was that in 2004 he took the genres of hip hop, pop, and mash-ups and shattered them all. Then, he picked up the pieces and turned them into a sonic mosaic called The Grey Album. The piece was a mixture of samples culled from the Beatles’ White Album overlaid by acappella rhymes from Jay-Z’s Black Album. In addition to shattering genres, this sound piece actually broke my brain.
From there, Danger Mouse has done a lot of other collaborations and racked up production credits like a tweaked-out pinball wizard with a studio: producer on the Gorillaz Demon Days album (the good one); half of the “Crazy” popular duo, Gnarls Barkley; a collaboration with MF Doom called DangerDoom (inventive, guys); production for indie rockers The Black Keys; and production on Beck’s album Modern Guilt. To say that’s a pretty nice resume would be like saying Susan Boyle kind of looks like a dude; Susan Boyle TOTALLY looks like a dude, and that is a GREAT resume. (Parenthetically, can I just add here that it is awesome that I can type “Susan Boyle looks like a dude” into a search engine and instantly have my choice of images? Done and done. Back to the review.)
Some of Danger Mouse’s projects come off as just an album by the artist, produced by Danger Mouse. The Beck album would come to mind as one fitting in this category. Still other Danger Mouse projects turn into equal partnerships where each party brings something to the table and the pieces coalesce into something new and awesome, like Gnarls Barkley. Broken Bells would fall into the latter category.
As legend has it, the pair met backstage at a music festival in 2004 and hit it off. They wanted to work together, but it didn’t happen for another four years. The project started off as a secret, but blog world got wind of it last year and we have been waiting for the release since then. Now it’s here.
The album is essentially a pop album with extras; the songs are built around guitar and drum sounds, with layered bits of Danger Mouse magic interspersed at just the right intervals. In an interview on NPR’s All Songs Considered, the duo intimated that these sounds were influenced by the instruments in Danger Mouse’s LA studio (electric harpsichord, Hammond organ, etc.), as well as instruments they bought together, like a special Fender 6 guitar they used extensively and whose distinct sound gives some of the songs an Ennio Morricone-like quality (if you’re not familiar with Morricone, think Spaghetti Western soundtracks. He’s the one who made them.)
The song many people heard before the release of the album was the advance single, “The High Road”, released last December. It is also the first track on the album. This is a catchy song with a steady, mid-tempo beat, as well as a singalong ending refrain: “It’s too late to change your mind/ You let laws be your guide.” Actually, Mercer leaves it a bit ambiguous and sometimes I can’t tell if he says “guide” or “God,” which is cryptically cool. Danger Mouse surreptitiously scatters sounds about like so many stars, frosting the song with a trail of vapor dust.
The next great song on Bells is a doozy. “The Ghost Inside” is uber-simple and funky, with a very spare electric beat that hardly changes, a few sparse hand claps, some synthesizer, guitar, and Mercer’s terrific vocal. During this song he switches from a falsetto yowl during the verses, to a mid-range plea for the choruses, and finally to a deeper, conversational cadence during the breakdowns. This performance gives a repetitive song perceived diversity and makes it into one of the top bangers on the album.
“October” is anthemic; it reminds me of a drunken piano player in an old country western saloon. You know, the one who gets shot by a stray bullet when the card game goes awry. It’s sad like that, but beautiful at the same time, like one of those sultry fall days, when it feels like winter will never come. That’s nice imagery for one song to evoke.
Those are my favorite songs on Bells. Now for some short cuts:
The story on “Sailing to Nowhere” is the beautiful piano and string arrangement that adorns this aching waltz. You know when someone kisses their fingers and then splays them up into the air, saying “Magnifique!” like a French chef? This is the aural equivalent of that.
“Citizen” is a hipster robot, programmed to destroy. ‘Nuff said, right? Admit it, you can totally picture that song now. It’s not just lazy writing.
“Mongrel Heart” sounds like a creepy new wave song. It should have a video where the band is drawn in illustrations and then steps through a portal that turns them into real men with bad haircuts.
“The Mall and the Misery” has the epitome of the aforementioned “Morricone sound” at its beginning and then turns into an urgent car chase-type track. I would definitely play this song on the car stereo if I was ever on the run from the cops, careening down alleys and over hills, sparks and body parts flying. It sounds just like that, it really does. This one has some badass guitar riffs.
I neglected to mention a couple of the tracks, including “Vaporize”, “Your Head is on Fire”, and “Trap Doors” on purpose. I think “Vaporize” is actually going to be the next single. It’s a good song. It’s not that I don’t like these cuts, they just didn’t grab me, so they don’t get mentioned. Every album has a couple of throwaway tracks, although I’m sure the artists would object to me calling them that. It’s not that I don’t think they should be on the album, though. Every great album needs a couple of downers to accentuate the greatness of the others. That’s just the way it is.
And this is a great album, from a band that is just getting started. Although the songs from the album were done in the studio by Mercer and Danger Mouse alone, they have formed a band and are headed out on the road soon, starting with that mythical musical wonderland that I never get to go to, South by Southwest Fest. In the future they will be available for more bookings, so, Splitworks, STD, let’s make it happen!
In the meantime, you, the listener should get this album and listen to it. A lot. They even have a $40 Deluxe Edition with ultra-neato stuff like artwork and glow-in-the-dark stickers! The box of the CD plays an unreleased track when you open it, like a post-modern music box! If I still bought CDs I would so totally be there! But, I don’t! But I’m still listening! And so should you! I can’t stop using exclamation points!
New York-adopted band The Secret Machines is coming to Shanghai’s Mao Livehouse this Saturday, thanks to Icon Promotions, within the framework of their first China Tour. Flares of thick, hypnotic music will act as a welcome party to spring. You don’t want to miss it…
A quick glance: The Secret Machines took shape in 2000 in Texas and, after a shift in the earlier formation, the band is now composed by Brandon Curtis (vocals, bass, keyboards), Phil Karnats (guitar) and Josh Garza (drums). The decision to move to New York proved to be pivotal and, thanks to an outright devotion to music, in a short time they released three successful full-length albums: Now Here is Nowhere (2004), Ten Silver Drops (2006), and Secret Machines (2008). These gained them recognition worldwide. They count U2 and David Bowie as fans.
The music of The Secret Machines has often been associated with the spacey soundscapes of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Flaming Lips, and Spacemen 3, but it also displays a unique taste for gritty sounds and restless beats that may recall some post-grunge hints. Best served live.
In a word, expect to get what you came for: Good music, unconditionally.
Layabozi caught up with drummer Josh Garza, who provided insight into the band’s core features and inspirations, and gave us rocking songs for you to listen to while you read. The first one is a single from 2008, “Dreaming of Dreaming”. “Like I Can” and “Terrible Light” are their two newest songs, released just this year on a singles album. “Like I Can” will be free for you to download until this Sunday, the day after the concert.
Layabozi: ”Secret Machines” must have secret ignition devices… we don’t ask you to unravel them, but perhaps you can give us some clue about what is it that got you started and that keeps fueling the sonic grandiosity showcased in your works…
Josh Garza: A love of music is what really inspires us… we feel a need to contribute to the great works of music that exist and try not to add any more “bad” music to the world. “Bad” meaning music made with a lack of desire or not being a true soulful statement from the heart. We do this because we love to do it.
LYBZ: Is there any artist that did somehow cast an influence over you and that, most likely, no one would ever think of?
JG: We are big fans of country music (Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt), golden oldies (The Flamingos, Doo Wop) and Motown (the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye). We could make a list of about 200 bands that are very influential and not likely or obvious. I recently began listening to a Chinese group called the Hanggai Band, they are amazing! They are my new favorite band. I am hoping to meet them on this China tour.
LYBZ: You moved to New York at the early beginning of your career and managed to make a neat breakthrough in short time, what have been the propelling factors? Which the deterrent ones?
JG: One cannot live in NYC and not be motivated. The city itself kinda makes you either fight or flight. It’s a buzz that never sleeps but that can also be a major deterrent. Most people can’t handle the pace and get run over. The best thing is to use the energy and channel it into the music.
LYBZ: To what extent, and in what fashion is your Texas legacy still interwoven with the New York inspiration?
JG: Being born in Texas means it never leaves your heart. I will always have a fondness for Texas, but slowly over the years the influence has eased back a bit because of distance. Living in NYC for ten years has become a bigger and more immediate inspiration. One is a product of their surroundings and Texas has become a chapter from our past. It’s hard to quantify exactly how much of it still exists in our music but I can say that it hasn’t disappeared completely. Our music is still as big and vast as our first album, but now we are more conscious and aware of the rest of the world. It’s called “getting older”.
LYBZ: With increasing confidence over the years, your music keeps venturing into mighty sound cascades where lunar, psychedelic echoes are cleverly interlayered with the rougher pulses of the urban flesh. Is this creative process intentional or it’s just the natural outcome of an innate urge common to all the band-mates? Has it changed throughout your career?
JG: We don’t try to sound a certain way or be too methodical about the direction of a song, but yes, we do have particular tendencies as musicians. Sometimes we try and let the songs tell us what to do and it’s hard to stay out of the way because we might not all see the same purpose of a song. Sometimes a song is only chords and a beat and we have to “feel it out” and see if it sounds better as a ten minute epic or a shorter 4 minute rocker. Just like everybody else we go through different moods and our sound evolves with time. We rely on each other to help guide what emotions we want to express musically and this is something that changes with each song, if not daily.
LYBZ: Many of your tracks (“The Fire Is Waiting”, “The Walls Are Starting To Crack”, “First Wave Intact”…) feature this epic, majestic allure, like you were knights who embarked on some unspoken battle against all the nuances of paranoia post-modern society is imbued with. Yet, and for the best, some sarcasm is detectable in the overall attitude… How seriously do you take this battle? Is it out of self-irony or of far-sightedness that you admit to be “a graveyard of hopes”?
JG: We definitely don’t try to take ourselves too seriously but that doesn’t mean we don’t take music seriously… The best part of our music is that it allows for various interpretations. Obviously there is a “story” for each song but that specifically belongs to Brandon and his lyrics. It wouldn’t be fun to explain it all away and confirm or deny some type of opinion that somebody has about us. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a sense of humor and a light-hearted touch with our songs either. All our songs would be 10 minutes long if we really felt that righteous about ourselves. At the end of the day it’s only a rock ’n roll band having some kind of fun together.
LYBZ: The Secret Machines have been out and about for quite a while already: extensive tours, festivals, movie soundtracks, support acts for artists like U2, Interpol, Blonde Redhead, Spiritualized… can you highlight some unforgettable moments that stand out when you look back? And when you look ahead…?
JG: One of the greatest moments in TSM history was when we supported U2 in Mexico. We played two shows in Mexico City and one in Monterrey. The two shows in Mexico City are remarkable because we played at Aztec Stadium in front of 100,000 each night. The Monterrey show is significant because my parents are from this city and I had tons of family at the show. Right now we are very excited to be going to China. To play there is an honor and we all feel lucky to have the chance to do what we do in such a far and exotic place.
LYBZ: China, the homeland of piracy (DVDs for 1$!)… It may have all started here but nowadays movies, music and to a certain extent culture in general can sometimes spread more easily as control-free traveling files than as original hard copies. Is this endemic and almost institutional new way of music diffusion detrimental for record labels in the end? Now that you have your own (TSM Recordings), do you notice any difficulties in staying afloat?
JG: The problem with a lot of labels is that they didn’t see the Internet as a tool initially. It’s a different story today, but in the mid-90s, not a lot of label execs gave much thought to the Internet…who did? Labels were too busy ignoring the potential and this did lead to them having problems dealing with downloads and how to use them. Blogs and web-zines are the norm now and labels are having to play the game or risk falling behind the times. The Internet is very “band-friendly” and it is a sure way to stay connected to fans and have a platform to exhibit new material and other items that may or may not be music-related. It’s hard to stay afloat as an artist these days, but I think the Internet is a strong ally to have.
LYBZ: How do you picture the audience and the experience of the upcoming tour in China? With the exception of few cases of “erudites” who already know the band and the lyrics, most of the audience is not quite as mature and will probably enjoy the show mainly based on the live performance. How do you feel about it, pressured? Challenged? Reminiscent of the band’s earlier stages…?
JG: It’s exciting to be playing in front of a “new” crowd. Definitely like the earlier days where nobody knew the songs and we had to “rock” or else be forgotten. Fortunately, we aren’t a “new” band so maybe the fans that do show up can kinda give it a buzz type of atmosphere. I think that all bands should be able to perform well in a live setting and it’s always a challenge for us. We don’t assume anything at a show. It’s a time to deliver on the promise that rock ‘n roll can change your life.
LYBZ: So tell us, what is the flaw that makes you perfect?
JG: We carry our heart on our sleeves. It makes us vulnerable but at least we remain honest. It’s a pretentious answer but…
This line from St. Vincent’s song “The Bed” off the album Actor perfectly sums up the contradiction that makes the artist’s work so unsettling. As you can hear on the track, the morbid lines are delivered in a sweet, breathy voice, over a serene instrumental that could be the soundtrack to a Disney movie about woodland fairies weaving a cloak of fireflies.
So many people have written about this album already; it seems like overkill to review it again. It was one of the most critically-acclaimed “indie” albums of 2009. Guitarist and singer Annie Clark, who, along with her band, is St. Vincent, has been interviewed in many online and print publications. She has also been fawned over by indie geeks everywhere. If Playboy did a “Girls of Indie Music” pictorial, she might be the centerfold (sorry, Joanna Newsom.) Of course, they would never do that. Rats.
But, despite all of this detritus littering cyberspace, let’s add another layer to the blogosphere morass, shall we? After all, she will be playing a packed show at YuYinTang on March 13th, as part of Splitworks’ JUE Festival. So maybe you want to know something about her and her music.
Clark was the niece of traveling musicians and she often accompanied them on tour when she was a young girl. That’s how she learned to play the guitar. Flash forward a few years and she began touring with former Indie Darlings Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree. She set off on her own and recorded her debut album, entitled Marry Me. Actor is her second release and the one that has propelled her into the bright green pool of limelight. The hype is justified; Actor is a polished, chilling, ungodly gorgeous album from an artist who seems to be steadily progressing. Clark has stated in interviews that she actually “drew” the album before she ever played it. This has always confused me, but apparently she used a computer program to draw in the rhythmic and melodic parts before she actually realized them with instruments. I have never heard about this being done before, but it worked for her. For a clearer explanation, here is an email quote from the artist herself, in a piece done by The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones.
I have a precise memory of sitting in a hotel room in December of 2007 at Charles De Gaulle, absentmindedly drawing notes in on GarageBand via my laptop. No external mouse. Just me drawing notes, one by one, until they sounded how they should sound. Like a facsimile of a facsimile of music. That song became “Marrow.” Because I was not tied to my human, physical, muscular limitations (hands like to go here, ears like to hear this) I was able to make music that was smarter than I am. I sent my friend Mike Atkinson the MIDI scores and he did some cleaning up and printed them out. All new. In musical notation. A whole new language that other players could understand! A revelation! Then I learned how to play what I had written, dreamt. My hands learned the language.
Clark has has stated that she watches a lot of movies and that she thought about film scores when making Actor, especially those of Disney movies. This influence is uncannily evident throughout the album. One can picture many of the songs scoring children’s movies. It is this playful quality that makes the darker parts much eerier. The juxtaposition of “children’s” and “adult” themes is deliciously scandalous.
Many writers have called this album “enchanting.” That is an apt description, but, for me, the album is unsettling. The songs I like best seem to take atmospheric u-turns at critical junctions. My personal favorites include “The Strangers”, “Marrow”, “The Bed”, and “Actor out of Work”. When, in conventional songs we would be headed for the second verse or the bridge, instead we take a fateful step right up to the brink. You can feel the gale swirling around you and there is real danger. The lyrics do not represent your average fairy tale, more like a nightmare that sets you sweating inside a cauldron of acidic tongues.
Actor is a must-get for those who like their music to veer toward the treacherous side. St. Vincent’s show should also be a must-see, as she will be turning YuYinTang into a kaleidoscopic coven on March 13th. We can expect lots of guitar and piano, possibly played over recorded beats. I do not envision her bringing a full band, but just Annie will do.
Sorry, bloggers. You’re going to have to hate on someone else this time around. Vampire Weekend has avoided the sophomore slump. Weren’t you all worried about that? No? You had them down for a tour-de-force follow-up all along? OK. My mistake. Sorry.
It seems like no band has ever experienced the malice and expectation that Vampire Weekend did when the dust had settled on the buzz (also created by bloggers) from their self-titled debut album, which was one of the best and hottest of 2008. I would say that you have to go back to the Strokes, in the aftermath of “Is This It” to match the anticipation and lack of faith. Seems like the worst thing you can do is release a great album on your first try. Either everything or nothing is expected of you. Also, if the style of the second album is too similar to the first you are accused of cashing in on the past. However, if you take a drastic leap and try something new, it seems like no one will like it and your band will be dismissed as a one-hit wonder. It happened with the Strokes.
However, “Contra”, Vampire Weekend’s second shot at the business of impossibly infectious, African-Classical/Indie Pop guava juice is, thankfully, mostly damn entertaining, and flows in the same vein. There are little tweaks, of course, but these only enhance the new tracks, rather than ruin them for die-hards who clamor for more of the same. At the same time, the tweaks should satisfy some of the critics who denigrate the band for their so-called cultural appropriation (meaning they are stealing African rhythms for their own nefarious purposes).
Well, what about that? First of all, I have never heard of an African musician copyrighting a rhythmic cycle (you may point to the case of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, but that pertains to lyrics, not beats. Also, you can ruminate about the ethics of this reality, but you cannot, for the most part, deny it.) When I first heard Vampire Weekend’s debut I immediately thought, “Paul Simon, ‘Graceland’.” The comparisons are fair in a way, I think, but here’s the rub: Paul Simon recruited South African and other musicians, while Vampire Weekend is making their own music, borrowing from others who have come before, of course, but making their own music nonetheless. It is clear that, with all the cultural kleptomania going on, Vamp Week should be judged on their merits as a band using diverse influences, nothing more or less.
Another criticism of the band has been that they are not “serious”. Their music is dismissed as lightweight and frivolous. Even if that is the case, then what of it? Does music always have to be a weighty affair? Also, it’s possible that people are not looking deep enough. With “Contra” these East Coast boys are apparently exploring Left Coast tropes. And is this title a shot against critics? Contra means against in Spanish and could also refer to fighters the US backed in Nicaragua through the sale of weapons to Iran in order to fight Communism in Latin America. Even their name could be a veiled attack on the current craze surrounding vampire culture and the short attention span in entertainment these days.
Enough with the conjecture: Beg, borrow, or steal this album. It’s as pleasurable as the first. Although we head to the West Coast for this one, we’re not really going Latin (fortunately or unfortunately.) “California English” is an adroit opening, but only sucks you in for the treasures to come, like the knuckle of a crab. “Diplomat’s Son” is a deliciously naughty song about taking advantage of Joe Strummer’s son by “docking” him, cock-slapping his girlfriend, then fire-bombing the Managua International School (some of the preceding may not be true.) “White Sky” sounds like the lead singer was kicked in the nuts while riding shotgun in the Balloon Boy’s mushroom-shaped zeppelin, but somehow it works. “Giving up the Gun” and “Cousins” are more driving than most songs we have ever heard from the Vamps, and it is not an unwelcome departure. “Horchata” (which you can download from their website) made me want to drink one, with or without a balaclava. The sun is shining and we are walking down a sun-drenched street, skipping to an imaginary beat, in the first stages of a relationship that is bound to last for ages or at least a few minutes.
I’m not going to say that “Contra” is world-changing or anything like that. It is an album of enjoyably poppy music, drawing from many sources, played by East Coast American musicians. There’s no need to look too deep, but also no need to look past.
This will be a rollicking weekend, though sadly I will be rollicking on another continent. Classic invader countries/people Finland and Mongolia send dudes, as do the 20th century experts who brought us a newer, subtler, but unmistakably invasive kind of invasion: the USA and USSR. Man the barricades!
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Layabozi is a web magazine about music in Shanghai today, with a sprinkle of the extra-mural and a tart sassiness—without ever being cloying. We take our inspiration from the snack which is both exotic (to us) and down home, and from which we take our name: Spicy Duck Necks.
The songs posted in this website are for analysis purposes only. We, the contributors, love - deeply - music and we work to support the artists we love by promoting and purchasing their work; it is our policy only to post what we own or what the artists/owners have authorized us to publish. Through this site, we're simply sharing music with others hoping they will also support these artists and appreciate the quality of their work. We encourage everyone to purchase music and concert tickets for the artists you feel deserve your money and energy. If you own the copyright to one of the songs posted on this website and would like it removed, please let us know we'll respond fast as a the wind. We do not keep an archive of our songs. And we do take obsessive care of our records, cassettes, cd's, dvd's, videos, books, autographs, photos and old tickets to concerts we loved.
Feel free to contact us if you are a band, label or distributor and think we'd be interested in your music. Same goes if you're playing a gig in either Shanghai, China, Asia, Gaia, or outer space and want us to come.
The first album by Broken Bells, a self-titled collaboration between The Shins’ James Mercer and Brian Burton (AKA Danger Mouse), came out on March 9th. To my ears, it is the best release of 2010 thus far.
