Broken Bells - Danger Mouse's new project

SXSW 2010 has come and gone...but you can still experience the vibes at NPR.org. The most interesting session for me was the concert from Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse, and James Mercer of The Shins. Click here for the full session or hear the album as part of NPR's Exclusive First Listen in the player.

Broken Bells video

The High Road

Broken Bells

NPR Exclusive First Listen


Fireside interview with Broken Bells

"The much-anticipated new project (or new band as Rolling Stone reported at the end of September) from super-producer Danger Mouse and The Shins frontman James Mercer has been kept pretty hush-hush for a while. But...the band announced that its upcoming self-titled album is set for release on March 9, 2010.

The album's 10 tracks feature Mercer and Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) playing all the instruments, except for string arrangements handled by composer Daniele Luppi. The first single off the LP, called "The High Road," is set to premiere on Broken Bells' Web site...

...the band began hinting at its upcoming record release all over the Internet. It started with an email newsletter sent out containing a binary code message that when translated reads, "The high road is hard to find." Next to come was a number of ads on various websites that linked to different URLs, all anagrams of "Broken Bells" and all displaying the same image (the image file name? 03092010). Snippets of songs believed to be on the future album play on a loop on each site, with more popping up after each page refresh." NPR