Broken Bells

VIMTV Episode #148: Broken Bells – Broken Bells

 

Jake: Recommended, 71/100

Tom: Recommended, 73/100

Overview: Put briefly, Broken Bells is two things: good, but unnecessary. Now, I know what you’re thinking– “how is good music ever unnecessary?” It’s not (which is why we still gave this a pretty solid score), but the unnecessary factor comes from the fact that James Mercer and Danger Mouse have their musical blender set to “mince” rather than “puree.” This causes Broken Bells’ debut to sound merely like a Shins album that happened to be produced by Danger Mouse, which isn’t exactly a convincing justification to call it an entirely new band. Overall, this is an enjoyable listen, but it’s also somewhat painful to hear two geniuses fail to leave their comfort zones and settle for the realm of predictability.

Recommended Similar Artists: The Shins, Gorillaz, New Beck, Grizzly Bear

Jake’s Track Picks:

  • 2. Vaporize
  • 4. The Ghost Inside
  • 8. October

Tom’s Track Picks:

  • 1. The High Road
  • 3. Your Head Is On Fire
  • 4. The Ghost Inside

VIMTV Research Links:

“The Ghost Inside” Live video:

“The High Road” Music Video:

Broken Bells Interview – Shows some interesting changes in both artists:

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  • Jacob
    #1 written by Jacob  8 months ago

    In my opinion, I really enjoy October, but don’t enjoy the rest of the songs as much. I found that the songwriting level here has dropped significantly from albums like Oh, Inverted World.

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