Do512 - What to do in Austin

James Mercer and Brian Burton a/k/a Danger Mouse will be bringing Broken Bells to this year’s Austin City Limits festival on October 9.


Broken Bells’ self titled debut album has sold over 200,000 copies domestically since its March 9 Columbia Records release, nearly 50,000 of which were moved in its first week—landing the record at #7 on the Billboard 200 and #1 at its peak on iTunes).


In addition to being the year’s highest charting debut album by an alternative/rock band, Broken Bells met with an instantly and unanimously positive critical reception: Rolling Stone hailed the album as “the year’s coolest left field pop disc” in a 4-star lead review, while Wired described it as “crazy good stuff” and Entertainment Weekly praised it as a “subtly savory sonic morsel.”
More recently, Broken Bells came in at #4 in NPR’s best music of 2010 so far listeners poll.


Broken Bells’ first ever tour has fared similarly, selling out from date one, and dazzling crowds the world over. Witnessing one of the band’s very first performances, US Weekly likened Broken Bells live show to “being at a cozy, intimate underground basement party somewhere in Northern California with the best art rock band on the coast providing the soundtrack.”


Broken Bells features Mercer on vocals, guitars and bass while Burton plays organ, drums, piano, synths and bass. The pair play all instruments on the album with the exception of a full string section arranged by Daniele Luppi. Broken Bells was recorded by Todd Monfalcone and Kennie Takahashi at Mondo Studio in Los Angeles and produced by Danger Mouse.


Each a long-time fan of the other’s work, Burton and Mercer first met face-to-face backstage at the 2004 Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen. The pair immediately hit it off and kept in touch over the prevailing half decade and in May 2008 seized the opportunity to finally collaborate on original music together. Broken Bells was pared down from more than 20 pieces of new music written and recorded to the 10 songs that coalesced together the most seamlessly.


Mercer and Burton will continue to work as a band in the future