Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse returns to his roots, if you will: to hip hop. Of course, he already showed with his moonshine debut “The Gray Album” that he is not impressed by musical boundaries. He then mixed Jay-Z’s “Black Album” with the Beatles’ “White Album” quite spectacularly – and embarked on a career that won him Grammys and honors with, for example, the rock of the Black Keys, the soul of Gnarls Barkley and the arty folk rock of the Broken Bells.
Hall and clatter that the dust rises shimmering
Here, with the no less successful Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, rapper of the eminent roots, he produces his first hip-hop album since 2005, when he performed with MF Doom entitled “The Mouse And The Mask”. In turn, the two invite him here posthumously – he died two years ago – for a track on the album, one of several guests whose Flows Black Thoughts loosen up the dense, urgent tone. In accordance with its musical origins, Black Thought moves in a historically conscious and precise manner, of course without sacrificing a bit of loudness.
In the beats, Danger Mouse digs unerringly through samples of his favorite epoch, wistful soul and pop pieces from the sixties, which he hits with such reverberation and clanking that the dust shimmers in the air. He often uses their melodic potential, as in the chorus of “The Darkest Part” with a resolutely hoarse Raekwon. But on “Strangers” with Run The Jewels he creates his spacious atmosphere solely with a fuzzy drum and electro setting, on “Close To Famous” he contrasts the soul beat with a tortured Farfisa organ, and from the friendly swampy single “No Gold Teeth” succinctly whines two octave-jumping guitar tones from a Hugh Masekela sample. Black Thought emphatically proves that as a rapper he doesn’t just follow the beats, but – with magnificent boom or cool accents – helps shape the dynamic twist of the tracks.
SIMILAR REVIEWS
VA :: Glastonbury: The Album
SIMILAR ARTICLES
Too enigmatic for the general public: The restless psych-folk of Trees
A new box set with really all the songs of the short-lived but influential British folk formation invites you to (re)discover the band for their 50th anniversary.
The Shins in the video interview: “Fanta drinks and Kinder chocolate”
James Mercer and his band The Shins not seen that often in Germany. That is why we are particularly pleased that they will be playing on the Hurricane / Southside weekend. We spoke to James Mercer about his youth in Germany, the Shins, the Broken Bells and “Garden State”.
Broken Bells: The new video for the song “The High Road”
We’ll have to wait until March 5th before the Shins’ James Mercer and uber-producer Danger Mouse finally make their debut with their joint project, Broken Bells. Now her epic clip for “The High Road” premiered.
<!–
–>
<!–
–>