SXSW 2010: Broken Bells concert review
Broken Bells perform at SXSW. (Photo for the Tribune by Jack Plunkett)
AUSTIN, Texas -- Most of the 1,500 bands signed up for the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference this week are hoping to play often and well enough to get their first big break. But each year a handful of veteran artists uses the annual showcase as an opportunity to roll out new projects.
Such was the case with Broken Bells, a collaboration between Shins singer James Mercer and producer Danger Mouse, a k a Brian Burton. Their third public performance as a band occurred Wednesday at Stubb's in front of a capacity audience of 2,000, with hundreds more lining the block outside hoping to get in.
Mercer's Shins have been one of the big indie-music success stories of the last decade. And no producer has had a better six-year run than Danger Mouse, who has overseen albums by Gorillaz, Beck and Gnarls Barkley.
With that pedigree, much was expected of Broken Bells and the duo has delivered a fine self-titled album, which debuted last week at No. 7 on the Billboard chart.
Mercer and Burton pretty much did everything themselves on the album, eschewing sampling in favor of a more organic approach. But in expanding to a seven-piece band for live performance, Broken Bells essentially tried to reproduce its studio album note for note.