Word: hipping
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...could have produced alone. It is towards the latter end of this spectrum that we find Broken Bells, the new collaboration between James Mercer, lead singer of The Shins, and producer/musician Brian Burton a.k.a. Danger Mouse. The folk guitar strumming and soaring voice of Mercer fits impeccably into the hip-hop beats and electronic ambiance of Danger Mouse. However, a true synergy of the two styles never really comes across, leaving, simply, an undeniably catchy, though not terribly innovative, pop record...
...example, “The Ghost Inside” is arguably the most beguiling track on the album, yet it never transcends what the two individuals have previously created on their own. The song starts with a strong hip-hop beat and finds Mercer singing in a reverb-rich falsetto. Two-thirds in, it takes a turn and Mercer drops his voice down to his normal range where he is accompanied by the somewhat hackneyed vacillation of strings and heavy bass. The yearning and nomadic nature of Mercer’s voice traveling through Burton’s trip...
Gere is also playing against type, and he's amusing as a sad sack, especially in scenes with Chantel, the hooker Eddie is sweet on. Chantel is played by Shannon Kane, an actress of incomparable hip flexibility. (May Brooklyn's Finest do for her what Training Day did for Eva Mendes. Or at least get her some hula work.) Eddie is cynical, mean to recruits and won't lift a finger for anyone. This is one of those situations in which familiarity with an actor directs the narrative more than the screenwriter does. We know Eddie is going...
...unexpected pairing. Burton's music tends toward the funky side - a bit of hip-hop here, a few tape loops there - whereas the Shins are the melodic band skinny kids in Converse sneakers name-drop if they want to sound sensitive. "People tend to be split on this album," says Burton by phone from his Los Angeles home. "They either think it sounds like what they'd guess the two of us together would sound like, or they say it wasn't like anything they expected...
Ultimately, DJing is about striking a balance between the narrow register of pop jingles and an endless catalogue of the music DJs love—what for VanMiddlesworth includes “European techno minimalist house,” but for other DJs comprises a range electronica and hip-hop. John R. Regan ’11, who was the heavenly coefficient to Thorn’s Hell at the aforementioned party, has found a way to reconcile his approach with the demands of his audience. “I’m a remix DJ,” said...