Musicians seem to be born with the natural ability to collaborate.  Everyday creative forces are uniting to unleash awesomeness on the world.  It has been 24 years and I am still in love with the Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith partnership that birthed “Walk This Way”.  Now, if only the world’s politicians could learn to collaborate.  I won’t hold my breath on that one.

I turn to Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton and James “he’s from The Shins” Mercer for another prime example of a well done collaboration.   Danger Mouse is one of those musical genius producer types that has the Midas touch.  He has brought his expertise to The Black Keys, Beck, Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkley.  On his own, Danger Mouse rocks the house.  Add to that, the front man of The Shins, Mr. James Mercer.  Mercer’s incredible songwriting chops and haunting vocals have established him as a pillar in the indie rock community.  Now for some simple math.  James Mercer + Danger Mouse = Broken Bells.

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the Broken Bells project and the self-titled album is finally available for the masses.  For two years the guys have forged their styles together and what we receive is a beautiful album that is both refreshing and interesting.  The lead single “The High Road” has been out for a few months and it has been a mainstay in my personal play lists.  An upcoming performance at SXSW will do nothing but add to the excitement around this creative project.

KC’s Personal Picks: “The High Road”, “The Ghost Inside” and “Vaporize”

Check out the video for “The High Road”

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A buddy and I are headed to St. Louis this weekend to watch a Blues game, and while we know they suck as a professional hockey team we’re hard-pressed to find a reason to pass up free VIP seats to any sporting event. Mostly because of the free beer.

The Blues chose their team nickname because the city has a rich musical history (check out BB’s Jazz, Blues, and Soups if you’re ever in the area—great music, and the best damn muffaletta I’ve ever eaten), and up-and-coming alt-rock group Cavo is helping to keep that tradition alive with their 2009 album, “Bright Nights, Dark Days.”

These St. Louis natives burst onto the scene in 2008 with “Champagne,” which has the same grit and honesty of the really good early Puddle of Mudd stuff. Not bluesy by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to get serious airplay on the local radio stations and generate enough buzz to get inked to a major label in Reprise Records.

So “Champagne” is the first track on their first full-length album, followed by my personal favorite, “Crash,” which we featured in a recent Jukebox, and “Let it Go,” the next single that also appeared on the Transformers 2 Soundtrack. From there the rest of the album does what a radio-friendly alt-rock record is expected to do—plenty of catchy power chords and rock ballads and memorable hooks, etc. Bottom line: the whole record rocks. Every track sounds like a single. It makes you wonder how what these guys are doing is any different from what the wildly successful Daughtry is doing. It’s the same basic thing with about 30% less pop, which I guess makes it simultaneously more credible in the music community and less popular in the 13 to 18-year-old demographic. Okay, so I guess that explains it. Ho-hum.

Yes, I’ll be spending the weekend singing the blues over the horrible hockey I’ll be viewing, but the car ride down is going to be very upbeat, thanks in large part to the Cavo album I bought a couple of weeks ago. If nothing else, it’s going to be great driving music. The Blues may suck, but rock will never go bad.

Buy the album:

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iTunes

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