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"Danger Mouse has become one of rock&amp;apos;s biggest producers in the past five years, working with A-list bands like the Black Keys and U2 &amp;#x2013; but he admits his personal life hasn&amp;apos;t been quite as successful. &amp;quot;I don&amp;apos;t have a relationship, so I&amp;apos;m kind of all over the place,&amp;quot; says the 36-year-old, whose real name is Brian Burton. &amp;quot;When I meet younger people, I&amp;apos;m like, &amp;apos;Wait a minute, I&amp;apos;m not so young anymore. Is this the way it&amp;apos;s supposed to be?&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nSee Where Danger Mouse&amp;apos;s The Grey Album Lands on the 100 Best Albums of the 2000s\r\nBurton&amp;apos;s angst helped inspire After the Disco (out January 14th) &amp;#x2013; the second LP by Broken Bells, his collaboration with James Mercer of Oregon indie kings the Shins, who are on break. &amp;quot;He can be pretty dark in his musings about life, being single, all that stuff,&amp;quot; says Mercer, who crashed at Burton&amp;apos;s place in Los Angeles while they were making the record, often staying up late to drink and talk. &amp;quot;Whereas I&amp;apos;ve left a lot of that behind. I&amp;apos;m kind of an old married guy.&amp;quot;\r\nYou can hear those emotions on standout tracks like the jittery dance-pop tune &amp;quot;A Perfect World&amp;quot; and the acoustic highlight &amp;quot;Leave It Alone,&amp;quot; where Mercer sings hauntingly about heartbreak and deceit. At the same time, After the Disco is Broken Bells&amp;apos; catchiest set yet, augmenting the duo&amp;apos;s psych-pop sound with late-night grooves and sleek synths. &amp;quot;If you were to play the songs on a piano, they would sound pretty sad,&amp;quot; says Mercer. &amp;quot;But you add the beat and hooks, and then it becomes a party record, in a way.&amp;quot;\r\nBroken Bells to Take Disco on the Road in 2014\r\nBurton kept the recording equipment to a bare minimum &amp;#x2013; using only a couple of guitars and inexpensive synths to create loops for Mercer to sing over. &amp;quot;We like the idea of making a record that anybody could make,&amp;quot; says Burton. &amp;quot;Doing something on a smaller scale, but making it sound really big.&amp;quot;\r\nBetween sessions, they listened to everything from David Bowie&amp;apos;s Hunky Dory to Miami Vice composer Jan Hammer, and bonded over old science-fiction films. Says Burton, &amp;quot;We&amp;apos;re fascinated with what people in the Fifties and Sixties thought the future was going to be like.&amp;quot;\r\nWhy Danger Mouse Produced Electric Guest&amp;apos;s Debut Album\r\nThe album clicked into place a year ago, when, on the last day of a monthlong session, Mercer started playing a simple melody on guitar while a car was waiting outside to take him to the airport. &amp;quot;Brian recognized it and said, &amp;apos;Wait a minute, that&amp;apos;s a thing!&amp;apos;&amp;quot; says Mercer. When they gathered again a few months later, that snippet evolved into the LP&amp;apos;s glittery title track, with a wiggly bass line and lyrics about reluctantly leaving youth behind. &amp;quot;You can dance to it,&amp;quot; says Burton, &amp;quot;but it still has the sadness, the darker melancholy thing we like to do.&amp;quot;\r\nWith the Broken Bells album done, Burton is focusing on finishing U2&amp;apos;s upcoming studio LP. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s an ongoing process,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;That&amp;apos;s all I can say.&amp;quot; (Mercer, who got to hear some early tracks while he was recording with Burton, adds, &amp;quot;It sounds awesome!&amp;quot;) The duo are also rehearsing for a winter tour, where they&amp;apos;ll re-create the LP&amp;apos;s layered arrangements onstage. &amp;quot;The way we make the records, there&amp;apos;s a lot of trickery,&amp;quot; says Mercer. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;ll be cool to see it turn into something real.&amp;quot;\r\nThis story is from the December 5th, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/danger-mouses-cool-midlife-crisis-inside-broken-bells-disco-20131128>