Broken Bells Record Release Laser Light Show

If, when Broken Bells created this, they imagined how happy and grateful they could possibly make somebody feel, I feel even better than that. And by “created this” I mean:  not only the Record Release Laser Light Show Drive-In, but the music, the art, and the experience of it all.

This is what music is
It’s an experience
That’s why people are going back to vinyl
They want to touch something
They miss the experience
It’s a community
They want to be part of something

At 8:00pm tonight Broken Bells took over a roof-top parking lot in downtown Los Angeles for a drive-in style laser light show, synchronized to their debut album.  And it wasn’t just fancy shapes and pretty colors – it was an actual choreographed, scripted, 3D, laser light music video for each song, weaving several stories together into an album.  It took time.  It was thoughtful.  It added meaning.   It moved me.  It gave me renewed hope for music. . .

Y’know, U2 has this whole “360″  spaceship show.  And it’s visually spectacular.  But it feels like they did it just to be big, to do something nobody’s done before, to be larger than life.  And that’s respectable, on its own.  But it didn’t feel all that relevant to the music.  It was just an awesome visual show. . . oh, and also. . .  there was music.  It’s costing $750,000/day to keep that tour going and the carbon impact can’t be good.

Don’t get upset -  I’m not giving U2 shit (and this will come full-circle back to Broken Bells).  I love U2.   I like to get lost in Larry Mullen Jr.’s drumming.  The drums in U2 songs are some of the best there are.  I love that The Edge created a sound that is unmistakably his, and therefore, unmistakably the band’s.  I love watching  Adam Clayton swinging that bass around like it’s his dance partner.  And Bono, your voice is great. . .  So, you don’t need to go flying through the air on an illuminated neon megaphone.  It doesn’t add anything to the music.  In fact, if you re-read my review of that show (which I think is very complimentary), it doesn’t speak all that much about the music.  It’s mostly about the visual aspect as a stand-alone experience. I already got my ticket for U2′s next spaceship 360 show in the LA area, but I’d rather see the show I just described.

House abducted by spaceship

What Danger Mouse and The Shins‘ James Mercer (aka  Broken Bells) created tonight added something to the music.  What Nine Inch Nails creates adds something to the music.  What Portugal.  The Man creates adds something to the music.  What Radiohead creates adds something to the music.  What The Soundtrack of Our Lives creates adds something to the music. There are Artists doing it every day (including U2 – I just don’t think the current tour is the best example of it). And it’s great.  I only mention these other Artists within a Broken Bells review to illustrate that there are many paths to creating an exceptional experience.  Not right or wrong.  Some more about the music than others.  From one of the biggest bands in the world, to a brand new concept, to a band you may not have heard of but you will know them when you see them. . .

It's too late to change your mind

Danger Mouse gets it.  He does it every time.  He knows what’s happening. He knows where we’re headed.  He’s a little ahead of the game, so not everyone is going to get it at first.

Tonight’s event left me feeling like Broken Bells created this as part of the music;  that they originally set out to do exactly this.  It wasn’t just an afterthought; it’s more than simply a cool way to promote something.  They didn’t want to just make a record – they wanted to create a mutil-sensory experience.  I’d love to know more.  Perhaps an interview at SXSW?

Broken Bells 03-09-10

On March 9, 2010 (that’s Tuesday),  we really should buy the Broken Bells album.  Some of us can buy extras for those who can’t afford to buy one, but everybody should have one.

PS – The Broken Bells Laserium glasses are the gift that keep on giving.  And they didn’t even exploit the opportunity to paste some marketing message on them — they knew I’d remember where I got them.

And tell me you saw this:

I give it a “PASS”

In celebration of OK Go’s victory in getting EMI to allow the embedding (and therefore greater viral spread) of their latest music video, here it is!

You may remember that it was precisely OK Go’s innovative video for “Here It Goes Again” (now with more than 49 million views generated online) that gained tremendous notoriety for the band.  So when they released the video for their song “This Too Shall Pass,” you’d think the label would want as many people as possible to actually see it.  Yeah, you’d think that.  But EMI disabled the video embedding features.  Until now.  Congrats, OK Go!

“This Too Shall Pass” seems an all too appropriate title.