July 24, 2008
Danger Mouse, aka Brian Joseph Burton, is in the midst of a personal dilemma. After working his way into the top echelon of music producers, the 30-year-old artist now has the resources to take time off and relax, but chances to work with Beck, The Black Keys and Damon Albarn don't come around often.
DETAILS
Gnarls Barkley
When: Saturday, 2 p.m.
Where: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar Racetrack, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar
Tickets: Free with admission to the racetrack
Phone: (858) 450-6510
Online: delmarscene.com
“I have more opportunities to do more stuff than I ever have,” said Burton on a recent tour stop in Forence, Italy, with his current project, Gnarls Barkley. “So, I've been taking advantage of those opportunities instead of taking time off. I just can't get myself to stop.”
Since he gained notoriety for his seminal 2004 mash-up disc “The Grey Album,” (instrumental tracks from The Beatles' “White Album” with rhymes and vocals from Jay-Z's “Black Album”), Burton produced 2005's “Demon Days” for Gorillaz (nominated for Grammy as best producer of the year), The Rapture's 2006 disc “Pieces of the People We Love” and Sparklehorse's “Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain” in 2006, not to mention a fruitful collaboration between Danger Mouse and rapper MF Doom as DANGERDOOM.
In 2007, he produced with the supergroup The Good, the Bad and the Queen's self-titled album, working with Damon Albarn, Clash bassist Paul Simonon, The Verve's Simon Tong and Fela Kuti's drummer Tony Allen. Just in 2008 (so far), Danger Mouse turned the dials for The Black Keys' “Attack & Release,” The Shortwave Set's “Replica Sun Machine,” Martina Topley-Bird's “The Blue God” and Beck's latest opus, “Modern Guilt.”
So, what makes this guy so appealing to so many different kinds of musicians?
Black Keys vocalist-guitarist Dan Auerbach said of Danger Mouse: “Brian has a real ear for melody and arrangement.” Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse added in a 2007 interview with the Union-Tribune: “He was able to realize a lot of the stuff I heard in my head.”
Danger Mouse's main skills as a producer stem from his background in hip-hop and his love of film scores, particularly the music of Ennio Morricone. Hip-hop gives him knowledge of beats and rhythms, along with the ability to think of music in terms of a patchwork of samples. After studying how music can create moods in film, Danger Mouse is masterful in the art of creating lush landscapes to surround an artist's songs.
In his role as producer for Albarn and The Black Keys, Burton uses subtle methods to shift the sound and texture. But his collaboration in Gnarls Barkley with vocalist-MC Cee-Lo gives him the largest canvas to paint his image of the perfect song.
Cee-Lo hails from the Dirty South hip-hop school, adding rhymes to three albums by Atlanta's Goodie Mob before pursuing a solo career. With Gnarls Barkley, Cee-Lo adds his powerful vocals and outsider lyrics, giving the most sugary Barkley creations a bittersweet tinge.
Gnarls Barkley burst on the scene in 2006 with the debut disc “St. Elsewhere,” which gave birth to the soulful single “Crazy.” The album went platinum, selling 3.6 million copies worldwide. “Crazy” shot to No. 1 on the charts in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, New Zealand and Italy.
For the follow-up album, Burton drew upon his experience as producer to other artists to help hone Gnarls Barkley's sound.
“I had to work with a lot of people between (the first album) and now,” said Burton. “So, this time around I felt like I was a little better at trying to get the sound I wanted. We dug a little deeper into some of the genres from the first album. We wanted to keep it dark and keep it colorful too. Without revisiting things, we just wanted to keep going. We still have plenty of things to say.”
The culmination of Danger Mouse's experiences as a producer the past few years, “The Odd Couple” expands on the hand-clapping, sing-along infectiousness of “St. Elsewhere.” With its blend of 1960s pop sensibilities, hip-hop percussion and Cee-Lo's booming vocals, Gnarls Barkley's songs sound distinct, rising above the din of disposable hip-hop and pop on the charts.
It looks like Danger Mouse will be busy for a while: “Some days, I wake up and I say to myself, 'I need to take a break.' And then, later on that day, I come up with another idea I want to do. As long as I don't break down, I should be fine. But I'm pretty happy on the whole.”
