NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams interviews The Auteur

The Auteur talks about making Dark Night of the Soul and working with Cee-Lo.

VIDEO: Broken Bells interview on CBC radio

Earlier this year, the men of Broken Bells dropped by Qtv to chat with Jian Ghomeshi.

Not everyone liked Broken Bells

RoberAwards.com listed their 20 most disappointing albums of the year. Broken Bells made the list at #20:

At the end of 2009, news of a full collaboration album between Shins’ vocalist James Mercer and electronic wizard Danger Mouse kept us all drooling in anticipation, but despite a couple of excellent singles the record turned up to be much less than the sum of its parts, with no one really getting out of their comfort zones in a lackluster collection of radio-friendly, but rather dull tunes.

I tend to agree with this review. But I believe that if Danger Mouse and James Mercer keep making records, their albums will progressively get better and better.

VIDEO: Broken Bells perform "Vaporize"

Broken Bells @ Not So Silent Night 2010

On December 10, Live 105 held their annual Not-So-Silent-Night concert festival in San Jose, CA. Among the acts were the legendary Smashing Pumpkins, Phoenix, The Black Keys, and My Chemical Romance.

Here's a short review of Broken Bells' set, courtesy of Treeswingers:

Amidst confusion about set times, Broken Bells, the collaboration effort of the Shins’ vocalist James Mercer and Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, took the stage to warm up a growing general admissions crowd for the night’s festivities. The show was nothing short of spectacular, however, with a lackluster crowd that was mostly composed of punk-goth children waiting for My Chemical Romance, the energy in the arena was kept low. During the set, Broken Bells released not so new material, “Meyrin Fields,” eventually climaxing with “High Road,” the crowd favorite.

A smiling laughing Auteur and James Mercer did an interview backstage at the show. Watch it:

I love how Danger Mouse talks about the Black Keys as if he never produced an album for them. :) I also understand why he said he doesn't want to work in 2011. He has been working non-stop since 2005, and he's got the platinum success to prove it. If anyone deserves a break, it's The Auteur.

VIDEO: Broken Bells perform "The Ghost Inside" on "Conan"

DVR alert: Broken Bells on "Conan"

The Auteur and James Mercer of The Shins, aka Broken Bells, will be the musical guests on tonight's Conan. Check your local listings.

VIDEO: Jay-Z & Danger Mouse - Encore

The Grey Video is a music video made in the autumn of 2004 by directing team Ramon & Pedro, that is Swiss directors Laurent Fauchere and Antoine Tinguely (compare [10] and [11]), to promote the single "Encore" from The Grey Album.

The video, which is entirely in black and white, features clips from The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, and footage from a Jay-Z performance. It uses new footage and computer generated imagery to create scenes that involve John Lennon breakdancing and Ringo Starr scratching. It begins with The Beatles performing before cameras and a live audience. Ringo Starr begins to drum to the 1:00 to 1:08 segment of "Glass Onion". John Lennon begins to sing while George Harrison and Paul McCartney nod their heads to the beat. After a few moments, the monitors in the director's booth begin to flicker, showing scenes of Jay-Z rapping "Encore", and the lyrics of the chorus begin to show behind the group. Starr's drum kit becomes a set of turntables and mixer and he begins to scratch while John continues to sing "Oh, yeah!" as sampled from "Glass Onion".

PHOTOS: Broken Bells @ SXSW

These images of Broken Bells (Danger Mouse and James Mercer) were taken by Victoria Ford on March 19, 2010 exclusively for The Auteur.

Thanks, Vickey!

VIDEO: Beck - Orphans

From 2008's Modern Guilt, produced by The Auteur.

"Rome" new project with Daniele Luppi

The Auteur has unveiled the track listing and artwork for his new album with Italian composer Daniele Luppi. The album, entitled Rome, includes vocals from Jack White and Norah Jones. It will be released next year.

The Auteur said recently that he chose to work with White and Jones because he needed a male voice that conveyed "angst" and a "soft" female vocal. The album was recorded over the past five years around the Italian capital, and was inspired by composer Ennio Morricone's film scores.

Listen to samples of Rome:

Meanwhile, The Auteur has also been working on U2's new album "Songs of Ascent".

The tracklisting for Rome is:

1. 'Theme Of Rome'
2. 'The Rose With The Broken Neck'
3. 'Morning Fog (interlude)'
4. 'Season's Trees'
5. 'Her Hollow Ways (interlude)'
6. 'Roman Blue'
7. 'Two Against One'
8. 'The Gambling Priest'
9. 'The World (interlude)'
10. 'Black'
11. 'The Matador Has Fallen'
12. 'Morning Fog'
13. 'Problem Queen'
14. 'Her Hollow Ways'
15. 'The World'

Grammy Nom(s)

Broken Bells have received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album.

Danger Mouse has been nominated for Producer of The Year.

For a list of all the nominees, go to Grammy.com.

His philosophy

In an interview for the New York Times magazine, Danger Mouse described himself as an auteur, basing his music production philosophy on the cinematic philosophy of directors like Woody Allen. "Woody Allen was an auteur: he did his thing, and that particular thing was completely his own," he said. "That's what I decided to do with music. I want to create a director's role within music, which is what I tried to do on this album (St. Elsewhere)... I have to be in control of the project I'm doing. I can create different kinds of musical worlds, but the artist needs the desire to go into that world... Musically, there is no one who has the career I want. That's why I have to use film directors as a model."

And now, our feature presentation...The Auteur.