After the Disco All of the Shine Just Faded Away

In an era where dance music has gotten increasingly annoying will all the beeping, repetitious beats, and bass dropping, Daft Punk recruited Nile Rodgers and had the biggest dance song of last year and the best disco song since 1978. Now I am not sure if Broken Bells recorded After the Disco in direct response to Get Lucky but it makes the perfect counterpoint to their smash hit. It is the most depressing soundtrack to the closing of Studio 64, Disco Demolition Night, and probably could have replaced Sister Christian in that Boogie Nights scene (although we would have missed out on a great air-drumming sequence).

After the Disco is the second album from Broken Bells, the duo made up of singer James Mercer of The Shins and producer Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley (2014 will be busy for him producing the upcoming U2 album and contributing to the new Frank Ocean and The Black Keys records). Mercer goes full Barry Gibb in the chorus of the first single Holding on for Life. Even though there is a pulsing bass, do not expect John Travolta to strut to the song. Instead this is a song that would be played on some warped planet in a future episode of a Star Trek reboot. The title track is slightly more danceable as far as beats go but lyrically may be more depressing. For anyone who likes sad song, but likes to dance, After the Disco is the album for you.

The sophomore Broken Bells record reminds me a lot of the second Gnarls Barkley album; it is more cohesive and better as a whole but individually, nothing is nearly as good as the first single off the first album. After the Disco is better as a whole than the self titled debut, but nothing on the new album that is as good as The High Road. Of course, after mentioning Gnarls Barkley, it is hard not to mention how that long awaited third album would be more satisfying than a second Broken Bells LP.

Song to Download – After the Disco

After the Disco gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.