Norah Jones, Danger Mouse Craft Moody, 'Weird' LP

Norah Jones and Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton

Back in 2009, Norah Jones and Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton got together in the Gnarls Barkley producer's Los Angeles studio to begin work on a top-secret project. "Nobody from my label or management knew we were doing it," says the singer. "Brian said, 'I'd rather actually collaborate, and not just be a producer – let's go into the studio and see what happens.'"

The pair spent five days together in June 2009, working on what would eventually become Jones' fifth solo album, Little Broken Hearts (due May 1st). "I'd never gone in with nothing and wrote songs from scratch, and I'd never played bass before on a record," she says. "I was out of my comfort zone – but I was comfortable because we're friends."

Adds Burton, "The best thing was having just the two of us on those first sessions, not a whole band. Norah had as many, if not more, great ideas than I did."

The sessions were fruitful, but Jones and Burton weren't quite satisfied. They spent the next two years working separately on other projects: Jones completed and released her fourth solo disc, The Fall, and made an album with her alt-country band, the Little Willies; Burton started Broken Bells with the Shins' James Mercer, logged studio time with U2 and produced the Black Keys' El Camino.

Last summer, the duo finally reconvened at Burton's studio to finish up Little Broken Hearts. Jones arrived with a handful of raw, emotionally charged new tunes she penned in the wake of a harsh breakup with her fiction-writer boyfriend. "I always heard the old stories about how you write better songs when you go through some shit," she says with a laugh. "That sucks, but it's true!"

The album's sound ranges from experimental chamber serenades to stark, electronic-embellished confessions. "It's obviously very different than anything Norah's ever done," Burton says. "I don't know what people will think – I hope they like it, and she doesn't lose a bunch of fans."

One of the boldest departures is "Take It Back," which features fuzzed-out guitars and spooky, distorted vocals. "I never knew how to get weird sounds," Jones says. "It was all about finding a balance between those effects and making sure my voice was clear and sounded like me."

She gets even darker on "Happy Pills," singing, "Time to throw this away/Wanna make sure that you never waste my time again," over hooky pop-rock chug. "It sounds happy," she says, "but the lyrics are evil and fucked up, which grounded it a little." On "4 Broken Hearts," she belts like a defiant Dusty Springfield while confronting a mutual infidelity: "We tried to be faithful but didn't get far."

In its own quiet way, Little Broken Hearts hews closer to heartbreak classics like Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear than to anything in Jones' back catalog. "This time, I've been way less concerned with self-editing," Jones says. "I'm not sad, but there's a lot of hurt in there. And it felt great to say what I felt and put it down on tape. Doing that made me so happy! This album is all about saying things that needed to be said."

This story is from the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Norah Jones, Danger Mouse Craft Moody, 'Weird' LP

Norah Jones and Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton

Back in 2009, Norah Jones and Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton got together in the Gnarls Barkley producer's Los Angeles studio to begin work on a top-secret project. "Nobody from my label or management knew we were doing it," says the singer. "Brian said, 'I'd rather actually collaborate, and not just be a producer – let's go into the studio and see what happens.'"

The pair spent five days together in June 2009, working on what would eventually become Jones' fifth solo album, Little Broken Hearts (due May 1st). "I'd never gone in with nothing and wrote songs from scratch, and I'd never played bass before on a record," she says. "I was out of my comfort zone – but I was comfortable because we're friends."

Adds Burton, "The best thing was having just the two of us on those first sessions, not a whole band. Norah had as many, if not more, great ideas than I did."

The sessions were fruitful, but Jones and Burton weren't quite satisfied. They spent the next two years working separately on other projects: Jones completed and released her fourth solo disc, The Fall, and made an album with her alt-country band, the Little Willies; Burton started Broken Bells with the Shins' James Mercer, logged studio time with U2 and produced the Black Keys' El Camino.

Last summer, the duo finally reconvened at Burton's studio to finish up Little Broken Hearts. Jones arrived with a handful of raw, emotionally charged new tunes she penned in the wake of a harsh breakup with her fiction-writer boyfriend. "I always heard the old stories about how you write better songs when you go through some shit," she says with a laugh. "That sucks, but it's true!"

The album's sound ranges from experimental chamber serenades to stark, electronic-embellished confessions. "It's obviously very different than anything Norah's ever done," Burton says. "I don't know what people will think – I hope they like it, and she doesn't lose a bunch of fans."

One of the boldest departures is "Take It Back," which features fuzzed-out guitars and spooky, distorted vocals. "I never knew how to get weird sounds," Jones says. "It was all about finding a balance between those effects and making sure my voice was clear and sounded like me."

She gets even darker on "Happy Pills," singing, "Time to throw this away/Wanna make sure that you never waste my time again," over hooky pop-rock chug. "It sounds happy," she says, "but the lyrics are evil and fucked up, which grounded it a little." On "4 Broken Hearts," she belts like a defiant Dusty Springfield while confronting a mutual infidelity: "We tried to be faithful but didn't get far."

In its own quiet way, Little Broken Hearts hews closer to heartbreak classics like Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear than to anything in Jones' back catalog. "This time, I've been way less concerned with self-editing," Jones says. "I'm not sad, but there's a lot of hurt in there. And it felt great to say what I felt and put it down on tape. Doing that made me so happy! This album is all about saying things that needed to be said."

This story is from the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Norah Jones to Release Collaboration with Danger Mouse

Norah Jones will release Little Broken Hearts, a new album in collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, this spring. Jones and Danger Mouse wrote all of the material for the album together at the producer's studio in Los Angeles, and the duo performed all of the instruments themselves. This is their second time working together – Jones previously appeared as a vocalist on Rome, Danger Mouse's collaboration with Italian composer Daniele Luppi. Though Little Broken Hearts is the result of a partnership between Jones and Danger Mouse, the record will be credited only to her.

Jones will promote Little Broken Hearts with extensive touring throughout 2012, including appearances at festivals, arenas and theaters around the world. Official tour dates have not been announced, though tickets for the singer's gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles go on sale today.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Norah Jones to Release Collaboration with Danger Mouse

Norah Jones will release Little Broken Hearts, a new album in collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, this spring. Jones and Danger Mouse wrote all of the material for the album together at the producer's studio in Los Angeles, and the duo performed all of the instruments themselves. This is their second time working together – Jones previously appeared as a vocalist on Rome, Danger Mouse's collaboration with Italian composer Daniele Luppi. Though Little Broken Hearts is the result of a partnership between Jones and Danger Mouse, the record will be credited only to her.

Jones will promote Little Broken Hearts with extensive touring throughout 2012, including appearances at festivals, arenas and theaters around the world. Official tour dates have not been announced, though tickets for the singer's gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles go on sale today.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

'American Idol' Recap: Highway to the Danger Zone

Judge Steven Tyler on American Idol.

The San Diego auditions of American Idol are being held on an aircraft carrier, the USS Midway. That means a lot of Kenny Loggins royalties and Top Gun references – and the graphics department gets to use the special military font that they ordered!

The first contestant sets the mood for the patriotic display that is about to unfurl on the vessel. Jennifer Diley is a sushi bar waitress from Ohio who has decided that showing up on national television in an itsy bitsy teeny weeny Proud-to-be-an-American bikini is a wise life choice. Her diminutive outfit has so little fabric to offer that she has no choice but to plaster her contestant number on her bare stomach, which is undoubtedly very exfoliating. Faced with such desperate cries for attention, Ryan Seacrest has no choice but to objectify her. Twice. When Jennifer appears in front of the judges, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson are intrigued enough by her attire to give her two chances to sing, but she squanders them both with a voice that is made for silent films. Predictably, Jennifer Lopez's face looks like she is saying, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Ashley Robles leaves her 5-year-old daughter in the lobby (Ryan only charges a reasonable $12/hour for babysitting) while she auditions. Her song of choice is Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," which usually symbolizes a singer who has no idea of the limits of her voice. Ashley breaks that curse and manages to earn applause from the judges and an assurance from Randy that she's "going to be big." Her daughter plugs her ears while Ashley squees in excitement, which can't be good for the vocal cords.  

Jayrah Gibson is a songwriter who is multi-tasking his 15 minutes by auditioning and pitching his song-crafting skills with a tune he wrote for J.Lo called "Shake Your Moneymaker." It's no "My Love Don't Cost a Thing," but it's vastly superior to "Papi." Randy feels comfortable enough with Jayrah to tell him that he is "mad, mad good."

Aubree Dieckmeyer, 20, is afflicted with a terrible disorder that's not even in the DSM-IV yet. It's where you audition for one reality show, but keep thinking that you're on another. Through take after take, Aubree tells the camera that she is sure she will be America's Next Top Model. Despite her reality show dyslexia, the judges are impressed with her natural talent and put her through to Hollywood. Good news, you are still in the running to be America's Next Top Idol!
Ali Shields is an odd duck, but she clearly thrives on that status. The 19-year-old wrote a song for Ellen DeGeneres and Ellen invited the girl on her show and then sent her to the AMAs, where Usher gave her her first kiss. That's all Ryan needs to hear to start pimping the girl out to random deck hands for more nationally televised kisses. Usher's magical smooch also gives Ali the confidence to rap a Chris Brown song in front of the judges, declare her love for Steven Tyler, booty dance and then do a passable enough version of Corinne Bailey Rae to move her to Hollywood. It's clear that Ali is going to be Vote for the Worst's favorite contestant this season.

It's not too often that you see a frat boy come on Idol who can actually sing and not just smash beer cans on his head while yodeling Nickelback. Yet here is Kyle Crews of UC Berkeley's Kappa Alpha fraternity singing well enough to earn Steven Tyler's Best Male Voice We've Heard Yet Award (no monetary value). Joanne Childers is the unfortunate center of a montage of the comedy of errors that comes from staging a singing contest on the decks of a ship docked in a working harbor – including planes, trains, foghorns and a Steven Tyler fart joke. America!

By the way, guess what, America? Jim Carrey's daughter, Jane, is auditioning for American Idol. You see, even though she is the daughter of an A-list celebrity, she just doesn't have enough opportunities to make it as a singer. The judges all vote yes, because they really like her "potential," which in this context means "dad." Then there's a montage of California girls going through to Hollywood. Guess which song they use for the montage?

Burly rockabilly mechanic Jason Hamlin prefers to be known as Wolf, despite having a Team Edward tattoo on his arm. He has only been singing for three years, but he knows enough to play the deceased father card in front of the judges. He plays a guitar that his father gave him while singing "Folsom Prison Blues," because what other song choice does a mechanic named Wolf have in this life? All three judges vote yes and Wolf's enthusiastic dance moves break the set. Luckily, he's a mechanic and knows how to repair the damage. Good thing he's going to Hollywood, because we hear there are some leaky pipes there.

Last episode: It's Always Sunny in Pittsburgh

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »