In a world where it's the norm to have a one-off collaboration between a producer and a rapper, something special has to happen to prompt a sequel. Of course, "Crazy" was all the prompting needed for Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse to rejuvenate Gnarls Barkley, their collaboration by mail that sparked the brightest and catchiest single since OutKast's "Hey Ya." But fans and critics have to understand that these two were exactly the types to walk away from a follow-up simply for the purpose of a cash-in, which makes that follow-up, The Odd Couple, such a strange proposition -- it's exactly like St. Elsewhere, and fails to reveal a single new thing. All the hallmarks of a follow-up record are here -- similar sounds and themes, for sure, but also a clear lack of innovation, lyrical and production touches that have since become clichés, and more than just a few passages that will prompt a severe case of listener déjŕ vu. (Of course, many listeners may enjoy that sense of déjŕ vu.) As before, Danger Mouse's productions are miniature, modernist spaghetti Westerns, very closely detailed whether their major voice is an acoustic guitar or a choir of unholy voices. These are then chained to amped-up beats and beefed-up basslines to create something that sounds both vintage and up to date, all at the same time. Cee-Lo's lyrics and vocals again reveal a lunatic (or seer) who's occasionally more lucid than the sane, an enlightened psychopath wrestling with his demons and revealing the thin line between being crazy and sensible. At times, The Odd Couple is a more beautiful record than its predecessor -- the duo has never put out anything more moving on a musical and emotional level than "Who's Going to Save My Soul," and Danger Mouse's production work outshines St. Elsewhere on one track ("Open Book"). But all too often Cee-Lo relies on the same sort of lyrical cipher as on St. Elsewhere, although none of them are as effective. "I don't understand how I'm so understanding"; "I'm goin' on, and I think they'll have a place for you too"; "I could be a would-be killer" -- these are the ramblings of a madman; they may sound deep and profound late at night, but they're revealed as nonsense with the light of day.
--- - |- Slow Food Nation, an organization which advocates good, clean, and fair food, held their first ever Slow Food Rocks festival this past weekend, which included my two favorite things in life: Gourmet food and music. The entire event was spread out over the city, including picnics, seminars, dinners, music and tastings. It was so spread out, in fact, that it was difficult to see all ...
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slow food rocks, a two-day outdoor music festival sponsored by slow food nation and celebrating the sustainable food movement (food that is "good, clean and fair"), comes to san francisco over labor day weekend, 30 & 31 august, and features several notable acts, including gnarls, the new pornographers, phil lesh, g-love and others.it would seem to be inauspicious timing for another large festi...
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One of my friends plans and facilitates what is arguably the largest "under the radar" music festival in the world. Taking place in Milwaukee, WI, Summerfest brings over one million people to the Marcus Amphitheater throughout an eleven day period of June 26th to July 6th.This year, the event features big name artists such as: Stevie WonderRushTom Petty and the HeartbreakersStone Temple PilotsJ...
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The Odd Couple, like 2006's St. Elsewhere, starts with the sound of a movie camera spinning up film. But whereas St. Elsewhere stomped in full of pomp and circumstance, brass blazing, The Odd Couple takes a bit of a funkier, chiller approach.Funkier and chiller: the best way to boil The Odd Couple down. St. Elsewhere exploded onto the scene like a stick of dynamite. "Crazy" was as ubiquitous...
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*Rating:*6.5 out of 10*The Good:* A short, fun, fast paced album that easily sucks you in.*The Bad:* "Open Book" ... wow.. horrible song.*Download These:* "Going On", "Surprise", "Run"I've been a big fan of Cee-lo from his work with Tha Goodie Mob, to the collaborative Dungeon Family albums, and his two solo albums that were released early this decade. He's a criminally underrated lyricist and ...
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If you've thought about playing the new Gnarls Barkley record The Odd Couple backwards to listen for satanic messages, you're in luck. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse just uploaded the entire album backwards into a single track and they published the link for free downloading! How odd is that? elpuoC ddO ehT is available via:http://www.fronttobackbacktofront.com/Source
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According to Gnarlsbarkley.com, the band's official website, Gnarls Barkley has scheduled "The June Residency Series," a set of intimate shows in London and Paris, for June 12-18. The shows will feature a core lineup of artist/producer Danger Mouse, vocalist Cee-Lo, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer, playing rare minimalist versions of popular Gnarls songs."Before we get into our summe...
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This is a spin off of Dale's post here: http://mog.com/Dale/blog/275158. I started listening to Gnarls Barkley's 'The Odd Couple' album this evening since it had been awhile. But as I was listening, I realized I just wasn't enjoying it. I really dug this when it first came out but I lost interest pretty quickly.It just hasn't stood the test of time. And it's definitely no 'St. Elsewhere'. But i...
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Just an update to my previous post: Now that the video is more widely available on the web, I found one I can embed here for everyone to watch. And you really should watch this, Gnarls Barkley get mad creative with the videos and this one is like a mini-movie about heartbreak! Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?": The video was directed by Chris Milk, the tune is off The Odd Couple, o...
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You may recall that even ?uestlove of The Roots couldn't wait for this song to have a video and thus made his own for it. But, today we get the first peep of the official music video for "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?" by Gnarls Barkley: Video on MTVThis is the only place to see the video at the time I posted it. The embed code didn't work here, so just jump over to MTV to watch. I'll replace i...
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The new Gnarls Barkley album The Odd Couple will be released 1 week ahead of schedule. Cee-lo sounds very very excited about the final product too. He positively gushed on XFM about it, saying,"It's really fucking good. It's just bigger, badder, bolder and more arena-friendly." The odd couple are also making arrangements to change up the video for "Run" after it failed the Harding Test and w...
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?uestlove is a big fan of Gnarls Barkley's "Who's Gonna Save My Soul," the second single off The Odd Couple. Legend has it that ?uest begged Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo to let him leak it first and to further sweeten the deal, he made a goofy video of himself to upload:Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul (Starring ?uestlove):Now, of course, this isn't the official video for the track, it's r...
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All I can find to say about this blog article, aside from the fact that the music offered at the bottom is un-uniquely terrible, is that I don't think there could have been another year in history in which I could encounter phenomena (epiphenomena?) of this exact nature.Striking. Perplexing. A bit horrifying. I wish I could cohere some thoughts about it. The best I could come up with is that it...
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There's been a lot of buzz lately about Gnarls Barkley, especially since "Run" got leaked. I guess the crazy duo decided it would be ok to let us know the title of their sophomore album now that we've started listening to it because today the band released more album details. The new Gnarls Barkley album will be called The Odd Couple. So appropriate!Billboard recaps what little other details...
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Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul It's just so strange.....
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One of my friends plans and facilitates what is arguably the largest "under the radar" music festival in the world. Taking place in Milwaukee, WI, Summerfest brings over one million people to the Marcus Amphitheater throughout an eleven day period of June 26th to July 6th.This year, the event features big name artists such as: Stevie WonderRushTom Petty and the HeartbreakersStone Temple PilotsJ...
More >
For the Gnarls fans out there, this performance was pretty good. The duo are sporting a 50s look, complete with the pompadour for Cee-Lo Green.
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The Odd Couple, like 2006's St. Elsewhere, starts with the sound of a movie camera spinning up film. But whereas St. Elsewhere stomped in full of pomp and circumstance, brass blazing, The Odd Couple takes a bit of a funkier, chiller approach.Funkier and chiller: the best way to boil The Odd Couple down. St. Elsewhere exploded onto the scene like a stick of dynamite. "Crazy" was as ubiquitous...
More >
--- - |- Welcome to our coverage of Lollapalooza 2008, which concludes today. Check back for reports from Joshua Klein, Amy Phillips, Scott Plagenhoef, and Matthew Solarski. For Joshua Klein's coverage, click here: Friday, Saturday, SundayFor Amy Phillips' coverage, click here: Friday, SaturdayFor Scott Plagenhoef's coverage, click here: FridayFor Matthew Solarski's coverage, click here: Frid...
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I have had very little exposure to Gnarls Barkley. Crazy was all I knew. I encountered by accident this video. The song is a everything I like in soul. And the video, well, it's "heart-rending".
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Charity Case |
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| 2 Who's Gonna Save My Soul |
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| 3 Going On |
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| 4 Run (I'm a Natural Disaster) |
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| 5 Would Be Killer |
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| 6 Open Book |
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| 7 Whatever |
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| 8 Surprise |
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| 9 No Time Soon |
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| 10 She Knows |
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| 11 Blind Mary |
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| 12 Neighbors |
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| 13 A Little Better |
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Click to purchase…
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 "The Odd Couple")
