The Odd Couple

Gnarls Barkley is one of those side projects
that on first listen sounds new and fresh and groundbreaking
and different (but at the same time familiar) and all the stuff
you love to hear in your music. However on a second listen,
it starts to reveal its gimmickry and relative sameness from
track to track. And what sounded originally like a great soundtrack
to a fun evening begins to hit some atonal notes and sounds
like a lot less fun than their first album. By the third listen
you’ll find yourself hitting fast forward on more tracks than
not, as Cee-Lo’s voice will begin to feel a bit like that worm/eel/armadillo
thing that burrowed into Chekov’s ear in Wrath of Khan.
Perhaps this album wasn’t made for me, but I’m having a little
trouble figuring out who it’s for. I think it’s like the throwback
Ford Thunderbird or Plymouth Prowler that they only made for
three years each and then dropped from production because even
the car company execs knew the public’s appetite for novelty
is small and the wow-factor short-lived. Show me a douche with
a Prowler and I’ll try to dig up some white guy who was in college
in 2008, bought this album, thought it was really cool when
he was stoned and hasn’t listened to it since. |
St. Elsewhere |
Musical Connections:
Broken Bells
Cee-Lo
Danger Doom
Danger Mouse & Jemini
Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
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