Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

The 2008 follow-up to the great "St. Elsewhere" by the talented group comprised of DJ Dangermouse and Cee-Lo Green has released their newest record "The Odd Couple" in March of 2008.



"Charity Case" starts out the same way as "Go-Go Gadget Gospel" (the opening track of "St. Elsewhere"), with the film reel sound that sets up the "journey" that the record will be giving you... After that, the song morphs into a very organ-oriented melody, and a great opening song in general.

"Going On" has a VERY interesting song structure, that stands out and shows off the vocal abilities of Cee-Lo as well as the techniques that DJ DangerMouse have honed.

"Run" the first single from the album, as well as the catchiest and easiest to sing-along to.

Video for "Run":

As the album progresses some standout songs are "Whatever", "Surprise", "No Time Soon", "Blind Mary", and "A Little Better", all which excel in all areas and specialties of song-writing.

While "The Odd Couple" is a great record, it's hard to compare it to "St. Elsewhere". The album is impressive, but this album lacks the variety that "St. Elsewhere" gave, which it seems as though they're attempting a more storytelling atmosphere with this record, with a more serious approach.

Final Score: 8 out of 10 Giraffes.

The Roots - Rising Down

The 2008 follow-up to the 2006 album "Game Theory", The Roots went back into the studio and recorded their newest, and (possibly) most innovative yet.


One of the first tracks "Rising Down" features the vocal abilities of Mos Def and Styles P, which Mos Def has an amazing voice, as well as being a just as amazing lyricist. You can feel the rough, deep feel of the record, and the set-up for how it's going to be with this song.

While the record progresses, that deep hum found early on "Rising Down" gets more intense, and becomes a featured noise marker, setting it up as an initial vibe that lasts throughout the record.

Separating the tracks are different musical, and beat-oriented, and even freestyled interludes.

The song "Criminal" is one of the few that stand out, because it's a very upbeat- alternative rock song, which features the vocals of Saigon and Truck North.

While it's a solid album, it gets repetitive QUICKLY, and it feels like this is their "experimental" record, which can often deter fans of their stuff, to believe that the group is attempting to appeal to an entirely new audience, and abandon their fanbase.

Final Score: 6.5 out of 10 Giraffes.

N*E*R*D - Seeing Sounds

The band N*E*R*D is an amazing collaboration between rapper/produce Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley. Their third release "Seeing Sounds", was recently announced at SXSW and will be released on June 10th, but I got a preview copy and decided to weigh in my own little opinion.






The album starts with a whimsy tale of dying of heatstroke and surviving by showering several times a day... after that the music goes straight in with beats and raps that are rare to find on a record that truly captivates the ability to write and produce adequately.

When the song "Everybody Nose" hits, the music goes insane. The beat and tune itself sounds like a B-Side of Miles Davis' "On The Corner" record. The trumpet hits, the hi-hat tapping, the bass, and the scratching give this song such an amazing appeal, and is a contender for the best song on the record. You can really feel the chemistry between the group during the song, from the backup singing to the music itself, it sounds like they're just blending their personalities together to make something great.

As "Seeing Sounds" progresses, you have VERY funk inspired tunes such as "Windows", or "Kill Joy" that have the bass ability of Flea from the chili peppers to a very housey-breakbeat song like "Anti-Matter".

Periodically the album slows down, and gets a bit heartfelt and indie-rockish as is the case with the song "Sooner or Later", which is an interesting idea- it feels like a real soul, or R&B song.

As you get deeper into it, the second half of "Seeing Sounds" seems to take a more rock-oriented approach to the songs, and includes many alt-rock sounding songs with a synth.

This record could easily be classified as hip-hop, it would be fitting to call it neo-soul or even experimental rock, because it's SO much more than just a hip-hop CD.

While "Seeing Sounds" is very fresh, and very fun to listen to- the repetition in the songs are one of the few downfalls. The beats are quite amazing, but it seems like they focused too much on single patterns that sound cool, instead of making patterned songs that have fluidity and freedom.

Most of the tracks line up in about 4 minutes, give or take- making the songs a NICE length altogether, unlike many records where it's 2 minutes of mindless drab.

It's interesting how the record is split, you have the rap songs, then the funk rock, then the soul- all mostly taking place after one another- it's nice to see an album SO diverse in this day and age.

All in all, it's a VERY good record, to which I can say very little bad things about. I appluade their new record, and hope for more.


Final Score: 9 Giraffes Out Of 10.