DeVotchKa - A Mad And Faithful Telling

Some may know DeVotchKa from their work on the "Little Miss Sunshine" soundtrack, their music is fueled with a delicate blend of Americana, Indie Rock, and alternative to create amazing musical compositions.



The opening track "Basso Profoundo" is a very lite Ranchero mixture, which... is quite annoying- not only as an opening track, but as an album track for anyone.

"Along the way" sounds like a perfect song to drive to, or to walk to in the evening... It really showcases the bands' songwriting and composing abilities.

While "A Mad and Faithful Telling" continues... it feels like an amazing movie score, but... that's it. That's kind of all it feels like.

All of the writing is BEYOND impressive... but it seems to lack a certain independent substance that would beset them as artists, instead of score-writers, and soundtrack-fillers.

Final Score: 7 out of 10 Giraffes

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.

Adam Green - Sixes & Sevens

Previous member of the anti-folk band "The Moldy Peaches" Adam Green released his new album "Sixes & Sevens" in March on Rough Traders Records.



Adam Green's songwriting abilities are unmatched in modern writing, and rival some of the greatest songwriters of all time, and his newest record matches up perfectly and provides a wonderful and amusing ride for 50 minutes of your day.

The album sounds like it fell out of a 70's movie. You can notice obvious disco and soul influences throughout it, which is actually very refreshing.

It's hard to pick and choose the best tracks, because it's easy to find it all enthralling and impressive.

While the music itself is VERY amusing... the content of the songs is also amusing and questionable. The song "Twee Twee Dee" is uppity and happy... but the lyrics seem to describe going to gangrape a girl. That type of content is found rather often through "Sixes & Sevens", and it really makes you question the moral meter of Adam Green and associates.

It seems like it lasts JUST long enough... as not to get old too quickly, but... sadly it seems to. It's not too hard to dislike this album at first view, but after a few listens you find much of it sticking with you and amusing you listen after listen.

A handful of the songs are annoying, and seem ill-used on the album, and you could question WHY they'd include it on the record, instead of saving it for some random B-Sides collection.

As a record... it's not bad. In order to truly like "Sixes & Sevens", you have to be familiar with Adam Green to understand his humour and his writing sensibility.

First video from the new album, "Morning after Midnight":





Final Score: 7 out of 10 Giraffes.

Al Green - Lay It Down

Al Green was (and is) often considered to be one of the best soul singers to date. With his newest record "Lay it Down", he goes back into the studio with hip-hop producer ?Questlove.




On the opening (and title) track "Lay it Down", it's a soft, mellow, relaxing song- but you can feel Al Green's intensity as a singer throughout the song, and it makes an impressive opening track for any album.

When the song "You've Got The Love I Need" chimes in, the beat itself sound VERY much like that of an actual hip-hop song, but Al Green's voice shines through any beat and tune as being one of those voices that are designed to be listened to, and talked of.

Some of the songs feel like they directly fell out of the 60's and 70's Soul movement, "No One Like You" is a direct example of that point. Listening to those songs make you feel like you were listening to one of his earlier records like "Call Me", or "Let's Stay Together".

It's interesting to hear the various duets on "Lay it Down" that Al Green participates in. He has several songs where he his accompanied by Anthony Hamilton, and he has one song with "John Legend", and one with "Corinne Bailey Rae", all of which are VERY impressive on both sides.

While the album continues, you can hear ?Questlove's influence deeply in this record, simply by listening to the way the drums are played, the way they use the organ, and the manner in which the music is orchestrated in general are a direct influence from ?Questlove.

Possibly the best song on the record is "I'm Wild About You", which takes a very soul-bluesy turn, with a choir doing the "HOO" during the chorus, which mixes it up quite a bit from what you would be hearing on the album previously.

The end track "Standing in the Rain" is a wonderful close to the album, full of life and wonder- the song let's you know that Al Green is still alive and kicking.

One of the few problems with the record is the lack of experimentation. While the instruments used throughout are used heartily, and are played by experienced musicians... you get the sense that the music is SO on-key and been perfected so much that the improvisation of the actually band is at a minimal.

All in all the record is solid all the way through. It's an amazing feat to see such a great soul singer like Al Green to come back with impressive and professional producers who love music.


Final Score: 8.5 Giraffes Out Of 10.

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.

MC Chris - MC Chris is Dead

MC Chris is one of the more popular geekcore (DANGER DOOM, MC Lars, etc) rappers that has gained slightly-above-underground fame, even to starring multiple times on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. With his new release MC Chris is Dead in april, he gives the geekcore, nerdpunks something to listen to.





If you've heard MC Chris, then you'd know about his voice... and how it's ultimately annoying, but his rhymes and beats make up for it beyond belief.

When the opening track "MC Chris is Dead", starts... it starts with a haunting Indian sounding flute, then busts straight up into the beats and his high-pitched voice.

The second track "Older Crowd", sounds like a terrible, terrible techno beat, as well as what-appears-to-be a synth on his voice, which is actually rather distracting.

"Reese" is a little tune about eating candy, and how it's better than drugs.

"Pizza butt" is another VERY techno influenced song, that just distracts me from his voice... which isn't the best in the first place.

As the tracks progress- they get funnier, and funnier... but they also get more techno-sounding... which I don't find to be a good thing when you're listening to the rapping, it's not supposed to be a techno album, but for some reason it turned into one.

One of the funnier and cooler songs is "Hoodie Ninja" which sounds exactly like J-pop and it's just great, great rapping on his accord.

The beat and tune of "On*" is quite infectious, and it's also HILARIOUS.

As an album- it's... alright, but it seems just like a pop-techno-geek crossover... which pop and geek don't really go hand in hand, from the best of my knowledge.

It's all funny, funny stuff... but that can only go so far. You can see MC Chris has lyrical talent, but lacks in the beat department, as it would seem.

Final Score: 4.5 Giraffes Out Of 10