The Odd Couple

I was listening to this new age act call themselves Gnarls Barkley last night. The album is The Odd Couple if you’re interested, supposed to be their sophomore album so. Gorillaz had me interested in new age music awhile back, I thought they sounded dub because I was hearing a hint of De Facto and the Mad Professor in some of their shit. Anyways, Odd Couple impressed me, considering how mainstream Gnarls Barkley is, but in a fractional kind of way, because couple of tracks I can’t really stand like ‘charity case’ and ‘going on’, they sounded like soul and hip hop mashed together to form some kind of dub/soul hybrid and not in a good way like Sublime did with punk and reggae but in a bad way like Rancid in Life Won’t Wait.


I was drawn to the contrast in lyrics and music, considering the sound was dub in nature the songs were lyrically complex owing to how it was offered vocally. I think though, most of this had to do with the extent of intensity Cee-lo’s vocals bring to the songs. You can’t help but be captivated by his voice, if this guy was my pastor I would’ve been born again a hundred times over. Although probably digitally manufactured, the acoustic drum sounds also help giving dept to tracks like ‘Whatever’ and “She Knows” where the lyrics are kind of visceral.
Anyways, some of my favorite tracks are ‘Would be Killer’ ‘whatever’ and ‘Blind Mary’.
Actually this is, on the surface a happy clappy but after awhile, effectively depressing album which anyone who’s depressed about life and global warming etc shouldn’t pick up, but like me, if you’re particularly upbeat about your relationship and don’t mind listening to choir boys disparaging the irony of them singing about failed relationships and homicides, you’ll like it. what i'm saying is listen this for the instrumentals, weird but ultimately great sound. (click on the picture above to listen to 'going on' on youtube)