Review: Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere

This is one thing that ALIEN CORPSE is thankful for: He is thankful that he lives outside of media saturation of music. This enables him to devour an album like Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere, and not have to worry that he will hear about the album at every turn. That can really ruin an album. It is ALIEN’s sense that the general public of indie 20 somethings will have already found this album to be sequentially: exotic, vibrant, skillful, tired, and annoying. Thankfully, ALIEN just hears the groove.

This collaboration between King Midas himself, DJ Danger Mouse (reputed for his “Grey Album” mashup of The Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album), and rapper/crooner deluxe, Cee-Lo Green, is a revelatory departure from everything else on the scene in 2006.

Blending Danger Mouse’s talent on the production side with Cee-Lo’s golden vocals was a match made in heaven. There is a nice combination between a hook-laden soul album with SOME genuine lyrics. Just when the listener has settled in for a long peaceful chill-out session, track 8, Transformer, rattles the cages and is a true Hip-hop song. Actually, the one-two punch of Just a Thought and Transformer is worth the price of the album alone.

Overall, this is a stellar release that embodies fun, uptempo music/lyrics and the skills of the greatest producer in the music scene today. Take that, Kanye!

Rating: 5 out of 5

RIYL: Gorillaz, DangerDoom, The Streets