Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Published in 2008

Wikipedia

"And I haven't even written about the (perhaps) even better sequel yet." - Matthew Butler, The Album Project

At the risk of this blog turning into a all Ceelo all the time festival, I want to talk about this album. As you may have learned from my several essays about his music at thus point, I love Ceelo.

I really want to focus on his voice this time. It's an interesting voice to say the least. It's a sweet and soulful in a way that is different than many artists who have come out recently.

Let's put it this way. If American Idol was looking for the next big artist, they would miss Cee Lo by a mile. If their track record for success is looked at, perhaps this is the reason that they will never match Kelly Clarkson's success. His voice has character and a sound that is completely unique. I have no comparisons for his voice, or the investment he puts into the songs.

That's not precisely true, but it's a big claim that I am about to make, and I needed the momentary open page of the line break to steel myself before writing this semi-insane statement.

I don't know who to compare Cee Lo to in music. I literally have no references. He uses beats to communicate, but he is bot limited solely by production as, say, a Timbaland is. He is a poet, but is not over indulgent to that side, like a Jim Morrison would be. He's not striving to be the be all end all of the band, trying to take the spotlight like an Axle Rose.  He's really not able to be defined in this way.

So, let's get to this album, and stop trying to define his performance style.  Once again, we have a fantastically produced album from Danger Mouse, with some incredible hooks, great songs and a fantastic range.  The album is as eclectic as St. Elsewhere.  But enough about the similarities, let's talk about why I think this album is better.

One:  I think the tone is better.  These songs are much darker than the original album, allowing the whole of them to flow into each other.  The silliness that was Fung Shui and Transformer has been mostly removed from the album, leaving more time for the great music.  With the darker tone, there is more of a coherent message, and more of an enjoyable album.

Two:  The singles, while good, were not overplayed in the same way that Crazy was.  Now, as is obvious, I love Crazy, but the overplayed nature actually made me leave the song for a while.  It was spectacularly great, but variety is the spice of life, and if there is no variety between albums and the radio, life becomes very unspiced.

Three:  The production is tighter, and it seems as if they went in with a much better idea of what a Gnarls Barkley album would sound like.  It's very well constructed, and the songs sound perfectly fit together.  I also think that Danger Mouse, having gotten the experience from his other projects, really stepped his game up for this one.  The cinematic qualities are increased, and the focus is much tighter.

Four: Who's Gonna Save My Soul is the best song you've never heard (unless you watch Breaking Bad or are a big fan of Gnarls Barkley).  Seriously, I think this is one of the greatest musical triumphs of the recent past.  This is one of those songs that deserves to be covered to death, used again and again to make big strides, and still will be considered a classic.  It's well produced, the lyrics are incredible, and the whole thing is just well constructed.  It's one of the most perfect songs ever made, because it displays raw emotion and depth without sacrificing musicality.

If you listen to this album, I garuntee that you will find at least two songs that you love.  Seriously.  The expanse that is covered by the group is huge, and the diversity gives you things like Run and Getting Better on the same album.  This is the kind of album that you will listen to forever, and you will love that you have it.  It is a not optional album in every way shape and form, so make sure you pick it up.

"It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain."
Matt

PS. Pive Ghil 5.

Paul F. Tompkins - Freak Wharf

Paul F. Tompkins - Freak Wharf

Published in 2009

Wikipedia

So,  who is Paul F. Tompkins?  Why is he on The Album Project?  Is Matt crazy?

Let's be clear.  Album means Album.  Comedy Albums are just as much of an album as a music album, and having things to say about them is something that I will be able to do, because I love comedy.

You see, I love comedy.  I listen to the Comedy Death Ray podcast, the Pod F. Tompcast, and Sklar Bro Country.  I watch tons of comedy on TV, the [adult swim] being a group of personal favorites.  I constantly quote comedy things, and I love laughing.  So, reviewing or whatever the fuck I do a comedy album is perfectly okay.

Paul F. Tompkins is one of the comedians that I have only been introduced to through podcasts, and have become a huge fan of since.  He is an incredible performer, making insane characters, and his stand up is pretty awesome too.  I cannot wait to go back to the states so I can see him live.  He's very quick, comes up with interesting premises, and his written stuff is very funny.

This album is a great showcase of the two sides of Paul F. Tompkins.  The first side, the improviser and performer is on display during three tracks, called the Riff Suite.  They are really good examples of a performer developing jokes in front of an audience.  Most of the time, he is obviously coming up with new things, and he totally gets involved with them.  He cracks himself up at times, but usually because what he is thinking about is very funny.

The second part is his written material.  Some of this stuff is just golden stuff.  Particularly amazing are The Sink and the Mirror and Cake V. Pie.  Go Ask Alice is off the chains as well, but on a totally different level.

I quite enjoy the way he comes up with new ideas, and uses the basic idea to continue the joke through it.  I find some of the stuff he says just amazingly funny.  It's hard not to just throw quotes at you here, but I would rather you listen to it and enjoy it than for me to tell you all the funny lines.  He cannot get popular enough in my opinion.

Anyway, weird short album project right?  Thanks!

"YOU ARE THE WORST MONSTER EVER!"
Matt

PS. Give Phil Five, pleeeeeeeease!

The Cure - Disintegration

The Cure - Disintegration

Published in 1989

Wikipedia

Dear Mr. Lumsdon,

Due to your lobbying, and the thing which I will not talk about that occurred yesterday, I have acceded to your request to do The Cure.  Do not believe that this incessant lobbying will work every time, but in this case, you have won out.  Also, I will attempt to not make any jokes about how this album must reflect the state of your soul after that which must not be talked about, nor about how the title reflects what happened to your team in said event, nor how, if you were trying to throw me, this album would have depressed me enough to play like shit, but I played like shit anyway.  I'm just the kind of classy bastard to not hide behind these easily alluded to jokes.  I merely point you to Mr. Crabbs' reference to Matthew 20:16, and move along.

Onto The Cure:

Look, you either like them or you don't.  Actually, that's not true, let me start over.

Look, either you're depressed or you're not.  If you are, or have ever been, The Cure is going to sound a lot like what was going on in the deeper recesses of the cesspool that presumably is your mind.  If you're not, and have never been, you're going to need to stop lying to yourself, and think back a bit.

Depressing music, for what it is worth, is something about which I am of two minds. Sometimes, when you are feeling the emotions, or merely want to invoke a response from that part of your brain, it can be the most liberating and beautiful music.  Sometimes, when you are feeling good about life, and the world is not as shitty as it usually is, it can sound like a bunch of pretentious whining.  This is actually where The Cure succeeds, more than most "sad bands".  They make it really enjoyable to listen.  You want to hear more, because the feeling and the sound mesh so well together that you can't stop them, you can only participate.

I mean, I love The Cure, but seriously, I am just sitting here at work getting depressed.  It's some really low sounding music, and while that can be a great addition to a mood, sometimes it's just oppressive   Also, the singles, which are considerably more "upbeat" (it's a relative term in this case) are usually the least sprawling and the tightest of the album.  They are designed to get in and out, which is nice in a pop song.  The sprawl is in the emotional songs.  There is maybe one song on this album that is under 4 minutes.  That's an insane amount of time for some of these songs.

Oh, something weird that I hadn't noticed about The Cure.  At least on this album, a quarter of the song is dedicated to an intro, that slowly introduces all of the background parts, even before the lead guitar kicks in.  That guitar, by the way, plays very simple lines, that are picked up immediately by the vocals.  It's a strange way to do a song, because the lead in makes you really desire the vocals to kick in, then the guitar makes you think the vocals are kicking in, then the vocals kick in, which makes a ton of anticipation part of the beginning of every song.

The album sounds deep.  There is not much space in the songs, mainly due to the effects.  Reverb is The Cure's friend, and echo boxes must have been used a bunch on this album.  It's actually interesting to listen for the times when there isn't a sound on display.

I started out this essay of sorts with a sentence, and I'd like to go back to it.  Either you like it or you don't.  It's one of those divisive bands that either ignites the passions of fandom in you or you go, "What a bunch of emo crap" and I can't say that you're wrong.  There is a part of me that wants to tell the second group that true emo crap doesn't make you feel the way that this does, with it's peaks and valleys, emotional resonance and it's ability to make you feel feelings that are not part of your current state of being, but then I'd be called some sort of derogatory term for saying that.  So, I'll say it this way.  The next time you are feeling low, put on this album, and you might find something that resonates with you.  If you do, you're already a Cure fan, you just didn't know it yet.  But, if you are one of those people, like me, who feels emotions very deeply, do not put this album on if you are depressed.  Because this shit is like heroin.  You'll start feeling super depressed, and completely down, and you'll be dragged into the infinite spaces, as Pascal would say.

So Scott, on this, the day of your epic heartbreak for reasons not to be mentioned, when you have fallen so low from being so high, I would advise you not to listen to this album.  It will not console you, it will only deepen your depression over the terrible events that occurred yesterday.  It was lovely playing with you sir, and I hope we meet in the same situation again, and the result is exactly the same, bitch.

:heart:

"Disintegration is the best album ever!"

Matt

For those of you don't know:

What happened is this.  I'm playing hockey this spring season, and the playoffs started on Sunday.  My team, The Travellers was the number 8 seed going against the number one seeded Black Shaft Revelations.  In a shocking upset, the Travellers took the playoff series and moved on, eliminating the Black Shaft, which is Scott's team.  Afterwards, he told me that it was necessary for the Cure to come out soon.

A-HA - Hunting High and Low

A-ha - Hunting High and Low

Published in 1985

Wikipedia

"We're talking away
I don't know what
I'm to say I'll say it anyway
Today's another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love, OK?

Take on me, take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two"

First off, thanks to Jake. I don't know why I am thanking Jake, because as I saw on a shirt once, he is a Jerk, but I guess I'll thank him anyway, for suggesting this album.

The Album Project Bureau of Jokes and Other Sarcastic-cies has been working hard to research all of the eighties trivia that I need to make fun of because of this album.  The tireless public servants have been researching for hours on the internet about a decade that I was not actually a part of in any meaningful way.  I will refer you to our honorary historical joke director, Mr. William Joel.  He has a pretty good primer on Youtube.  Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and the removal of their collective bargaining rights (timely for four months ago!  Also, probably timely for now, what with the NFL collapsing like a flan.) the department had to be let go, because this album is actually pretty damn good.


You see, when you crack open an A-ha album, you seem to have some prebuilt assumptions.  One, that they are as much of a joke as they have become.  Two, that the other songs are going to be the the eightiesist things that you have ever eighties heard.  And three, that you won't enjoy it.


But this album holds up.  It's surprisingly well written, the songs are good, they don't overly use anything but the drum machine.  The songs are somewhat catchy, and the album is pretty short and sweet.  You are rarely stuck in one song too long, and when they get old, they fade out and go into a new one.


They are no joke too.  They play some pretty on fire new wave, and they do some really cool things with their instrumentation.  They play some pretty damn good music, and while the songs aren't anything spectacularly out there, they are solidly made and produced.


Yes, there is some dating, but actually, it's not as bad as I expected.  It doesn't sound like a parody of itself, it just embraces it's eightiesness in a way that is endearing and not annoying.  They have a pretty solid piece of work here.


I just don't have a lot to say about it.  It's not good enough that I think anything other than Take on Me deserves to be held in high regard, but that song is a pop culture masterpiece, even getting future TAP artists Reel Big Fish to cover the song.  It's one of those songs that instantly gives something a place and time to be tacked on to, like Huey Lewis and the News.


So, thanks again Jake, and hope to get more suggestions from you,


"You can't Fax glitter!" "Well, not with that attitude!" "NOT WITH ANY ATTITUDE!"
Matt


PS. Do something good and Give Phil Five!

Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World

Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Iron World

Published in 2006

Wikipedia

First off, let's all say thanks to Cole, for having an interesting enough life to make a blog about himself, and secondly for suggesting this album.  So, thanks Cole.

As someone who is into music (could you guess), I have noticed something of a conspiratorial air about. Someone out there in the universe has declared that folk music is going to be the new thing for indie kids.  Why this is happening, well I have some theories, but it's happening more and more, and the Freak Folk mantle is being brought up quickly to the in-thing.

As I said in my Mumford and Sons write up, I don't understand 'Freak Folk'.  I understand that people don't want you to confuse old folk with new folk, and it is strange to hear the two versions in the same area, but really, is there such a big difference between classic folk and modern folk?  Both of them deal with subjects that were important to those writing the songs.  I don't think that folk has ever been considered the pinnacle of formulaic art, and actually one of the reasons it is folksy, is because it deals with realistic subjects important at the time of the song's writing.

One reason I think modern folk is doing well is because it is so appealing to a side of people who just want to hear good performers playing simple music.   The nostalgia bumper crop appeals to people who either grew up with this on their radios, or (like me) listened to a lot of Prairie Home Companion as a kid.  There is a certain appeal to this kind of music that sounds down home, and simple, and that is a beautiful thing.  

Old Crow Medicine Show is a group that is making perfectly serviceable folk music.  I mean that in the most neutral way possible.  I don't think they are as good as Mumford and Sons, but that is because I listened to them first.  I think they sound somewhat similar, although Mumford and Sons is a bit darker, and it makes a difference for the listening experience.

The lighter moments on the album though, are some of the best.  I love that they included the singer screwing up on the first verse and the band starting again.  I think that the funnier songs are good, and as a child of the I-95 corridor, good stuff is on this album.  

I cannot say that this album is anything but optional, but if you're a fan of folk music and bluegrass, you should probably pick it up,  it's fun and light and enjoyable.  If you don't really like bluegrass, this could be a way in, but I'd look other places first.

Anyway, thanks again to Cole, I hope I did this album a little justice, and I can't wait to hear how I am wrong about it Mike H. style.  

"Love is about compromises, Zorak, compromising your future to the city council of Bethesda Maryland."

Matt

PS.

Phil! Five? Give Him!? 

Radiohead - Kid A and Amnesiac

Radiohead - Kid A and Amnesiac

Published in 2000 and 2001

Wikipedia - Kid A and Wikipedia - Amnesiac

With OK Computer a resounding success both commercially and critically, there must have been a temptation to rest on the solid ground that they had created, seemingly from nowhere. The experiment in forward moving rock had been a success, and to keep moving further away from what they initally were would, to a casual observer, be an act of madness.

However, a careful observer would dispute this interpretation. Perhaps it would have been easier for Radiohead to continue on the epic album track. Perhaps they would be known as the new Pink Floyd and be able to put out long meditations on whatever struck them. This, however would have been musically unsatisfying.

There is a part of the human experience that drives us to move to new things. There is also a partnthat drives us to stay static. This is the tension in which decisions are made. If you are not bold, you will stagnate in the regularity, but if you change too much, you lose a sense of who you are.

Radiohead, as a creative entity walks down this path. The risk of alienaion of their fans is balanced by the movement into new areas and new fans. By remaining a band that is dictated by creativity over sales, Radiohead has not stagnated and has not lost itself.

Kid A is a record that sounds completely different than any of the previous works of Radiohead. The music has been created with an ear for defying expectations, but also with the intent of creating an album of extraordinary power.  This allows the band to get away with more than most, but it rigidly locks them into producing something good.

I am going to attempt to not go track by track for this one, simply because it is going to sound very similar to my OM Computer review. Let us be clear, there is no bad song on this album, and the great songs are perhaps some of the greatest ever made.

Let's start with The National Anthem. This is a song that is the closest thing to a pure rock song on the album. I am contractually obligated to mention that the bass line was written by blah blah blah who cares. It is a simple bass line, it was written at a young age. It simply kicks ass. The bass line uses it's simplicity in the strongest way possible, by making it a driving force in the song. Every moment that the bass line is going in the song, there is a percieved forward motion that allows the music to sound more urgent than it's tempo.

I am also contractually obligated to mention the horns at the end. Many people have said that this ruins the song, and the use offhe horns is a cheap stunt to create cacophany without any investment. They may have a point, but I like to look at them another way. As the horns enter, we hear the blasting and bleating as a departure from the sound of Radiohead. The music is residing in a space that we had not been in before, and as a reult of this change, we are taken out of passive listening and into active listening. By activating us in this way, we're enticed to compare the sounds to other songs with horns in them. This is not ska, this is not jazz, this is not classical. The musical space is a purely Radiohead defined realm, and the rules are defined by them.

By allowing the horns to attempt to overtly play indiviudual parts, we allow them to be seperated and individualistic. These competeing strains are a call back to the message of the song, which ishat even in a crowd of like minded people, one can feel so alone. By looking at it this way, the end of the song is neither cacaphony nor organized, but a collective effort of individuals attempting to create something beautiful and shared on the form of harmony, missing their mark, and forming a new kind of harmony instead. The distraction of the music is a powerful reminder of the individual.

The triumph of the collective and individual nature is obviously important to this album. Thom Yorke has said that the title is a reference to the first human clone. This achievement would be a triumph of humanity, a collective effort, but perhaps an individual tragedy. The child at the center of it all would not understand why he was what he was, and nit understand that he was important. This person would be detached from humanity by virtue of being one of fhe greatest achievements of the species.

This emotion is perhaps best reflected in How To Disappear Completely.  The use of acoustic guitars, the brishig of the snare and the wandering bass line is incredibly private sounding. The lyrics are from the perspective of someone who is either unnoticed or noticed too much. As the chorus states, I'm not here, This isn't happening. The song itself is an escape for the mind of the singer, whether or not his body is physically able to move or not. The reflected feelings of alienation and wishes of escape and freedom to move freely is completely in the character of this album, and is clearly the point of much of it.

By exploring both of these conflicting sounds, Radiohead opened it's world up to a both a wider and narrower audience. Those who could find one song that they liked was expanded, but those who were locked in and completely taken with the album were narrower.

By actively ignoring the impulse to grow broader, and infact concentrating their efforts in the opposite direction, Kid A is a triumph of a band in transition, not a static band. Where they were going was past the reaches of where they had gone before.



Amnesiac starts with an incredibly percussive beginning, and the first tone is held back until about 30 seconds in. This song is one of the more accessable, but it is remarkable for a couple of things. 1. The guitar has all but disappeared. It has been replaced by synths and percussive sounds. 2. The sounds are both otherworldly and electronic, but there is a deep humanity to the track. 3. It is not rock music, but some kind of hybrid.

The most arresting song of Amnesiac is the next song, Pyramid Song. It is arresting because the song follows a traditional format in an untradtional way. The song has a moving piano line, that makes a huge impression on the listener immediately. The piano, however plays the percussive or bass role in the song, repeating the same chords over and over, and allowing the voice and various other instruments to take the melody.

Pyramid song is one of the few songs that seems delivered straight from another world. The parts seem to be obvious, a stripped down piano that builds to a huge climax and then releases slowly. But the song just slowly eats itself in such a way that the entirety of it is swollowed up, leaving the listener grasping at the end of the song, just to find somewhere to hold onto.

As we move farther into the album, the sonic landscape is taken up by incredibly diverse computerized loops and sounds, giving the impression of a spiky and distopian far future. The sounds of the album are rarely warm and inviting, or at least don't inspire the same level of pathos in you as some off of OK and even Kid A.  Even You and Whose Army uses a vocal effect to put space between the listener and the singer, keeping a dreamy distant feel to the whole affair.

The entire album is incredibly diverse, and a necessary step to their canon. This should be listened to as compainion prices, and should be seen as such. The sheer amount of purely interesting material is a good reason, but the better reason is that the whole band is astoundingly different than their other records, and the experimentation settled in a place of incredible beauty.

Next time on the Catalog Project -
Hail to the Thief, and Why it isn't a good album for beginners.

"Jesus, Krieger, you're still taping bum fights?"
"No, I've moved on to something much . . . darker."
Matt