CD Reviews
May 1, 2008 12:00 PM
GNARLS BARKLEY
The Odd Couple (Atlantic)
Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse return
Though Danger Mouse canceled a Remix interview hours before its appointed time, the producer refusing to discuss gear or production (though photos of the duo's studio were revealed on nytimes.com), we're not bitter: The Odd Couple is truly brilliant. With no obvious follow-up hit to “Crazy,” the album instead rums amok with heavily delayed, weird backward samples (“Would Be Killer”), a panoply of keyboard textures (Magnus chord organ, ARP Axxe and Wurlitzer and Rhodes electric pianos), demented wall-of-sound vocals (“Open Book”) and a generally experimental aesthetic. Like the cast of '60s musical Hair lending their go-go boots and psychedelic vocal choruses to themes of isolation, rejection and bitterness, The Odd Couple is deliciously unhappy listening. Harmony vocals straight off a Mamas and the Papas record fill “Surprise,” along with strummed acoustic guitars, claves and reverb-heavy guitar slashes. Like much of the album, “No Time Soon” uses what sounds like live instruments meshed with drum programming that bumps and ticks like insane fireflies. Beauty abounds as well, as in the Debussy-modeled “She Knows,” with its nauseous keyboards, crippled beat and ghostly lyrics killing us softly.
— Ken Micallef
SHONKY
Time Zero (Freak n' Chic)
Ground control to Major Tom
At its core, Shonky's Time Zero is club-friendly and fierce, but the clicking techno on his artist debut cruises past the standard with headphones-ready nuances. “Odyssey” is only a fraction of this sinuous blitz of atmospherics; its metallic swirls and scattering chimes commence in bare and innocent fashion before short, sci-fi synth swells eventually drift to the surface. Time Zero's telltale tracklist (“Galactica,” “Ellipse”) might allude to starship Enterprise-type sh*t, but unlike William Shatner's overcooked delivery, the fireworks here are a bit more tangible.
— Dominic Umile
TAPES 'N TAPES
Walk It Off (XL)
Indie guitar rock for geeks
Lo-fi guitar rockers Tapes 'N Tapes get the funk on with their sophomore outing, Walk It Off. They are the Napoleon Dynamites of the genre: garage-rock kids who channel Pavement while outplaying them musically. “Hang Them All” has spacey and furious keys, droning low-slung bass and some of Josh Grier's most mesmerizing guitar work. On the closer, “The Dirty Dirty,” the group conjures up a weird faux pas-sounding techno algorithm. It's anemic, groovy and blistering all at the same time. Tapes is going to cherry-pick fans from Death Cab and Spoon. This album is an early pick for best of the year.
— John Brandon
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Generation V: A Dgenetics Music Compilation (Dgenetics)
A new label fights being boxed in
L.A. producer Dgenetics presents a mixed bag of acts on his label's introductory compilation. Dgenetics' own collective, Dgenerate Nation, arguably leads the way here with the old-school electro jam “Skate With Me” and on the much mellower side, the jazzy hip-hop cut “I Want More.” Elsewhere, the psych-rock of Fiore on “Awakening” is worth a listen for its trippy groove. But some of the synth-y club cuts are forgettable (DJ Pumpkin Patch's uninspiring “Got Me Goin'”). If anything, this disc is proof that Dgenetics has a small but unpredictable roster on his hands.
— Max Herman
VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Green Owl Comp: A Benefit for the Energy Action Coalition (Green Owl)
Being green sounds great
NY indie label Green Owl's first official release is this eclectic compilation CD/DVD benefiting the Energy Action Coalition. Opening with label head Ben Brewer's own band, The Appletrees, the CD moves gracefully from BBC Session tracks by Feist and Deerhoof to Harper Simon's “Henrieta,” Bloc Party's “The Prayer” remixed and a crowd-noise-festooned live version of Muse's “Knights of Cydonia.” The DVD features more songs from bands like State Radio and The Bad Plus, music vids and other bonus content. It's environmentally sustainable and cool, too.
— Kristi Kates
YELLE
Pop-Up (EMI)
Danceable drivel
Initially “discovered” via a rude rant that she posted online (ostensibly to insult a man who'd done her wrong), Yelle's '80s-influenced pop-tronica is getting attention but not for the right reasons. She shock-talks her way through most of it, from the synth-ridden “Ce Jeu” (“This Game”) to the bass-driven “À Cause Des Garçons” (“Because of Boys”). But once you remove the distractions, it's all the same brand of moderately catchy retread club music. You'll either be able to ignore her pert foulness and use this for fill-in dance fodder, or all that Yelle-ing for attention will make you want to wash your ears out with soap.
— Kristi Kates
THE YOUNG PUNX!
Your Music Is Killing Me (MofoHifi)
Slow is for wussies
A torrential downpour of danceability for the tapered-jeans and neon-sneaker set launches from London this time, not Brooklyn. The Young Punx!'s breathless club workouts, mixing house and dance-rock, don't quite approach the authority-shirking Black Flag vibe that the album title suggests, but these weathered remixers shred effectively on their debut. An apparently sample-free, insatiable display of energy here blends harmonica and synths (“Superman's Brother”), guitar and Moog squelches (“Dirty Shoes”), and, um, flute-laced drum 'n' bass (“Drums and Bacharach”).
— Dominic Umile
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