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Gnarls Barkley - The
Odd Couple
One of the more surprising
massive-mega-hits of the last few years
was Crazy by Gnarls Barkley; a real word-of-mouth
success that was built-up before anyone
really know who this Barkley fella was.
Of course, as it turned out, he was a 'they'
as Gnarls Barkley was producer DangerMouse
and soulful singer Cee-Lo Green (who wrote
Don't Cha for the Pussycat Dolls), and their
taste in eccentric costumes helped build
up their profile very rapidly until everyone
rushed out to buy their debut album and
discovered that there wasn't actually any
other songs like Crazy on there. So, while
that song has become one of those tracks
that you can still hear on the radio and
TV all the time, Gnarls Barkley have been
pretty much tarred with the 'one hit wonder'
brush, so the anticipation has been a bit
muted for their second album The Odd Couple,
and not just because of its rather rushed
release. Lead single Run is the closest
thing they've ever done to Crazy, but still
only got to 32 in the UK charts upon its
full release last week, so clearly the mass
public has moved on, but what is there for
the rest of us? Well, when you get past
the hype and hullabaloo, Gnarls Barkley
have made a really good album with The Odd
Couple. It's certainly odd and unconventional,
and there's no way that everyone will enjoy
it because so much of it is too offbeat
to be very accessible, but there's just
so many great songs that deserve the attention
it takes to fully appreciate them. It's
surprisingly downbeat, both lyrically and
musically, with Cee-Lo rarely getting to
stretch his vocal ability to the extent
that he did on THAT song, but even so he
still has a lovely voice whether used at
the frantic pace of Run or the more hushed
tones of the gorgeous Who's Gonna Save My
Soul. Part of the love/hate appeal of Gnarls
Barkley comes from their very diverse inspirations,
and you can hear echoes of all kinds of
music in The Odd Couple, from Beatles psychedelia
to gospel to funk, and you can certainly
see why that might be off-putting to some
less hardly souls, but if you're willing
to give this album a chance, it shows that
they have developed a lot since the patchy
St Elsewhere and it makes for a much more
satisfying collection, even if it will almost
inevitably less far fewer copies.
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Estelle - Shine
It's not easy being a UK hip-hop artist, and Estelle knows that as much as anyone else. She burst onto the scene three years ago with her debut album The 18th Day, but it pretty much sank without a trace despite some decent reviews and a few top 20 singles, while she'll have seen what happened to people like Miss Dynamite, who managed to have one hit album before completely disappearing off the cultural landscape. However, she bounced back and won some friends touring with Kanye West late last year and completed her comeback with West appearing on American Boy, which shot to number one in the charts last weekend. She's already been tipped by Rolling Stone magazine as One To Watch for 2008, and with fellow Brit Leona Lewis currently at number one in the USA, maybe this is the time for Estelle to Shine. See what we did there? She's certainly worked hard for her breaks, and had good fortune on her side when she happened to meet West outside Roscoe's House Of Chicken And Waffles in LA a few years back, leading to an association with John Legend that has served her well so far, and she's got star power in the production booth for her second album. Legend is the executive producer, with West, will.i.am, Wyclef Jean, Mark Ronson, Cee-Lo Green and Swizz Beatz all involved, which is quite a roster. Unsurprisingly, that makes for a very slick-sounding album, with lots of very familiar samples by the likes of George Michael, Aretha Franklin and Bob Marley adding to the feeling that this is something special. Fortunately, the songs don't let the side down, because this is a very warm, relaxed and classy effort that reflects her English/Senegalese background as well as the inevitable influences of US hip-hop.
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Nizlopi - Make It Happen
What made Nizlopi so appealing when they emerged on the mainstream music scene in December 2005 is exactly what has stopped them from ever looking likely to repeat that success in the time since. JCB was a delightful tune full of heart and nostalgia and sincerity and an endearing kind of naivety, and that was the perfect mixture for an outsider's shot at the Christmas number one before the soulless X-Factor juggernaut of Shane Ward's That's My Goal trampled all over it like it was a toy JCB. It was a belated hit from their 2004 debut album Half These Songs Are About You, and suddenly catapulted them into a world where they toured with Jamie Cullum and Christina Aguilera (!), but was very much their only hit from the album and they soon sank without a trace. They're back with album number two now, but everything that worked in their favour in that one song now holds them back on Make It Happen. Luke Concannon's very sincere vocal style was spot on for JCB's earnest subject matter, but when Nizlopi try to stick to their folky roots by making political points on tracks like I'm Alive or the faintly embarassing England UpRise, his voice is a serious weakness, particularly when he tries to 'rap', coming across as a cross between Madonna and John Barnes. The lyrics are clunky and occasionally cringeworthy no matter how well-intentioned, and England UpRise would only work well if it was a satire about wishy-washy liberal anthems, but as it is presumably not meant to be funny, it falls flat on its face. That isn't to say that Nizlopi are completely bereft of charm on this second album, because there are some tracks where the duo do manage to capture some of the naive magic of their one hit single, but there is nothing here that could ever emulate it, while nor is there much to make serious fans of this kind of music want to investigate any further.
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Yael Naïm & David Donatien - Yael Naïm & David Donatien
You've
all heard a song by Yael
Naïm, even though she
is a French-born Israeli
singer of Tunisian descent
and sings in a mixture
of English, French and
Hebrew. You've probably
heard it quite a few times
and liked it, after all
she did last month become
the first Israeli singer
to have a US top ten hit
with that song. So what
is it? It's called New
Soul and is the tune from
the Apple MacBook Air
advert and it's very nice
isn't it? So, who is Yael
Naïm? Well, she was born
in Paris to Tunisian-Jewish
parents, moving to Israel
when she was four, growing
up to sing in the Israel
Air Force Orchestra before
launching her solo career
with In A Man's Womb in
2001. You can see why
you'd never heard of her
before now, right? Well,
luckily for her, Steve
Jobs did hear of her and
personally chose New Soul
for the MacBook Air ad,
and the rest is history.
So, if you like that song,
what chance of you liking
her self-titled second
album? Well, it depends
really. New Soul is a
quirky kind of folky tune
with a catchy melody and
is very accessible, but
not all of Yael Naïm is
quite so easily digestible
by the masses. For a start,
there are plenty of songs
that are not in English,
so if you are put off
by French or Israeli words,
you may as well give up
now. But yet there's also
a cover of Britney Spears'
Toxic, though it's a very
much slowed-down and stripped-down
version. Naïm has a lovely
voice whether singing
in English or the more
throaty French/Hebrew
tongues while multi-instrumentalist
David Donatien provides
lo-fi but warm backing
for her, and there is
a lot to enjoy in this
varied and colourful album
if you are willing to
become immersed in it.
If you're just looking
for that nice song off
that advert, you may be
disappointed, but give
it time and you'll give
into her charms.
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Slaves
To Gravity - Scatter
The Crow
If,
like this reviewer,
you often find yourself
longing for the
days in the mid-90s
when grunge was
king and bands like
Soundgarden and
Alice In Chains
straddled the world
like miserable plaid-shirt-wearing-misanthropes,
then Slaves To Gravity
are the band for
you. A bunch of
rockers from London,
they are clearly
influence by the
noisier grunge and
post-grunge bands,
with singer Tommy
Gleeson's vocals
flitting between
Dave Grohl and Chris
Cornell while the
crunching guitar
riffs clearly echo
bands like Soundgarden
and other early
90s metal bands.
Most of the band
have already achieved
modest success as
The*Ga*Ga*s before
record label problems
saw them ditched,
and with a new name
and tweaks to the
line-up they are
back as Slaves To
Gravity and their
own record label.
Happily, Scatter
The Crow should
do well enough to
convince them not
to drop themselves,
because it certainly
deserves to win
plenty of new rock
fans as it is a
very accomplished
and likeable album.
They wear their
influences on their
sleeves, but that
is only a problem
when you can't ever
hope to emulate
the bands who inspired
you, and while Slaves
are not up there
with the likes of
Alice In Chains
or Stone Temple
Pilots, they aren't
that far behind
either. One problem
they might have
is that they don't
really seem to fit
into the modern
rock market, with
only bands like
Nine Black Alps
and The Zico Chain
playing this kind
of 90s retro music,
though of course
it would certainly
appeal to fans of
someone like Velvet
Revolver too, and
it's always best
to stick out like
a sore thumb than
to be just one of
the flock, particularly
in the rock genre.
Singles like Meantime
and the recent Mr
Regulator are certainly
highlights of Scatter
The Crow, but it's
a very solid and
consistent record
in that most of
the album tracks
are equally capable
of being singles.
A very refreshing
alternative to most
of what's out there
at the moment and
good enough to stand
the test of time
too.
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