leak of the week

New Gnarls Barkley Album Leaks; MP3 Blogs Brace for Impact!

Courtesy of Downtown Records


Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple

Official release date: April 8

The verdict: “Crazy” aside, we liked Gnarls Barkley’s 2005 debut St. Elsewhere less for its songwriting and more for its ridiculous, genre-melding ambition (combined with Cee-Lo’s impressive willingness and ability to sing over all of Danger Mouse’s wacky drum-machine pyrotechnics). On a first listen, their second album, which hit the Internet last night, seems to have a bit more substance. The arrangements are still pretty manic — about half of it sounds like you’re listening to Odelay and The Turtles Greatest Hits at the same time — but the songs feel sturdier. Apart from the obligatory “Crazy” rewrite (“Neighbors”) and a few weird psychedelic missteps, there’s not much here that we don’t already love. To save you some time, here are the tracks that’ll definitely end up on your iPod: “A Little Better,” “Blind Mary,” “Charity Case,” “Going On,” “Surprise,” and “Whatever.”

New Gnarls Barkley Album Leaks; MP3 Blogs Brace for Impact!