last.fm says...

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:55:30 -0700

Top Artists this Week (see more)

23 Mar 2008 – 30 Mar 2008

1		Rhymefest
2		Gnarls Barkley
3		Danity Kane
4		M.I.A.
5		Madlib
5		Ghostface
7		Day26
8		Chris Joss
9		Jamie Lidell
10		MF DOOM

Last Week's Purchases/Pick-Ups: DAY26's self-titled debut and

A Little Better

Gnarls Barkley

Since the logic of Gnarls Barkley’s lyrics is often framed in contradictory terms, why not begin discussing The Odd Couple with the last song. “What would be on your mind if you knew you was dyin’?”, Cee-Lo posits on “A Little Better”. The listener is left to answer: Regret? Pain? Relief? Joy? Funny how by simply removing the punctuation, those words cease to be four questions but one answer. Gnarls Barkley toils ever so soulfully in this complex confluence of emotions on The Odd Couple, their extraordinarily brazen follow up to 2006’s St. Elsewhere.

- Review by Christian John Wikane, Popmatters, 03.25.08

And, like Kyle suggested in his post today, I'm going to start spending more extended time with the music I purchase. I do this with albums that hit me immediately (most recently Burial's Untrue and Rhymefest's Man in the Mirror mixtape) but I buy an awful lot of music that doesn't get enough dedicated ear time. I go through once and rate as I'm a slave to my smart playlists but in the age of the individual song, that also means I rarely hear full albums with the songs in order as intended. So, this week, we're digging in to The Odd Couple. I'm on my second round right now.

Last.fm recommended: K.C. Accidental but I never did get a chance to listen so no last.fm randomness this week

Song of the Week:

I'm The Reason

DAY26

I was a sucker for Danity Kane before them so why would I jump off the Making the Band train now? Of the two heavily produced albums, I think DAY26 has some really appealing and more likely hits than DK. I don't think it's as cohesive as Welcome to the Dollhouse but considering how calculating the process was for developing both of these new releases (which we got to see in all it's glory on the show) that's not saying much. Neither of these groups got to inject much of their own sensibilities as artists/musicians into the records released under their name. I'm not still naive enough to believe in the myths of pop music but that doesn't mean I like knowing that it is much more about the business than it is the music. Diddy and his Bad Boy brethren brazenly brandish their business acumen like a badge of honor. I might like these kids but, come on, let's not remove all the soul.

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votd: run for your life

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:08:59 -0800

Gnarls Barkley Video: Run

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Best Music of '06: Duets

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:12:43 -0800

My Best of '06 answer in two parts. This is the fourth in a series of extended entries about those parts.

Murray's Revenge

Murs

9th Wonder was just all kinds of ridiculous this year while Murs made a case for being my favorite rapper (and not just my favorite rapper's favorite rapper) with this one line:

We all chase money cuz we scared to chase dreams.

- Dream Chaser, Murs, Murray's Revenge

St. Elsewhere

Gnarls Barkley

The Danger Mouse production here is stellar but, really, Gnarls Barkley is where Cee-Lo Green was finally able to really let his freak flag fly. We heard hints on his first solo disc but nothing like this:

Now I'm someone else
Now someone can be me too.
Behold the beautiful and bold everyday I
wake up to be new.

- Transformer, Gnarls Barkley, St. Elsewhere

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Blog is a Mix Tape

last.fm says...

Top Artists this Week (see more)

23 Mar 2008 – 30 Mar 2008

votd: run for your life

Best Music of '06: Duets