Take album closer 'The Last Time' - the organ here could possibly have been sampled from 'The Only One I Know' by the sadly-not-defunct The Charlatans, and the drums could have come from Eric B & Rakim's 'I Ain't No Joke'. Again, just like Maxinquaye and Endtroducing., this is an album that will have you constantly discovering new things for months. But you just don't notice that unless you go looking for it, so tasteful and subtle is DM's touch. On paper, the production job is a kitchen-sink affair, since just about every trick, genre, and/or instrument in the book has been shoehorned into this album somewhere. But where both Tricky and DJ Shadow's worlds were introverted, druggy, murky, and dense, DJ Dangermouse here has created hip-hop that is admittedly mildly insane and, on first listen, somewhere between 'weird' and 'totally ***ed-up', but also a huge amount of fun. Cee-Lo helps that impression by not rapping. This is either the American answer to Tricky's Maxinquaye or the mainstream twin to DJ Shadow's Endtroducing., in that all these records are indisputably hip-hop albums, but they also distort the art-form beyond almost all recognition until it becomes something else entirely - the private domain of the producer. Elsewhere that probably won't be released as singles. That is as succinct as I can be describing the 75% percent of St. The masterplan? Turning hip-hop upside down. It's not hard to tell that this is the first project he's been involved in that has truly been his own, because he takes every opportunity imaginable to drive his point home namely, that DJ Danger Mouse has just arrived in the major leagues, big time. It only really has a sonic precedent in Demon Days, but the spirit is entirely Danger Mouse's own. The rest of the album is considerably less immediate than those three cornerstones. To call this song harrowing may be overstating the case, but not by much. Danger Mouse throws all sorts of things at the track - clattering, DJ-Shadow-esque drums and mandolins both feature heavily - but he s never less than sensitive to Cee-Lo's sentiments as he croons 'essentially I'm an animal, so just what do I do with all the aggression? Well I've tried, everything but suicide, but it's crossed my mind.' Cee-Lo ends the song with the kiss-off '.but I'm fine'. And then there's the mighty 'Just A Thought', a beautiful, edge-of-sanity ballad that could sit right alongside Notorious BIG's 'Suicidal Thoughts' on a mixtape just fine. Surely even the Femmes would now admit that this is now the definitive version. It's quite a faithful cover in all honesty, but at the end of the day it's a great song given to a great singer. The album's sole cover, Violent Femmes' 'Gone Daddy Gone', sees Danger Mouse returning to his indie roots. Two songs in particular give it a run for its money. Elsewhere more mindblowing than that song is the fact that the rest of the album stands up to it. In fact, maybe the only thing to be found on St. Yeah, this is sheer Motown, but I am not exaggerating when I say that it stands up to all but the very best songs released with that label's prestigious imprint. Man's got soul like you wouldn't believe. I've heard this guy rap before, but you wanna hear him sing. This is everything we could have hoped for in a collaboration between these two and more - haunting backing vocals, a smooth, funky bassline, strings lifted straight from the Motown bag of tricks, absolutely fantastic lyrics ('Who do you, who do you think you are? Ha ha ha.bless your soul.you really think you're in control?), a melody to die for, and an absolutely stunning performance from Cee-Lo. In fact, this is potentially the song of the decade (hell, commercially, it already is in England). Song of the year? If it's not, then we are in for one hell of a treat when someone tops it. Vocal duties go to Cee-Lo Green, who you may or may not know from Goodie Mob, vague affiliations with Outkast, and two acclaimed solo releases. You might also be interested to know that he started his career doing remixes for - of all the bands! - Neutral Milk Hotel. He's perhaps still most famous for being the mastermind behind the world's most notorious bootleg, The Grey Album (an inspired mash-up of Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album), but he's also the man behind the music for the last Gorillaz album, Demon Days. Production duties are handled by DJ Danger Mouse, who is quietly becoming the best producer in the world. Reviews are usually daunting because you're not sure what to say this one's going to be tricky simply because there's so much to get through!įor the uninitiated, Gnarls Barkley are this year's very own hip-hop dream team.

Man, there are so many reasons to love Gnarls Barkley it's practically impossible to know where to start.

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