April 27, 2006 @ 1:41 am

Review: Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Channing Joseph

"Crazy." It's not only the name of the group's first single (already number one on the UK charts based on MP3 downloads alone). It's also what you'll call this music from the moment you hear Cee- Lo's soaring, soul tenor descend upon a pastiche of chaotic Klezmer-esque horns and jangly dance-hall beats in the opening track "Go GoGadget Gospel." Fittingly, the theme of mental illness runs through this entire genre-smashing collaboration between two of hip hop's Maddest Hatters (Cee-Lo, of the Goodie Mob, and Danger Mouse, the art-pirate DJ responsible for The Grey Album — the controversial, illegitimate spawn of Jay Z's Black and the Beatles' White records). left Gnarls Barkley's oddly compelling sound — a witches' brew of rap, indie rock, techno, funk, blues, and who-knows-what-else—is positively cuckoo: from tracks such as "Who Cares?" — a hauntingly toe-tapping meditation on schizophrenia—to "Necromancer," a trip- hop-meets-acid-jazz tribute to the twisted joys of necrophilia. In spite of (and perhaps because of) the professed insanity of its sonic landscape — including a rocked-out revision of the Violent Femmes' 1983 classic "Gone Daddy Gone" — the duo's debut disc is an irresistibly refreshing challenge to the predictable modern-rock and hip hop conventions, proving that music can be both loony and lovely. Tour Dates