an album post.*

common - finding forever. after listening to lots of kanye west and jay-z, common starts to sound like spoken word - its not wrong, just different - and he does it fairly well. and anything produced by kanye can't be half bad. but more than anything, i like the beats on this cd. there are some solid samples (including common himself), however, common's lyrics almost turn into another instrument laid over the top of the beats. his voice becomes a part of the beats. pretty tight. favorite songs so far: "southside" "black maybe" and "the people"...oh and "so far to go". solid album.


sara bareilles** - little voice. first of all it must be mentioned that "love song" rules. that piano is way too fun. i can't help but grin and bob around atop my giraffe-like neck. but this album has so much more than i thought it would. it has great break-it-downs and there is a ton of groove on this album. and this girl has some serious soul. the album gets gradually more melancholy as it goes goes along. i think i just love piano too, but her voice is phenom - my only complaint is that i can't quite hit the notes. but its fun to try. when no one else is around. fav songs besides love song so far: "come round soon" "bottle it up". and i'm a big sucker for the last track on albums...so "gravity" too - great strings. short term goal: master the chords of "love song" so i can spontaneously excite a whole room about life. how much would that rule?


gnarls barkley - the odd couple. oh gnarls. you've gone and done it again - captured my heart with an album so insane i can't even wrap my mind around it. i honestly didn't think cee-lo and danger mouse would manage. call me a hater. call me whatever you want. there is a part of me that is a little surprised they pulled it off. my reasoning: there is only one Crazy. no way it can be done again.
and they didn't do another Crazy, but they put together a solid album - something i'm not sure they did with St. Elsewhere. there were too many tracks on that album that i skipped over religiously (feng shui, necromancer, st. elsewhere). on The Odd Couple there is a little something in every song that makes me love each individually. maybe it's a background vocal, or a obscure instrument, or a sizzlin bridge (love break-it-downs), or a ridiculous beat (see track 6: open book).
or maybe the song sounds like an amusement park. possible.
sometimes cee-lo just screams and i giggle a bit.
the OC definitely lacks a track that will sweep the nation like Crazy did the summer of 06 - the closest thing is the single "Run" which boasts a seizure inducing music video featuring justin timberlake. check it.

so i clearly favor gnarls over the other two. but i've only owned common for a week now and i've had sara for about 3 hours now (although my itunes play count for "love song" is currently 5 going on 6). i may or may not have had gnarls in my back pocket well before its actual release. gulp.

-ap.

* - anal bum post. hahaha.
** - i before e. except after c. hm.