Gnarls Barkley, an enigmatic presence in the entertainment business, formally introduced himself in 2006, to the tune of the popular song “Crazy.” He released the acclaimed LP St. Elsewhere, garnered two Grammy Awards (and six nominations), and became a global phenomenon without ever appearing in public. He doesn’t care for the word “should.”
With fame came attention, and Gnarls doesn’t care for attention, either. Thus, to protect himself from the public gaze, he split himself in two, the yin and the yang. This opened a tunnel through the forbidden underworld of popular music and human psychology, a world explored on Gnarls Barkley’s second LP, The Odd Couple.
We’re giving away a Gnarls Barkley prize pack, consisting of: -a limited edition “The Odd Couple” double vinyl record (one record plays the album forward, the other plays it backwards)
-a copy of “The Odd Couple” CD
-a copy of their first album “St. Elsewhere” CD
-a copy of Estelle’s upcoming album “Shine,” featuring an appearance by Gnarls Barkley singer Cee-Lo (and other artists like John Legend, Kanye West, Kardinal, etc.)
To enter this contest, you must comment on this post, complete with your email and a funny joke. Simple. Funniest joke wins! (Decided by me, of course.. and I have an odd sense of humour.)
The deadline for submission is Monday, May 5th.Gareth Jones is the winner. Congrats Gareth.
Here’s the first single from The Odd Couple, “Run”
As reported on brooklynvegan earlier today, Wolf Parade will be playing The Metroplolis, August 3rd (and other places as well). By that time they will have released 2008’s album of the year. If you want tickets for this show (and the others) check out Ducat KingTicketPro. If you want a taste of the new album check out our La Sala Rossa (much smaller than The Metropolis) footage and mp3s here.
July 7: Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
July 8: Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
July 9: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
July 12: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
July 13: Seattle, WA @ Marymoor Park
July 15: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
July 17: San Francisco, Ca @ Fillmore
July 18: Hollywood, CA @ Henry Fonda
July 19: Hollywood, CA @ Henry Fonda
July 20: San Diego, CA @ Cane’s
July 21: Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
July 24: Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
July 25: Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
July 26: Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
July 28: Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
July 29: Raleigh, NC @ Disco Rodeo
July 30: Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
July 31: New York, NY @ Terminal 5
Aug 2: Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Aug 3: Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
Aug 9: Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus
The Raconteurs weren’t a ‘real’ band in the sense that, say, Radiohead or Beck are ‘real’ bands. The members were all established veterans in the music world and enjoyed successful careers – to relative extents – outside of the group before The Raconteurs idea was even dreamed up. In other words, they were all well past that urgent ‘do-or-die’ part of their own careers. They became the accidental supergroup that was borne out of friendship and mutual respect for superb musicianship. Even with all the supergroups around nowadays, I just don’t think Jack White could be associated with the term ‘trend-follower’ (or trendwhore, like us….). They didn’t set out to make the next big thing, tacky reality tv show and all, they just wanted to experiment with music and have fun being awesome. The result was a confident debut that had absolutely nothing to prove to anyone but ended up putting the band on the map with its meld of, as they called it, “shimmering pop melodies and firecracker blues.” This was a debut from a band that didn’t care if you liked them or not, but knew you would anyways.
So what would you expect from a group that, after such a massive and hugely successful breakout album and tour, comes back brimming with energy and ideas and confidence and enthusiam to record a follow-up? Something even better than the first, probably. The reaction to Broken Boy Soldiers was probably a bit a surprise to the band, a lucky fluke even, but this time around their aim is to keep the buzz going. The Raconteurs are sitting right at the very top of their game right now, and it’s no surprise that they were so impatient in getting their second album, Consolers of the Lonely, into our ears without delay. The Raconteurs don’t just sound like Jack White and Brendan Benson playing together anymore. They sound like The Raconteurs, and they’re excited about it. Read on after the jump….
The official lineup for Osheaga is out. You can get the full details on the Osheaga website here. It looks far better than last year. Definitely a step in the wrong direction with the headliners, but I digress. It will be awesome to see Iggy Pop rip shit up. Trendwhore will be there, and if you are in the area so should you.
Oasis just launched their presale for the Bell Centre yesterday. With Ryan Adams and the Cardinals opening, it’s going to be a bit of a cunt-o-rama as far as celebrity egos go. Maybe someone will even walk offstage in a huffy childish rage. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how high Liam can stretch his neck these days. Anyways, whether or not it ends up being dramatic, at least the music will be stellar. Tickets can be gotten here for the Bell Centre show on Sept. 5th, with the password OASISNET. For you citizens of Ottawa, general tickets are also on sale here for their show at Scotiabank Place on Sept 4th. And please, people, don’t throw shit at the bands, I kind of want them to stick around for their sets.
As always with the anticipation for a New Pornographers show come the questions. You know what I’m talking about.. “Is Neko going to be there? What about Dan?”. As always (seen them 4 times, each time without both) I say, “Doesn’t look like it, they are both touring, blah blah..”, but the truth of it is, I don’t care anymore. I got tired of hoping they’d show up and learned to accept that they are an awesome live band without them. Kathryn Calder is the main reason for this. She came in to this band and had to endure the “Where’s Neko?!?” questions early on, and likely still in some places. However, now she is not just an outsider, she is a valued member of the band and a part of their identity. This shows in her performance recently. She gives it everything, every show.
As good as the band was on this night, there were faults. Mainly due to the venue though. The new (shitty) Capital Music Hall in Ottawa replaces the old (shittier) Capital City Music Hall and gets everything wrong. They have recently done some renovations with the building, which (in their minds) means they don’t have clean up anymore (beer cups lying around from previous shows, sticky floors all around, even on the stage - Listen to Carl talk about this). Aside from this, they didn’t get the sound right all night. Anyway, what did come through the PA was caught by my recorder. There are several pops in this recording. I have no idea what is causing it, but I apologize for it. Enjoy!
The New Pornographers - Capital Music Hall, Ottawa, ON - 04.08.08
We had some technical issues yesterday that lasted 24 hours longer than I expected. If you bared with us, we thank you for that. I’m pretty excited for tomorrow, the Osheaga lineup will be announced. Most of you have already heard that The Austin City Limits lineup has been announced and its sick! If Osheaga is half as good I’ll wet my pants. You can check their site tomorrow, here.
The Dodos are a San Fransisco guitar-drum duo who are nothing like The White Stripes. In fact, The Dodos should never even be mentioned in the same sentence as The White Stripes, because The Dodos don’t even sound - or look - similar to The White Stripes. But if there is anything that we’ve learned in the past from listening to these kinds of bands that we love, it’s that in order to be a good guitar-drum duo you need to have excessive amounts of energy, musical passion, and showmanship. You have to have at least enough to make up for those “missing” members, if not more. So then it’s particularly important to mention that The Dodos generate enough energy in their live shows to power all the homes, heated pools, and air conditioners in all of California, and they’ve got musical passion and showmanship to spare. When they hit the studio earlier this year to record their latest album, Visiter, their goal was to bottle all that live-show intensity and distill it into a potent spirit for your eardrums. Some might say you can’t bottle that kind of thing, but I would say that just trying to do it makes for a pretty interesting album. More after the jump….
Montreal is in such an electric mood these days. The Habs are making a playoff run and Toronto isn’t. Montrealers couldn’t be happier. Divan Orange was in similar spirits last Monday for the San Francisco duo The Dodos (with their traveling mega xylophone player, Joe Haener of Gris Gris). Meric Long and Logan Kroeber are touring North America promoting their sophomore album Visitor on French Kiss Records. Long’s blues guitar is fantastic to witness live, evidence of this can be seen in the footage of “Its That Time Again / Paint The Rust”. Logan’s percussion is the perfect complement, the intense pounding puts you in trance while Meric belts out what some would call “bleeding heart” lyrics. Check out their myspace for tour dates. Also, they are always looking for a place to stay while on the road so make sure you talk to them after the show they’ll appreciate it. Our own wildwildwes has been blasting Visitor so expect a review from him in the next day or so. Welcome aboard Wes, we’ve been in need of a reviewer for some time now. Dodos MP3s and footage after the jump.
Radiohead are playing at Parc Jean Drapeau August 6th. Grizzly Bear are opening as far as I can tell. Too bad, I was hoping for Liars. Oh well. You want tickets ? Get them here They are sold out but fear not Admission.com will be selling tickets for the show this Saturday (August 12th) at 10:00AM (EST).
Gnarls Barkley, an enigmatic presence in the entertainment business, formally introduced himself in 2006, to the tune of the popular song “Crazy.” He released the acclaimed LP St. Elsewhere, garnered two Grammy Awards (and six nominations), and became a global phenomenon without ever appearing in public. He doesn’t care for the word “should.”
The official lineup for Osheaga is out. You can get the full details on the 
