Hump Day Artist of the Week XII

This week's Hump Day Artist comes from the New Release Tuesday conversation that Jon and I had yesterday morning. As you most likely know, all the new music and movies for the week come out on Tuesday and this week you're going to want to make sure that you do not pass up the new Gnarls Barkley album, "The Odd Couple." They won a pair of Grammy Awards for their last album "St. Elsewhere" and their latest effort does not disappoint.

Now, you may or may not know that I am not the biggest fan of rap or hip-hop. There are a few artists and songs out there that I enjoy, and I don't hate the genre by any means, but I'm just not a huge fan. However, Gnarls Barkley definitely falls into the side of the genre that I really like listening to. As soon as I heard "Crazy" a couple years ago, I knew that I was going to check out the rest of their library, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The same goes for "The Odd Couple."

The song that really got me excited about "The Odd Couple" was the first single from the album, "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)." It's got a fantastic driving beat and it is a fantastic show-piece for the energy that Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo put forth throughout the entire album. These two work so well together that it's almost scary, they are twins separated at birth and until they were back together, neither one was completely whole. Alright, so that might be a little melodramatic, plain and simple this CD is more than worthy of a listen.

You can't deny the sheer awesome-ness of the melding of retro-synth and the amazing flow of modern beats. While the other songs on "The Odd Couple" don't move along as quickly as "Run" they are still just as determined to get into your head so that they can take hold of your eardrums and refuse to release their grasp. "Going On" has a ridiculously catchy clap track that forces you to put down what you're doing and clap along. "Would Be Killer" takes the relaxed approach but not so relaxed that you're bored. Often times artists slow the tempo down and completely lose my attention, but this is definitely not the case here.

Whether it's speedy or chill, "The Odd Couple" delivers on all levels. It is an album worth at least a listen by everyone, even if you're not the biggest urban, hip-hop, rap fan out there, I can pretty much assure you that there will be at least one thing you will like about "The Odd Couple" from Gnarls Barkley.

Check out the music video for "Run" below and enjoy "The way the beat hits the groove!"