People complain about buzz, ever suspicious someone or somebody is manipulating Old Miss Music. Now after so much Gnarls hype, people complain that Barkley writers (like yours truly) aren’t meeting the music head-on enough, that we’re too caught up in the details of the phenomenon at the expense of the music, like the pop songs about paranoia, as if every pop song ever written weren’t about paranoia in some way or another. Maybe we’re looking for gold (and platinum) in the wrong places. But when it’s time to fill out Top 10 lists at the end of the year, my #1 album won’t be Gnarls — just Gnarls’s publicist.
P. Diddy showed up at the show; so did T.I. and this one guy who looked like a hybrid Nitsuh Abebe/Albert Einstein. They weren’t at Webster to hear Cee-lo sing about how he likes railing corpses. They came to see Cee-lo ask “You guys having fun?” and a bunch of white people throw up their guns, then 30 seconds later watch Cee-lo ask “When’s the last time you guys had this much fun?” Not a single person in the room seemed to know that the answer was 30 seconds ago.
On the Web
Gnarls Barkley: http://www.gnarlsbarkley.com/
Related:
Gnarls Barkley: Rebirth of soul, ’Round the outside, Gnarls Barkley + Hercules and Love Affair, More 
- Gnarls Barkley: Rebirth of soul
I’m probably not the only one who went to the Gnarls Barkly show Friday night at Avalon wondering if the costumes would be the most interesting part. Slideshow: Gnarls Barkley at Avalon, August 11, 2006
- ’Round the outside
Although music isn’t necessarily getting more political in content these days, it does seem to be borrowing a trope from the political world.
- Gnarls Barkley + Hercules and Love Affair
To the cynic, the scene milling around in front of the sold-out Wilbur could merely have been proof of the power of a hit single.
- On the racks: August 15, 2006
. . . plus mothafuckin' snakes
- Sense in the sound
In Stephen Sondheim’s old formulation, opera is about music and musical theater is about words.
- Wicked games
There was a time, not that long ago, when the two-or-three-day rock-festival experience was reserved for the Brits.
- Neo-new-what?
The real album of the year is a disc that probably didn’t cross many people’s paths in 2006, a Rhino comp titled Future Retro that pairs various DJs/electronicists (Richard X, Tiga, the Crystal Method) with classic new-wave tracks by the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, and New Order.
- Going on sale: July 21, 2006
Black Eyed Peas, Los Lonely Boys, Gnarls Barkley, Massive Attack, and more.
- Fantastic voyagers
What will be this year's songs of summer? Here are the top contenders. LISTEN: Nelly Furtado, "Maneater" | Keane, "Is It Any Wonder?"
- Dave Ghetto
The Camden MC talks real slow, but he’s quick with the metaphors, and more empathetic than preachy.
- Pop goes to war
Next time you put on the new Spoon single to make that subway ride go by a little faster, consider what musical escapism means to troops in Iraq.
- Less
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Music Features
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