A synthy soul funk project from the team of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo – a set that's just trippy enough – and it's possibly the best full length from either party, ever! You don't need us to tell you that DM has had a finger in a handful of the best fringe pop/leftfield hip hop projects of the mid 00s, and Cee-Lo has been threatening to deliver a strange soul classic for years – and he brings it with Gnarls Barkley. The sound runs from stuttering synth funk, to bubbling hip hop soul, to funky modern pop in a way that equals any other genre blending cats out there – and probably betters them! Tracks include "Go Go Gadget Gospel", "Crazy", "St. Elsewhere", "Gone Daddy Gone" (Yup, THAT "Gone Daddy Gone"), "Smiley Faces", "The Boogie Monster", "Feng Shui", "Just A Thought", "Transformer", "Who Cares?", "Online", "Necromancer", "Storm Coming" and "The Last Time". CD

A round two knockout for Gnarls Barkley – an album we think is better than the landmark St Elsewhere LP – boisterous pop art & soul from Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo! We were slightly trepid when the Odd Couple was announced, fearing a hasty attempt to rekindle the magic that clearly caught everyone by surprise a couple years ago, but that worry is squashed. This is a near masterpiece, kids! Incredibly deep and impressively spun from obscure sound library records, Italian soundtracks, and all kinds of moddish samples by Danger Mouse – with warmly scratchy vocals by Cee-Lo that are as fresh as anything he's ever done. Again, he's laughing in the face of darkness and depression, and somehow making a party out of it! You won't find another mainstream success story this year that's so fun and charming on a superficial level – while truthfully dark and troubled if you focus some on the lyrics. Hype be damned, this one's amazing! Tracks include "Charity Case", "Who's Gonna Save My Soul", "Going On", "Run (I'm A Natural Disaster)", "Would Be Killer", "Open Book", "Whatever", "Surprise", "No Time Soon", "She Knows", "Blind Mary", "Neighbors", "A Little Better". CD

Music from Tweedy, Coldplay, The Hives, Cat Power, The Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, Vampire Weekend, Wilco, Leighton Meester, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney & Wings, The Black Keys, and more. CD