wordplay: Orangepeelmoses.com
image: Jeremy & Claire Weiss

            Piracy put Danger Mouse on the map.  Before the Gnarls Barkley producer illegally released his Beatles / Jay-Z mash-up The Grey Album, he was practically a nobody.  A gazillion downloads later, he was one of the most talked about and consequently controversial knob twiddlers in the business.  Capitol, owner of The Beatles’ copyrights, threatened his @$$ with legal ramifications.  Mouse backed down, ceasing distribution of Grey, but its dissemination couldn’t be stopped (thanks largely to DownhillBattle.org and their “Grey Tuesday” civil disobedience campaign).  The tables have turned.  His second record with Gnarls partner-in-crime Cee-Lo Green was recently leaked on-line prior to its originally scheduled street date, forcing the label to frantically rush-release it.  Pirates are apparently invincible, whether on the silver screen or in cyberspace.  Then again, so is Gnarls Barkley. 

            Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse are soul brothers, in more than one sense.  Not only are they both ginormous fans of old soul, they get along famously.  Whereas some lifelong band mates can’t stand being in the same room with each other (only sporadically reuniting for a massive paycheck) Cee and Danger are practically attached at the hip.  Mouse is hands down one of the most in demand producers on the planet.  Beck, The Gorillaz and Ike Turner are a handful of the most namedrop-worthy credits on his resume.  Yet, somehow, he still finds time to accompany his Goodie Mobster sidekick at nearly every single live performance.  Then again, “Crazy” isn’t the only stratospheric hit in Cee-Lo’s bag of tricks either.  The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha” was originally penned by the “Boogie Monster” as well.  Girl groups the world over are probably banging down his door for another single of that caliber, but Gnarls’ Odd Couple garb seems a bigger priority.  The pair have been immortalized wearing everything from Clockwork Orange to Fear & Loathing to Napoleon Dynamite attire.  Their Star Wars wardrobe at the MTV Movie Awards was especially memorable.  

                Constant costume changes aren’t the only thing that sets Gnarls apart from the competition by far.  Innovative video directors gravitate in their direction.  The ink blot-inspired clip for “Crazy” was not only highly original, but the concept perfectly complemented the song’s lyrical content, as Rorschach Tests have long been a common tool for shrinks longing to evaluate patient sanity.  “Gone Daddy Gone,” although not as inseparable from its message, happens to be a personal favorite of mine due to my longtime fascination with bugs.  In it, Cee-Lo’s and Danger’s faces are wedded to the heads of vibrantly-colored, microscopic insect images, which are then animated to play instruments and fantasize about scoring with their Raid-wielding housewife assassin.  When was the last time you saw a bestiality fantasy portrayed from the perspective of a beetle?  Bueller?  Even Justin Timberlake jumped on the Barkley bandwagon for their most recent “Run.”

            Go go Gadget gospel.                      

June 28^th @ Coors Field (Central Parking Lot A)

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GnarlsBarkley.com