Cee-Lo Green - "Fuck You" Video

Cee-Lo Green brings it on this in-you-face retro soul jam. The message here is unambiguous and the beat is booty shaking. You'll be singing your own version by the end of the day, supplemented by personal failed-love dramatics and punctuated with those addicting "ooo ooo oooo"s. Apparently, a "real" video is supposed to be unveiled sometime in the near future for this track, but I kind of like the artistic karaoke version. Just think of that special person in your life and crank this one up... I guarantee you'll fell better instantaneously.

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It (2008)

Do you love Motown? Because if you do, you need to pick up this album. Raphael Saadiq's traded in the processed 90's R&B of Tony! Toni! Toné! ("If I Had No Loot" is pretty rad) for straight up 60's and 70's Detroit soul. His smooth and silky voice is a perfect fit. The romantic and tender songs are mostly backed by group harmonies, lushes strings and and lots of clapping and tambourine. All but one song sounds like a B-side off a Temptations/Smokey Robinson/Four Tops album. And then there is Jay-Z. Really. It sounds totally out of place only because the rest of the album sounds 40 years old. It's as if a classic soul album sampled a rapper for a change. Preferring gritty southern soul to it's smoother more refined northern counterpart, I like the more upbeat numbers best ("Big Easy" and "Staying In Love"), but the whole album is really good, definitely worth a spin for the retro soul fan.

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple (2008)

If you need something to get the heads a noddin' and the toes a tappin' Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse can usually deliver. The key word in that sentence: usually. Gnarls Barkley swaggered into the mix dressed in Star Wars attire two years ago with the addictive, widely appreciated hit "Crazy" (See The Raconteurs, The Flaming Lips, Of Montreal, Nelly Furtado live covers), but up-tempo, dance inducing soul-hop seems to be the exception not the rule. The Odd Couple offers a number of easy to swallow party/lounge/groove tracks, altogether upbeat and catchy; however, some of the mixes are entirely uninteresting—albeit creatively produced. I found it far too easy to skip through nearly half of this album, while settling on the songs that either snagged me with an ass-shaking dance beat, throwback Cee-Lo soul tribute, or a Danger Mouse unique production hook. With most of the songs staying around the three minute mark, the album could have benefited from extending the bankable tracks and removing the doldrums altogether. Ultimately, there are 8 keepers on The Odd Couple, while the 5 others remain subject to interpretation.

Dance to "Run" & “Going On,” groove to “Charity Case,” and lounge to “Who's Gonna Save My Soul”