The Raconteurs Release Consolers of the Lonely Tracklist (Plus Gnarls Barkley's New Album Available Now!)

Download: Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"
Download: The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes"


Gnarls Barkley and The Raconteurs may not have much in common musically, unless you were either pleased or disappointed with their respective debut albums (although, the Racounteurs did cover Cee Lo and Danger Mouse's smash hit at the 2006 Lollapalooza - video of which you can watch at the top of the post). Business-wise, however, both groups are embracing the Radiohead/Stars/Nine Inch Nails/Atmosphere/Anyone-Who's-Using-That-Thing-Three-Feet-Above-Their-Ass model of releasing new music, which is to release your work directly to your fans with little in the way of the traditional hype express build-up. Both groups have announced in the past few days that the physical copies their highly-anticipated follow-ups to their debuts (Consolers of the Lonely and The Odd Couple) will be available in six days--March 25th, 2008.

From the mouths of side projects:

The Raconteurs are happy to announce that in one week's time their second album, entitled Consolers of the Lonely, will be available EVERYWHERE Tuesday, March 25th.

"'Album' meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and 'everywhere' meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band's own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn't move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can)...With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important 'first week sales'. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by its first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it.

In additional Consolers news, Pitchfork announced earlier this afternoon the tracklisting to the album. Here it be:

Consolers of the Lonely:

01 Consoler of the Lonely
02 Salute Your Solution
03 You Don't Understand Me
04 Old Enough
05 The Switch and the Spur
06 Hold Up
07 Top Yourself
08 Many Shades of Black
09 Five on the Five
10 Attention
11 Pull This Blanket Off
12 Rich Kid Blues
13 These Stones Will Shout
14 Carolina Drama

But all of this is not to make Gnarls Barkley look like slouches. Indeed, while The Odd Couple was originally set to be released on April 8th, the duo decided to move the date up to...right now!

From The Mouths Of Side Projects, part two: "With the shifting seasons, furtive romantic entanglements and fierce college basketball rivalries, the latter half of March can be confusing. People need to be soothed and inspired now." (via Pitchfork

The Odd Couple can be purchased at iTunes right now.

So who will do better in the race to embrace new media? Only time, and album sales, can tell.

The Raconteurs MySpace Page
Gnarls Barkley MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)