One of my co-workers lived in Australia for awhile. A couple weeks ago, she was listening to an Australian radio station online. It was playing a really killer mix of music, mostly indie rock, but also a lot of great indie hip-hop. A song came on that I’d never heard, but I recognized something instantly familiar: Cee-Lo Green’s voice.

I wrote about my love for Cee-Lo back in the summer (which you can read here), but one thing I forgot to mention about him that I love is the fact that his voice is so unmistakable. I’d like to say that this isn’t so rare in the music industry, but let’s face it: someone comes out with a unique voice, and within the next year there are at least a couple of copycats. The best recent example of this is Fiona Apple and Regina Spektor. There is now somewhat of a bevy among female singer-songwriters who have very familiar vocal stylings. Though there have to be are others, the only person I can think of whose voice and style I can recognize instantly is Huey Lewis — and I’m sure he was immitated plenty and I’m just not aware of it.

Mayday: “Groundhog Day (Feat. Cee-Lo Green and DJ Craze)” (download)

Once again, Cee-Lo leaves a significant imprint on a song that he only has a small part in. He’s really just here for the chorus. But, something tells me it would move from being catchy to a little annoying if he weren’t there. Of course, I could be a little biased, so maybe that’s just me. Oh, and see if you notice the “Office Space” reference about half-way through. It should be pretty easy.

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Coming soon: a review of Menomena’s Friend and Foe, and a mini-celebration of one year of T-Sides!