Album review: Gorillaz, 'Plastic Beach'
3 stars (out of 4)
Former Blur singer Damon Albarn once again acts as ringleader of the world party known as Gorillaz. With its cartoon visuals and eclectic guest list, Gorillaz provides Albarn with a level of anonymity and freedom to indulge his wide-screen taste, everything from collage-like soundtrack music to hip-hop. Gorillaz’s music took a dark turn on its second album, the 2005 release “Demon Days,” and that anxiety hovers over “Plastic Beach” (Virgin), replete with imagery of a world suffocating on its own excess. Albarn is producer this time, and his touch is less pop-centric than his predecessors – first-album producer Dan the Automator and “Demon Days” overseer Danger Mouse. The result is an album that is slightly less immediate – the instant appeal of a hit such as “Clint Eastwood” or “Feel Good Inc.” is lacking.
Bobby Womack’s strident vocal on “Stylo” is a rare burst of exuberance, but much of the rest exudes a chilled charm. Albarn’s great talent is in bringing together seemingly mismatched elements from different cultures, genres and generations and creating something wonderful, never more so than on “Superfast Jellyfish,” which pairs the trippy give-and-take of De La Soul with the dreamy uplift of Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys. The Lebanese National Orchestra provides a percolating foundation for U.K. grime MCs Kano and Bashy on “White Flag,” and a deadpan Lou Reed sounds right at home in Albarn’s alien dreamscape on “Some Kind of Nature.” Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble looms large in collaborations with Snoop Dogg and most especially Mos Def (the escalating “Sweepstakes”). And then there’s Albarn himself, a master of lost-in-space melancholy on “Broken.” Call it a postmodern eco-elegy, a kaleidoscope of voices and sounds from a dying planet.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's Gorillaz Store
Former Blur singer Damon Albarn once again acts as ringleader of the world party known as Gorillaz. With its cartoon visuals and eclectic guest list, Gorillaz provides Albarn with a level of anonymity and freedom to indulge his wide-screen taste, everything from collage-like soundtrack music to hip-hop. Gorillaz’s music took a dark turn on its second album, the 2005 release “Demon Days,” and that anxiety hovers over “Plastic Beach” (Virgin), replete with imagery of a world suffocating on its own excess. Albarn is producer this time, and his touch is less pop-centric than his predecessors – first-album producer Dan the Automator and “Demon Days” overseer Danger Mouse. The result is an album that is slightly less immediate – the instant appeal of a hit such as “Clint Eastwood” or “Feel Good Inc.” is lacking.
Bobby Womack’s strident vocal on “Stylo” is a rare burst of exuberance, but much of the rest exudes a chilled charm. Albarn’s great talent is in bringing together seemingly mismatched elements from different cultures, genres and generations and creating something wonderful, never more so than on “Superfast Jellyfish,” which pairs the trippy give-and-take of De La Soul with the dreamy uplift of Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys. The Lebanese National Orchestra provides a percolating foundation for U.K. grime MCs Kano and Bashy on “White Flag,” and a deadpan Lou Reed sounds right at home in Albarn’s alien dreamscape on “Some Kind of Nature.” Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble looms large in collaborations with Snoop Dogg and most especially Mos Def (the escalating “Sweepstakes”). And then there’s Albarn himself, a master of lost-in-space melancholy on “Broken.” Call it a postmodern eco-elegy, a kaleidoscope of voices and sounds from a dying planet.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's Gorillaz Store