Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
Gorillaz in 2010 are a much different beast compared to the cartoons we knew in 2005. They’ve somehow managed to get even better at making pop music. Yup, a record even better than the outstanding Demon Days. Plastic Beach is a more complex and multi-layered LP than Demon Days with many guest appearances and emotions and styles. This means it might take a few more listens to ‘get’ than the predecessor, but it’s worth it.
Proceedings start properly (after a brief orchestral intro) with Snoop Dogg on ‘Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach’. It’s a song that not only serves as a solid introduction to the album but also provides us with Snoop’s best contribution to music in years; finally putting his recognisable vocals against a musical backdrop that is far removed from his previous, and more dull, work. Gorillaz have turned him into a musician you want to listen to. That’s the effect that a cartoon band can have, and this is only the second of sixteen tracks.
Once that teaser is over and done with, the next fifty minutes or so are filled with electropop that takes influences from several other genres and features cameo from a plethora of diverse musicians like Bobby Womack (Stylo, Cloud Of Unknowing) and Mark E. Smith (Glitter Freeze) that somehow, much to the credit of Damon Albarn, all fits into place. One of the more melancholic and downright gorgeous moments is starry-eyed Empire Ants, which sees Albarn and Swedish singer Little Dragon combine to create something truly pulsating. It is a musically rich and textured song that contains a fantastic bubbling synth build around two minutes in. It’s one of those ‘hairs on end’ moments that reminds you why music is a good thing.
Another track that stands out above the rest is Some Kind Of Nature, assisted by the distinct tones of Lou Reed, that sums up the theme of the album in a tantalisingly soulful three-and-a-half minutes. His delivery of lyrics are of a man who is weary and resigned due to the economic mess we find ourselves in and, instead of doing something about the mess, chooses instead to shrug and maybe even poke fun at it. There’s a similar notion to the closer, Pirate Jet, which is dark and twisted yet at the same time amusing and uplifting. As I said earlier, it’s a record with many different faces.
Plastic Beach, unlike many pop albums of the last few years, has a clear direction and structure that will earn many repeated listens. For a record to be mix up several genres, several singers/rappers and still feel like a complete body of work with no filler or excess is not just merely a great album but also a staggering achievement.
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Posted on March 16th, 2010 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Reviews
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