there was a time my dedication to the gorillaz cause would have gone unquestioned, but at the start of 2010 i began to feel as if the project may have run out of steam.
how wrong was i.
the new plastic beach album may not have the start studded production finesse as previous releases (the album has been produced by long term collaborator damon albarn), but murdoc and the gang have put together a gorgeous little album featuring all manner of guest spots from all corners of the world such as mos def, bobby womack, lou reed, and the northern ranter, mark e smith.
oh, and half of the clash : mick jones, and paul simonon turn up to provide guitar and bass on the albums title track.
normally such a variety in vocals would be somewhat off-putting, yet with gorillaz this widespread magpie approach works, with each guest slotting into the role playing shenanigans perfectly.
the music throughout has a lovely consistent melody rich vibe despite the all important genre hopping (thankfully there is no 2 minute punked up track to appease fans of damons other band).
the drum loops are more subtle, old school synths do their midi’d up thing adding a shiny new pop texture to the proceedings, and the addition of orchestras provides a beautiful sounding backdrop to the conceptual pop.
of course, others around the wire have laid down mostly positive long diatribes about this album, but sweeping all the over analysis aside, all i can say is that this is a great great album, and one that i suspect i am going to be addicted to within a few days.
more detail : here