GORILLAZ – PLASTIC BEACH

Plastic Beach is the third album from Gorillaz, the duo of Ex Blur front man Damon Albarn and creative artist Jamie Hewlett.

At 16 tracks in length, it is the longest album to date, but that doesn’t mean there is any filler, quite the opposite every track has something to offer.

What first stands out is the sheer number of guest vocalists on the album ranging from soul star Bobby Womack, Fall front man Mark E Smith, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Kano, Super Furry animals Gruff Rhys, ex clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon and new band Little Dragon.

You may think with these many guest stars, the album would be full of ego whereas in reality thanks to the production mainly by Damon himself, each artist is allowed room to make the tracks their own.

The album begins with an orchestral intro which eases you into album. Which is followed by Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach featuring Snoop Dogg on vocals. The first highlight is Rhinestone Eyes, one of the few tracks without a guest vocalist. Beginning with a simple synth line and squelchy electro beeps, the track then turns into a simple pop song with lyrics referencing gargoyles in towers, factories and nature, the song really comes alive with the chorus where it become a full out electro stomper.

Up next is the single Stylo, again it begins with a synth line and features Mos Def on the verses and Bobby Womack attacks the chorus like his best loved soul songs.

Superfast Jellyfish is next and begins with a ringing alarm clock, then a laid back rap referencing breakfast cereals. Gruff Rhys takes over vocal duties on the chorus and changes the song into what could be a Super Furry animals album track.

Empire Ants follows this and has Little Dragon on vocals. The track is very laid back and sounds like nothing else on the album, Damon’s vocals sounding like “13” era Blur, a sparse track which loses nothing for its simple production. At around 2 minutes 30, the track comes alive with electro drums and beeps with Yukimi Nagano’s vocals sexily sweet and definitely a highlight.

Some kind of nature follows and guest stars Lou Reed singing in his famous tones and Damon providing backing vocals, another laid back track.

On Melancholy Hill the 3^rd single taken from the album begins with ghostly “Ohs” and Damon singing about “You being his medicine,” another slow burner of a track.

Plastic beach featuring the ex Clash men and almost whispered vocals from Damon and childlike electric vocals talking about “Casio on video”

The album closes with Pirate Jet beginning with a chant of “Pirate Jet, Pirate Jet” before stabs of Dark synths and keyboard beeps make of a mix of this album’s two types of songs, the all out Electro stompers and the laid back slow burners.

This album reached number 2 in both the UK and US and it’s not hard to see why. Not featuring any in your face and grab you by the neck singles like Clint Eastwood Feel Good Inc. or Dare. There is still plenty to be enjoyed and I recommend this album to fans of Gorillaz and fans of good strong electro pop albums.

Overall I would give it 9/10.

Similar Articles and Artists

Radiohead — The King Of Limbs — Album Review
Congratulations MGMT _ Album Review

Related articles by Zemanta

• Plastic Beach by Gorillaz | CD review (guardian​.co​.uk)
• LISTEN: New Gorillaz Song with De La Soul (spin​.com)
• Gorillaz Bassist Previews New Tracks for Radio (beatcrave​.com)
• Gorillaz in our midst! (guardian​.co​.uk)
• LISTEN: Gorillaz Track with Mos Def (spin​.com)

Short URL: http://newbeatsmedia.com/?p=1887

Writen by Jay Creek

Posted on Mon 12th April 2010 and filed under Albums, Reviews.

Do not forget to subscribe to our RSS feed for updates