Gorillaz – ‘Plastic Beach’ [25/10/10]

I thought it was time for something a bit different on the site for the half term so I decided to diversify from just books and Jake was more than happy to write me a review for the new Gorillaz album "Plastic Beach". I was of course sceptical but actually I was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn't need any censoring!

So after a five-year hiatus, the animated sensation known as ‘Gorillaz’, are back with their third studio album.

‘Plastic Beach’ fuses electro with rap, rock with pop, and pretty much sounds like a synthesizer has been left in a blender along with Damon Albarn’s voice box. Yes, 2D and crew return for another carnival of an outing with many more guests, a couple of plagiarism lawsuits and a diverse selection of instruments nobody has ever heard of before. Prepare your eardrums for musical springs, harmonic keyboards, and riffs catchier than head lice in the summer.

The entire album remains consistent, starting with a beautiful orchestral introduction, which fades into a couple of rap songs. From there, electronic trance music captivates you, and then swiftly and subtly flickers into a few peacefully soft songs. Finally, ‘Gorillaz’ blast out some powerful duets before settling down for a slinky-go-piano style finale. If you are looking at the album as a whole, it is quite hard to fault. However, if you pick it to pieces, you will begin to wonder why songs like ‘Cloud of Unknowing’ even bother existing.

You can tell that a lot of effort has gone into mixing and ordering the songs, and fans are still screaming out their lungs to hits like ‘Stylo’ and ‘Pirate Jet’. At the time of writing, ‘On Melancholy Hill’ has been released for a fortnight, yet already worldwide supporters are kissing Jamie Hewlett’s feet for the next animated indent. Considering I’m one of ‘Gorillaz’ main stalkers, it’s quite hard to work out where the album let them down! All I know for sure is that I’m glad I bought the ‘Experience’ edition.

Below Average Songs:

‘Cloud of Unknowing’, ‘Broken’, ‘Sweepstakes’.

Average Songs:

‘Orchestral Intro’, ‘Superfast Jellyfish’, ‘Pirate Jet’.

Above Average Songs:

‘Rhinestone Eyes’, ‘Stylo’, ‘Glitter Freeze’.

Buy This CD Here