Remember 9 years ago when the virtual band Gorillaz turned the music industry on it's head when it released its self-titled debut record, featuring the smash hit, "Clint Eastwood?" Yeah, it was a pretty unique and interesting concept, and the music was so genre-bending that it became universally accepted across multiple music scenes. Damon Albam took a big chance putting the musical reputation that he'd built after putting in more than a decade of solid musicianship as the frontman of Britpop band "Blur." Luckily for Damon, his collaborations across genres paid dividends as the record successfully blended alternative rock, hip-hop,and Britpop. Gorillaz seemingly fell off the grid for a couple of year until triumphantly returning to the airwaves in support of their new album, "Demon Days." Remember that track, "Feel Good Inc.?" That song not only dominated the playlist of just about every radio station, but it's music video momentarily revived the art form during the waning years of music videos on television. Now, Gorillaz have emerged once again with a third studio LP entitled, "Plastic Beach." Thanks to NPR Music (www.npr.org/music), I'm able to review this record an entire week before its release, which makes me feel like I'm back at the college radio station all over again.The album opens with a basic, and a bit somber, instrumental piece, like something that you would expect the scenery at the beginning of a darker Disney movie, and then suddenly transitions to electronics as the unmistakably smooth voice of Snoop Dogg leads in the second track, "The World of the Plastic Beach." While it did excite me that Albam was able to cash in some street cred to get Snoop Dogg on the track, I was soon disappointed to discover that Snoop really phoned it in. His rhymes are week, and eventually the legendary hip-hop artist is basically reduced to the role of a hype man, not unlike Flavor Flav or Lil' Jon. While Snoop Dogg doesn't shine, the track itself is actually well composed and layered, almost a waste on such a poor vocal track.
This pattern of disappointment would continue throughout the next several tracks. While the composition and mixing of the tracks often stood out and got my head bopping, the lyrical content and vocal delivery continued to present itself as stale, and on some tracks, such as "White Flag" those sub-par elements drowned out the unique instrumentals. On the converse, in the few instances that the lyrical tracks are strong, such as on "Rhinestone Eyes," the instrumental tracks are basic, less layered, and less satisfying. That being said, this is probably the best track on the album next to "Melancholy Hill."
Now, that's not to say
these instrumental tracks are groundbreaking, because they're not. They would have been immaculate based on the standards of the early Aughts, but by today's standards, they're faces in the crowd. Albam broke new ground early last decade, but the achievements of that risk have brought on an onslaught of artists and groups that sought to duplicate and perfect the sound that Gorillaz had laid the ground-work for. Some of those artists, such as Ratatat, MGMT, LCD Soundsystem, and Santogold effectively pushed the boundaries of the electro-pop genre. What Albam needed to do on this record is continue to push those boundaries to stay ahead of the pack, but it becomes evident by the 6th or 7th track that this task is far from accomplished.The funk really doesn't kick in until the middle of the record, only to be interrupted by at atmospheric tracks such as "Empire Ants." This album just doesn't flow! I know that the beauty of this virtual band is that they have the musical know-how to appeal to a vast array of listeners, but it almost comes across as if they know that, and they designed the album to showcase those techniques in some kind arbitrary order, sacrificing the fluency of the album. It's almost like Albam and the produces sat down and said, "O.K, we'll start with the hip-hop track, then we'll hit em with the technical instrumentals, then the stoner atmospheric track, then we'll brong the funk."
"Melancholy Hill" provides a glimmer of hope with it's smooth vocals and catchy synth, but the track just doesn't end up amounting to anything but background noise. While it's probably the strongest track on the album in terms of finding a balance between strong vocals and worthwhile instrumentals, it's not going to be played on repeat on your iPod.
The album doesn't play through well, and if it has a couple of stand-out tracks like, "Feel Good Inc." or "D.A.R.E" did on Demon Days, then this might be able to be overlooked. Instead, it's mediocre track after mediocre track. This album is simply forgettable. If you're a die-hard Gorillaz fan, there is probably nothing I can say to convince you that this is a sub-par effort. However, if you're a casual listener and your looking for a track or two to duplicate the pop bliss of "Clint Eastwood" and "Feel Good Inc," you won't find it here.
4.6 out of 10
