They're back - Plastic Beach

Recently I caught word that Gorillaz had produced a new studio album called Plastic Beach. This is one of the most exciting things to happen to me in the year 2010 as I have been a fan of Gorillaz since 2001 when they first released their self titled  album. I have always revered them as a genuinely diverse and post modern (whatever post modern is) "group of musicians" who refuse to adopt a style known by the rest of the music industry, and while maintaining a decent fan base, never quite giving in or conforming to societal pop norms.

Gorillaz creator Damon Albarn has a keen sense of connecting various artists of all genres and making something wonderful out of a heavily eccentric assortment of styles and sounds. While Albarn is the only actual contributor and fixed "band member" of Gorillaz, Jamie Hewlett works with him and does the artwork which creates the fictional, animated characters that are the bands' image.

Fictional Gorillaz Members

Plastic Beach presents itself with serene ambient beach noises overlaid by a small selective orchestra and leads into a very intricately planned, brass infused synth hip-hop beat with Snoop Dogg. As is typical, they also incorporate some hip-hop artists from the UK (which I quite despise) and successfully estrange me from their album for a moment, but always bring me back with something catchy to follow. The majority of the album is complemented by well known artists and an undulating wave of energy to push and pull you around the room, emotionally speaking that is. Full of strings, brass, keys and electronic versions of all of these, the album really has a strangely gritty yet smooth feel to it, and I find that you can find different appeal in each song depending on when and where you are listening to it.

Ultimately, I seriously enjoyed the album, and look forward to some possible B-side remixes that might arise. I caught wind of the album by randomly running into one of their songs on Hype Machine - a constantly refreshing and updating site where you can stream music from peoples' blogs about music. I suggest you check that site out, and give Plastic Beach a good listen.

Tstreb out.