CD reviews: Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

The continued success of Gorillaz is a little confusing, not just in terms of album sales, but rather because a supergroup entirely comprising cartoon monkeys isn’t artistically bankrupt.

For those few iconoclasts who didn’t have ‘Feel Good Inc’ as your ringtone for the duration of 2005, Gorillaz is a loose collaboration headed by Blur front man Damon Albarn and comic creator Jamie Hewlett. Apart from being purposely two-dimensional, Gorillaz are distinct by being capable of writing pop music that sells millions of copies but doesn’t make you want hurt people.

Like its predecessors, Plastic Beach has an almost unmatched list of collaborators: Snoop opens, Little Dragon proves a reliable foil, Bobby Womack is surprising and there’s even a Lou Reed (!) song. Some of these collaborations work better than other – Mos Def seems to have more fun than most guests, demonstrating his ability to drive a song using only his voice as lyric and percussion simultaneously. ‘Stylo’, the album’s first single, is proof of his mad skill(z), and provides Plastic Beach‘s only real hit.

While the first two albums mobilised genuine hip-hop cred by putting Dan the Automator and DJ Danger Mouse behind the desk, Albarn decided to do this one himself. The result will be familiar to anyone who’s heard late-era Blur: Plastic Beach has a world-weary, melancholy torpor that’s unusual for an album about cartoon gorillas.

Although this aesthetic provides some of the album’s best moments, it’s hard not to miss the cheeky vim of songs like ‘Dirty Harry’ or ‘Dare’, pop songs that weren’t afraid to be pop songs. Regardless, Plastic Beach is definitely worth more than a couple of spins. TG

Music: 3.5

Sound: 4