Gorillaz
Plastic Beach

How did I manage to listen to "Plastic Beach" before the 8th of March? I went to the Guardian's website and listened to the album over and over to fully understand the new release of the Gorillaz. And also to publish the review before the release date and feel cool.

2010:

The Gorillaz have moved to a plastic island located in the Pacific and released a green concept album against pre-packaged music. The beach is made of plastic, and the album is also covered in plastic, a thin layer of cellophane that thins the more you listen to the album. Yes, because the first impression you get from the new endeavor of our virtual heroes is that of 'a CD with all identical songs'. "Plastic Beach" is a terrible album with cold and harsh synths scattered randomly, songs without any head or tail, and frenzied rappers popping out of orchestral pieces. You listen to them all and end up feeling sadder than ever. So, you try to listen to it a second time, then a third, a fourth. By the fifth listen, you already find some tracks that you like, that engage you, that amuse you. So you might listen only to that track but, by letting the album play on, you realize you also like the following one. And so maybe it turns out to be an album you like. Or maybe not.

"Plastic Beach" is definitely a fragmented album, difficult to listen to, lacking any truly standout songs. You could say that the single "Stylo" is very cold, like an ice cream from the '80s. That "Superfast Jellyfish" is amusing but not incisive because it's perfectly idiotic. But when you find yourself singing ''Overload, Overload'', you understand that anyway, they are designed to stick in your head. Yes, because for better or for worse, the Gorillaz are a commercial group, carefully crafted in the mixing phase but with substance, in this album, that's debatable. One cannot say they lack style, though. Actually, Stylo. But I'll skip that cheesy joke to describe my opinions on the album a little more faithfully.

After the impressive intro, there's a tough barrier, "Welcome To The Plastic Beach" / "White Flag", which, by abruptly alternating classical parts (including the Syrian orchestra!) with rapped parts, are, in my opinion, the most challenging part of the album. Then "White Flag" is very liked by many. I might need to listen to it again, perhaps. With "Rhinestone Eyes", we might return to the traditional stylistic lines of the Gorillaz, with a song, perhaps a bit predictable, but really pleasant with Albarn rapping like a more indifferent Robbie Williams than ever. "Glitter Freeze" is also nice with that crazy synthesizer solo that makes everyone dance. The collaboration with Lou Reed is amusing in the "Some Kind Of Nature" which starts cabaret-like and fades into an ethereal chorus, as well as the title track "Plastic Beach" with 'half' of the Clash.

The others are enjoyable to listen to ("Broken", "On Melancholy Hill"...) and even the playful ending of the album ("Pirate Jet") is noteworthy. So is it worth buying this Gorillaz album or not? Who knows. This album probably won't be the quintessential ALBUM of the cartoon group, but a pleasant (not all tracks can be described this way) episode. Currently, in terms of music, they are in a state of limbo, where more attention is given to collaborations (Snoop Dogg, Little Dragon, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, DeLa Soul, and others - besides those already mentioned -) than to a search for personalization of the cartoon characters.

This means that the Gorillaz are, at this moment, more of an Albarn collaboration project, with traces of Blur and the omnipresent '80s, rather than a real virtual band. However, it’s still too early to tell: as always, in this concept album, the music videos will be very important. The first one shows a car chase between 2D, Murdoc, and android Noodle against a ruthless Bruce Willis. But the chase has an open ending. We will see.