Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Artist: Gorillaz

Album: Plastic Beach

Release: 2010

“Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach”

I loved Gorillaz. They were the first band I got “into”. Their self titled 2001 debut was the first album I ever bought. It was a brilliant idea. A real life cartoon band lead by a Satanist for a bassist, a possessed hip-hop historian as a drummer, a ten year old Chinese girl as a guitarist, and a blue haired pretty-boy with no eyes as lead singer. These oddballs were the center of my pre-teen life. Then they disappeared off the map, and I forgot about them. Then in 2005, the band returned with Demon Days and so did my interest. And now, five years later, Gorillaz give us their final (?) release Plastic Beach and I’m not sure about it. I used to be really into Hip-Hop and rap. Even though I’ve moved onto better things I still find both of their previous records to be a refreshing change of pace. But maybe it’s been too long… I can’t seem to wrap my head around this eccentric little record. This really isn’t a new Gorillaz record but rather a Gorillaz fronted collaboration album. There’s soooooooooo many people on this record that the actual band get lost in the mix. It doesn’t have the easy-listenable aesthetic the first album had and it doesn’t have the apocalyptic soundtrack feel to it that Demon Days had. I found that throughout all three of the bands releases, the tracks where singer 2-D croons into the mike are my favorites, but those are few and far between on Plastic Beach. I’m not saying that the guests tracks aren’t interesting – it’s actually quite the contrary. I think Mos Def’s contributions to this record are some of the most enjoyable hip-hop I’ve ever heard. Also, Snoop Dogg’s track is a beautiful hybrid of 70’s synth and old school rap. But the biggest surprise on Plastic Beach is inclusion of unknown gem by the name of Little Dragon. The vocalist provides a nice calming change to the rest of the albums over-produced, lets-hit-every-button-on-the-sound-board style of rap. I get the feeling this is a really deep album. I would love to get to the core of this record some day but the music is just so thick that the overall message doesn’t ring as loud as it should be. But overall, the impression Plastic Beach gives me is this – this is a pop record with pop sensibilities. While this is a concept album deserving of a full listen to understand and let the music sink in, that’s just not going to happen. It will be promoted like any other run-of-the-mill forgettable record and all the overexposure will ultimately hurt and taint the album as a whole. But what really bothers me is there’s a chance that the videos from this album have a possibility to be aired before or after MTV’s newest artist-of-the-moment. As a result I fear that Plastic Beach will be completely forgotten like all the other cannon fodder MTV airs. But I do have hope… Maybe one day Plastic Beach will speak to me the same way Gorillaz other releases do. But until then I’m content with what could be Gorillaz last release. Maybe I’m too old for cartoons…

(I have a feeling that I will feel completely different about this record in a year’s time. Setting alarm clock… NOW)