Album Review: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

To preface this review, I remember many, many years ago sitting around with some of my friends one summer, when a new music video came on MTV. It was a bunch of cartoon characters dancing around in a graveyard, to some odd, but very catch beats. The song was the first Gorillaz single, Clint Eastwood. A formidable name for a formidable song. This would be my introduction to Del tha Funky Homosapien as rapper, and I definitely appreciate the underground influence that he brought to the table at the time. This was back when I was a little kid, so my only way of finding new music was MTV music videos or singles played on the radio. I eventually got the album that went along with the single, and it contained some of the weirdest/coolest beats that I had ever heard. Needless to say the song Clint Eastwood is still stuck in my head to this day, as it is a very infectious song. So, that would be my introduction to Gorillaz, and I have always sought out their albums ever since. Plastic Beach, the most recent album from Gorillaz, is an interesting release. Within the music community, I would have to assume most people pigeon-hole Gorillaz as "pop" music. I will be the first to admit that I cannot stand pop music. I don't listen to the radio, and I hate 98% of the music I hear in bars/public domains where a well advertised song will raise your revenue stream. But, I digress. So, this newest album from Gorillaz has beats that could make people bounce their heads, stomp their feet, its marketable through music videos, etc. Its poppish. HOWEVER, it is an album that is put too well assembled to be considered pop music. One example of this is the great collection of collaborating artists. To list just a few of the collaborators on the album: Snoop Dogg (poppish these days), Kano, The Lebanese National Orchestra (awesome), Mos Def, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Mark E. Smith (probably my favorite decisions made on this album), Lou Reed(!), Bobby Womack, Mick Jones, Paul Simon, etc. Some of those names alone would indicate that this is much more than a pop album. I really like the overall cohesiveness of this album, and it also expands well on the previous Gorillaz albums, specifically their last release, Demon Days. This seems to be an obvious transition and expansions from previous musical ventures by Gorillaz as well. If for no other reason, you should give this album a listen simply to hear how they utilize all of the different collaborators. You will be appreciative if you are familiar with the collaborators work. I've got this album loaded up in my car for the summer, and I don't foresee it collecting dust any time soon. Check out the new video for the song Stylo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs
(sorry, no embedding allowed)

	Gorillaz - Some Kind of Nature (feat. Lou Reed)
	Found at skreemr.org