Gorillaz have always mixed genres in a way no real band can. With Damon Albarn hiding behind Jaime Hewlett’s creations, he was able to recruit a vast array of performers to perfect his albums. In their self-titled album, it was with Tina Weymouth and Del tha Funkee Homosapien. In Demon Days, it expanded to De La Soul, Ike Turner, Shaun Ryder, and Dennis Hopper. It doesn’t stop withPlastic Beach, which is Gorillaz’s (and possibly Damon Albarn’s) best album to date.
After a short instrumental intro, we’re greeted by Snoop Dogg on “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach.” Snoop’s delivery, like always, is smooth and controlled, and flows effortlessly from verse to verse. The beat is classic Gorillaz, which means you’ll be head-bopping throughout the track. “Rhinestone Eyes,” one of the few tracks with no guest appearances, mixes Plastic Beach’s theme of environmental destruction with romanticism. Damon Albarn’s voice aches when he sings “your love’s like rhinestones falling from the sky” and that “nature is corrupted in factories far away.” The third single off the album, “On Melancholy Hill,” is the poppiest song on the album and is a perfect fit for the background music in a Legends of Zelda game.
“Rhinestone Eyes”
The two best songs on Plastic Beach are “Stylo” and “Some Kind of Nature.” The former features Mos Def and the incredible Bobby Womack, who apparently made up his lyrics on the spot. And if you haven’t seen the video for this song yet, you really should. On “Some Kind of Nature,” cowritten by Lou Reed, Damon Albarn and Reed’s vocals are perfect compliments to one another. And lyrics like “some kind of plastic I could wrap around you” can easily fit into The Velvet Underground’s classic “Venus in Furs.”
“Some Kind of Nature”
The album isn’t perfect, though: “Superfast Jellyfish”, a silly pseudo-commercial jingle which features Gruff Rhys (from Super Furry Animals) and De La Soul, is a bit repetitive and feels out of place in this more serious album. The second track “White Flag” sounds like a good idea on paper: The fantastic UK-rappers Bashy and Kano rapping over The Lebanese National Orchestra? Yes please! However, when it comes on, Orchestra’s beautiful sounds are stopped urgently by the rappers, as if someone had just changed the song. In addition, Bashy and Kano’s back-and-forth lyrics get old really, really fast.
Those two songs aside, Plastic Beach is able to combine artists from a vast array of genres with accessability, making it already one of the best albums this year.
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