GorillazPlastic Beach

A soft strings tune, coupled with pulsating, sampled brass stabs invite you enter the Plastic Beach, a superficial wonder-world created by the Gorillaz in their third studio album, Plastic Beach.In their usual style, Gorillaz are back on the top of their game, playing the proverbial "rope-a-dope" with their catchy melodies and rhythms that have found their way onto the album, off the beaten-track. I cannot help but expect one thing from these tunes, only to be surprised by the direction the music goes. Despite their uncanny inability to go the easy route melodically and rhythmically, Gorillaz have created yet another album that hypnotically calls you in to listen.Despite my better judgment, I have listened to this album three times tonight, with the clock now reading 2:47 a.m. I have about four more songs before the album is completed and I can consider heading to bed. This dream world of fake women, fast living, and consequence free actions is restful enough for now.Musically, as somebody who has for some reason become entranced by each album released by the production group, I cannot help but notice how much more pop driven this album is in comparison to their previous releases. Eighties inspired synth leads, softer hitting drums, simple rhythms repeating themselves intoxicatingly, all combined with live sound to create an image of life on the fictional island, Plastic Beach. Walking down this shore takes no effort at all; the Gorillaz, similar to the world in which we live, have the ability to mesmerize us and lead us in the direction they please. Despite the harmonic dissonance they frequently employ, the melodies seem surprisingly harmonic, leading you to become entranced in the music. You will beg yourself to continue on the journey with them without asking "silly" questions.Most impressive about this album, at least regarding the musical production, is how well the group has fused live sounds of the beach and society with synthesized sound. Sometimes the live sounds invite you in, only to leave you to fend for your own with the harsh synthesized sounds on your own. Other times, the two play together throughout the song; the sounds of the ocean coupled with the synthesized sounds paint for you the synthetic shores of Plastic Beach.Digital music production has come a long way since its roots in the early 1900's. Early digital composers would have found their world in the studio enough of a dream land; clippings of audio tape hanging from the ceiling like stalactites, entire buildings with huge machines meant to perform the most simple of tasks in today's production standards. Those early composers seemed to be in ideological wars with each other, trying to prove that synthesized sound alone or live sound alone was the true way to view the emerging art of studio production. The elektronische musik of the past, focusing strictly on the sonic attributes of synthesized sounds, surely has its legacy played out in this album. Yet, the musique concrete concepts that invite us to play strictly with live, recorded sound has been added to the dream world created at Plastic Beach in ways that would make even Iannis Xenakis proud. It is true, now, as evidenced by this album, that the creation of sonic cities can be created, entire worlds, emotions, and actions captured in sound.Maybe it is time for the future producers, artists, and performers to learn the true power of sound. Gone are the days where lyrics alone are the driving force to songs. With a new emphasis on production, the future is in creating entire worlds through sound. Entire worlds that can be brought to life through performance. Entire worlds that can be brought to life, simply by pressing play on iTunes. My vacation to Plastic Beach is done for now, until I decide to pack up and return for another investigation of the truly fake world, created by the Gorillaz.

I'm a recently self-discovered addict of Gorillaz music, so one day I sat down and ordered all three studio albums, including Plastic Beach, and their D-Sides collection as well. I'll admit, when I received Plastic Beach in the mail, I opened it up and was disappointed to see a very normal CD case (made of paper or cardboard) with a simple sleeve for the CD. Part of the luster I guess of buying a new album is the case and the artwork inside. But we'll come back to this later.Plastic Beach is PHENOMENAL. Gorillaz have a penchant for incorporating distinct new styles and themes into their work and collaborating with a lot of people, but Plastic Beach is Gorillaz collaboration on steroids. It's a must-have for any fan of the band. The style in this concept album is distinctly more mellow and harmonic than the previous two studio albums. If you're not a fan of synth-pop or electronic drum machines and similar styles, then this isn't for you, but if you're a fan of Gorillaz, you'll appreciate the incorporation the creators made into the storyline by not inviting the band's drummer, Russell, to the studio on Plastic Beach. Gorillaz fans should check out the video idents, music videos for Stylo and On Melancholy Hill and the storyboard for Rhinestone Eyes to further enhance their enjoyment of the album.I certainly don't mind the shift to a more electronic, synthetic sound, and this is NOT just an electronica compilation for anyone who's hesitant to check it out. Just listen to track #2 as Snoop Dogg welcomes you into the world of the Plastic Beach with a very smooth albeit pumping-up contribution. The soulful singing of Bobby Womack in Stylo is the perfect accompaniment to a contribution by Mos Def and the beats laid down in Stylo (Bruce Willis pulls a cameo in the video, check it out). Superfast Jellyfish brings back De La Soul in a pretty upbeat track, and it's immediately followed by one of my favorite tracks on the album, the relaxing Empire Ants, which highlights the vocals of Damon Albarn and the contributing Little Dragon. My favorite tracks right now are Rhinestone Eyes, a synth-based song with a fast-paced but sad melody, and On Melancholy Hill, a more relaxed track. Even songs like Glitter Freeze, Some Kind of Nature and Pirate Jet have enthralling beats that complement the rest of the album.The inherent theme of Plastic Beach, the lyrics, the videos and the concert itself involves the nature of Plastic Beach being a collection of all the world's pollution at one point in the middle of the ocean (you'll hear plastic references throughout the album). So I don't mind so much having a very simple CD case to store this great collaborative work, which I thoroughly enjoy.

calidad

Most bands, when they release an album, only one or two good track listings to its name. Record labels know this, as this is why "Greatest Hits" remix albums exist. Gorillaz is no exception. I am a fan of Gorillaz not because both of their previous albums were perfect (they weren't), but because they included some truly great gems embedded in a sound I've never heard anywhere else before or since.Enter Plastic Beach, which continues to deliver the promise of Gorillaz to introduce strange and unusual combination of sounds. This album isn't just a good album, with a few identifiable tracks, but it is a GREAT album, with each song producing a tropical, ethereal quality that is as haunting as it is alluring. Even the stranger listings, such as "Superfast Jellyfish" arrests the attention of the discerning listener, with the allusions to oceanic pollution disguised with cheery beats and rhymes against the sound of an obvious parody of corporate food moguls and their commercials.Every song on this album has merit and shows just how far Gorillaz has come in terms of refining its sound. It is definitely worth the price of purchase and I recommend it to any Gorillaz fan, musician, or the casual music lover looking for something different.