Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Gorillaz are back. Plastic Beach represents their most ambitious and groundbreaking, album to date. It features a roster of contributors so diverse it numbers not just Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mark E Smith, De La Soul, Mos Def and Bobby Womack, but The National Orchestra Of Arabic Music and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a Chicago-based nine-piece jazz/hip-hop group. Also appearing are Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, playing together for the first time since The Clash.

The ongoing saga of singer 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs is leant a latest twist with the unveiling of a new look for the group. Now based at Plastic Beach, a mammoth Tracy Island-style HQ atop a floating trash pile at Point Nemo in the South Pacific, the place furthest from land on Earth, we find the meddlesome Murdoc now running the show more than ever, keeping 2D held prisoner while being protected by a cyborg Noodle – built from the DNA of the original Japanese girl guitarist, last seen having bombs dropped on her head in 2006’s El Mañana’ video. Drummer Russel, meantime, is currently missing in action. Not that any of this matters much to Murdoc. “I like to think of myself as The Gorillaz,” he explains. “You take me out of this set-up and, well, you’ve just got three bell-ends staring at the camera.” For the band’s third album they have crafted an allegorical picture of humanity – a picture of waste, destruction, consumerism, isolation and human failure.

Since first appearing in 1998, Gorillaz have become one of the world’s most popular bands. A truly global phenomenon, they have achieved success in ways entirely groundbreaking in popular music. Recognised by The Guinness Book Of World Records as the planet’s Most Successful Virtual Act, their eponymous debut album sold some 6 million copies following its release in 2001, with hit singles ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ’19-2000’. 2005’s Demon Days was more successful still, properly breaking the band on a global level, with singles ‘Feel Good Inc.’, ‘DARE (featuring Shaun Ryder’s infamous cottonmouthed vocal), and ‘Dirty Harry’ becoming hits across Europe, America and further afield. Produced by Danger Mouse, it gave Gorillaz their first UK Number One in ‘DARE’ and was heralded as one of the year’s great records. Married to the groundbreaking pop was an acute sense of melancholy and a clear-eyed commentary on the brave new century and the monsters in it. Demon Days, as its name suggested, is a contemporary phantasmagoria.

Demon Days saw the band step-up their live performances – not just in a 40-date ‘Demon Detour’ across America’s radio stations, but with a series of events that broke new ground in their scale and ambition. From 1st -5th November 2005, ‘Demon Days Live’ saw Gorillaz assemble the collaborators from the album live in Manchester. Neneh Cherry, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Ike Turner, Roots Manuva, Martina Topley-Bird and Shaun Ryder all reprised their contributions live, while Dennis Hopper, MF Doom and Afro-Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer appeared ‘virtually’. In April 2006 over five nights at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theatre, Gorillaz performed with 87 musicians, including a string quartet from the acclaimed Julliard School and the Harlem Gospel Choir. Later that year Gorillaz were awarded the Ivor Novello for Songwriters Of The Year.

On screen, Gorillaz proved no less innovative. Their videos, probably the most complete manifestation of the Gorillaz identity, have been on heavy rotation on music television worldwide and picked up numerous awards. They opened the 2006 BRITs with a 100-piece children’s choir and dueted with a holographic Madonna at the Grammy Awards, while bass-wielding nasty face Murdoc found time to record an ‘Alternative Christmas Speech’, broadcast while HRH was addressing the nation. There were rumours of a full-length feature film backed by serious Hollywood money. At the end of 2007, Gorillaz were that rare beast - culturally significant, critically admired and commercially viable, appealing to the broadest of demographics. If further proof was needed – Gorillaz were MySpace’s Most Popular Band for the whole of 2008… a year in which they released no new music.

And now they’re back. Plastic Beach represents Gorillaz’ high-water mark. A 16 track tour through pop, rap, dub, soul, and electronica, from East to West and a whole lot more.

Like Murdoc says: “You’re either alive or you’re not. You’re either on the ride or not. The rest of it is just whimsical etchings on the cave walls inside of the human skull, just someone trying to decorate their cage, keep themselves entertained while they’re here. The album’s coming out. And it makes Demon Days seem like a warm up act. So at least I can say we’ve stepped our game up…”

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