Mar. 24, 2010 - Issue #753: Zion I
Plastic Beach
Gorillaz {recordings_bands_mg} Plastic Beach {/recordings_bands_mg}
EMI, 2010
4
Whatever lingering influence Damon Albarn’s Blur years had over the early development of Gorillaz, it was always twisted by the revolving-door cast of guest musicians and his own growing interest in more worldly musical influences. But even with that in mind, Plastic Beach takes the band’s collaborative spirit further than ever, with Albarn acting more as producer than frontman, mostly relinquishing the mic to others (he does sing a couple of hooks here) and focusing instead on giving his guests creeping slabs of fuzzy electronica to carve up, tinged with (mostly) hip hop, dub production and orchestral string rustles. The guest list is top notch and diverse—Snoop Dogg, the remaining members of the Clash, Lou Reed and the National Orchestra For Arabic Music all appear here—and resultingly, Plastic Beach plays out like a gloriously strange electro-world-hip hop mix tape.
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