Music 365 Review
[GORILLAZ 'Gorillaz' (Parlophone)]
7/10
=Damon Albarn side-project fuses hip-hop, dance and indie into alt-pop=
These cross-genre, artificially created records are often an uneasy affair. Pro
duced by Dan The Automator, essentially, GORILLAZ are a concept band. Tank Girl
illustrator Jamie Hewlett sorts out the groovy carton drawings of the band, wh
ilst Damon Albarn satiates his love of all things hip-hop.
There's no doubt that Albarn wants to cut open the jugular of the mainstream po
p market, and to a certain extent he succeeds. Recent single 'Clint Eastwood' i
s a joyous indie-hop-dance record; Albarn's vocal is whiny, but naggingly catch
y, while Del Tha Funky Homosapien's rap plays the perfect foil. 'Tomorrow Comes
Today' is an upbeat version of any number of songs you'll find on Blur's epony
mous album.
Equally 'Re-Hash' and '5/4' somehow neatly manage to employ fuzzy guitars and s
cratched beats into a pop formula. But somewhere around the mid-way mark Gorill
az lose continuity and flow, and it disappears into the 'let's have a bit of a
laugh' direction you suspected Damon wanted to take it in. Consequently, there
are some pointless meanderings such as 'Double Bass' and 'Starshine'.
These minor quibbles aside though, when Albarn knuckles down to the job in hand
he proves beyond all reasonable doubt that he has an innate feel for melody an
d the constituents to knock together a great pop record for the 21stcentury.
Chris Nye-Brown
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