Gorillaz are back!

[Paws]

Hey, Gorillaz are releasing a new album next week! It's called Plastic Beach and is supposed to be the "most pop record" they've made so far. You can listen to it for free on the Guardian website if you want (it's OK! Murdoch took over the newspaper's music department eariler this week so it's perfectly legal)

www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/mar/01/gorillaz-plastic-beach

I haven't listened to all of it myself yet, but that's because I don't want to ruin the surprise and joy of putting my own copy of the CD into the stereo and hearing it for the first time, not knowing what it'll sound like and then being pleasantly surprised.

Here's the video for Stylo, the first single, I think. The word which best describes this video would be "crazy", and if you watch it, you'll see why. Plus it's got a celebrity cameo!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs

Also, it seems the band have set up a new home at Plastic Beach (hence explaining all the stuff about Kong Studios deteriorating and then being sold off). It's actually seems a lot nicer than the name implies. And of course, a new home means a new interactive website to explore! I particually enjoy listening to Murdoc's radio show.

gorillaz.com

Thoughts, please!

[Menaceman]

Someone get Mooney in here stat!

I've visited the new site and had a go but it bugged out on me once I got inside the building and just got stuck trying to load something.
I like the new single and the video even if I did find it confusing.
I only ever listened to Murdoc's first pirate radio broadcast. I can listen to myself if I want to hear a slightly crazed person rambling to themselves.

I was interested to find from Mooney that the Plastic Beach is actually a 3 meter tall model.

[mooneyman]

Right *pulls up trousers* let's get this phase summarised, eh?

Number one - Plastic Beach is indeed a fully three metre tall floating model - the 'plastic' is actually old airfix kits, etc. of planes, trains, statues, etc formed into one massive...mass.

Plastic Beach is 'All of the world's excess plastic, all of the world's spare rubbish slowly gathering into a clump...the deepest, darkest bits of humanity join them. Statues of dictators, plane wreckage, Titanic...'

And how did our crazy muppet, Murdoc, manage to get himself there?


Well it turns out around 2006 he started selling some 'big bombs' to a gang of 'somalian pirates'. They didn't work. So the 'Heat got too heavy' and he ran away to a big floating mass of rubbish, leaving a scorched, charred Kong behind.

Noodle has officially been killed off - an android has replaced her, hence the error within the little music video.

2D has been kidnapped and is being kept in an underwater room, guarded by a whale.

Russel is on his way - sadly he's become a giant due to all the garbage within the sea waters.

It's worth noting Plastic Beach is already in first running for Number One in the charts!

Also, the album is easily the best I've seen Gorillaz do. Amazing, nothing short.


For more details (albeit some out of date) you can read a lovely article I wrote in February for a music and culture webzine called 'Cat on the Wall'!
blog.catonthewall.net/2010/01/pirates-of-plasticland-gorillaz-return.html

[Paws]

Great article, Mooney! Regarding Noodle, it would seem that Murdoc's claims of jumping out of parachutes and going to Hell to rescue her were all delusions due to hitting the bottle too hard. However, he did manage to scrape up some of Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage to build the android. She might still be alive somewhere of course, but who can say for sure?

I've also had problems with the official website, Menaceman. Everytime I click on something interesting, it takes forever to load. No fair! Website too busy, perhaps?

oh, and here's the video for the first single, Stylo. I like it so much, I've lost count of the number of times I've watched it! Some funny moments in there, the graphics/animation have never been better and there's a celebrity cameo in it as well. The song's pretty good too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs&feature=channel

[Paws]

Ok, I'm currently listening to the album on the Grauniad website for the first time, so here's my thoughts:

It's very different to Demon Days, in that it doesn't have those instant hits that grab your attention straight away. Rather, it seems to be one of those sneaky albums which grow on you slowly over time without you realising it. It takes a few minutes to warm up but after White Flag, it starts to get quite catchy and starts feeling like a Gorillaz album. Personally, I think it would make a great album to listen to whilst relaxing on the beach in the summer holiday!

Glitter Freeze is my favourite track on the album, although I also really like Rhinestone Eyes, Empire Ants and Some Kind of Nature. Sweepstakes is a bit of a mess though and could have been better.

Bizarrely, listening to Superfast Jellyfish makes me think of SpongeBob SquarePants. Maybe it's down to the subject matter and the fact that there's a voice that sounds like Patrick the Starfish on there. Someone has to make a music video using clips from the cartoon and post it on YouTube!

EDIT: And the following morning, I woke up with On Melancholy Hill in my head. I was right! It IS a sneaky album, and it's worth buying if you're into creative hip hop.