Word: gorillaz
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...Grey Album,” which remixed Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with the Beatles “The White Album”. Since then, Danger Mouse has never remained in one place, producing albums and creating beats with musicians like Gorillaz, Beck, and his own project with Cee-Lo Green, Gnarls Barkley. On “Broken Bells,” however, Danger Mouse is billed as Brian Burton, and has spoken of his desire to make clear that he is not just producing an album by another artist; Broken Bells...
Most important in this artistic development is the dominant theme that characterizes “Plastic Beach:” the meaninglessness of a mechanized external world and our attempts at real human connection within this oppressive order. For Gorillaz to express the plasticity of this world in conventional rap would be disingenuous, and their turn from this language toward a less human and electronic musicality represents a broader investment in a synthetic experience. Though there are moments where the transition is rough and incomplete, “Plastic Beach” represents a maturation for Gorillaz...
...Britpop star Damon Albarn, comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, and a series of featuring artists that now includes hip-hop producer Danger Mouse, rock legend Lou Reed, and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music. It is even more surprising that these disparate figures, who collectively form Gorillaz, have built a reputation as a hip-hop group. In fact, Gorillaz has always been more influenced by comparatively esoteric genres...
...their latest effort, Gorillaz forego much of the rap/pop sensibility that had previously characterized them for mainstream fans and vaulted them to the Top 40. Instead, “Plastic Beach” delves into eccentric, challenging, and subdued forms of electronica that are morphed by a diverse set of other genres, from classical to funk. This shift is most apparent in the album’s focus on musical production rather than traditional narrative-based songwriting. With the exception of a few rap songs, vocal lines on “Plastic Beach” create only vague impressions, feelings...
Indeed, the line between lyrics and music is blurred throughout “Plastic Beach.” In their departure from rap and its focus on language, in search of a new, more sonic form of musical expression, Gorillaz have made their music and lyrics blend to form what is often no more than raw sound. An appropriate decision—after all, what could speak the language of plastics and machines better than pure noise...