Leave it to a fake band to make a concept album about a plastic society sound so real. Leave it to the synthesizers that create most of the sounds and melodies on "Plastic Beach," the ambitious new undertaking by the virtual band Gorillaz, to sound so vibrant and full of life. Leave it to a genre−bending hip−hop project to create a perfectly constructed pop album. Well, it should have been obvious: Who better to make 2010's most stunning, colorful album than a band made out of colors and lights themselves?
Casting aside all virtual band pretentions for a minute, Gorillaz is the musical brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who keeps his Britpop beginnings in his past and uses the Gorillaz as an outlet for experimentation and collaboration. What was initially viewed as a gimmicky side project by skeptics has evolved into something much larger than anyone anticipated. Internationally, the Jamie Hewlett−penned personas of 2D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russel are bigger superstars than Albarn himself: the virtual band's first two full−length albums "Gorillaz" (2001) and "Demon Days" (2005) were critically lauded and sold over six million units apiece.
Albarn was always the mastermind behind the band's organization and songwriting — and the production of "Plastic Beach" — but the band's incorporeal nature allows for a great collaborative capability, a potential on which Albarn fully capitalizes like never before on this latest album.
De La Soul, the legendary rappers featured on the smash single "Feel Good Inc." from "Demon Days," return with a rap on the album's second single, "Superfast Jellyfish." The latter is one of the few songs on the album that can be a bit divisive. The words are clever at times, but the stunted flow and voicebox−augmented delivery can be a little annoying. Luckily, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys replicates his band's catchy future−pop sound with impeccable style when singing the track's addictive hook.
The album's first single, "Stylo," thumps with a smooth disco beat and soars straight into the heavens with Bobby Womack's breathtaking vocals. The R&B legend is just as strong and soulful as he was in his prime, both on "Stylo" and the track "Cloud of Unknowing."
Snoop Dogg delivers a trademark lazy rap on "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach." The rapper smoothly sails upon a rising sea of pulsing bass lines and vocorder harmonies, and the track serves as the perfect paradoxical introduction to the titular eco−apocalyptic paradise.
The best song on the album is "White Flag," which starts with some exotic Arabian strings and rhythms aptly delivered by The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music before abruptly taking a grimier turn. British musicians Kano and Bashy drop politically−charged verses over synthetic blips before the two main melodies combine in a harmonious climax.
Awe−inspiring climaxes are abundant on "Plastic Beach," with dozens of moments of musical bliss. The jagged synths and chants in the chorus of "Rhinestone Eyes" hit with the force of a meteor each time they come around. "Empire Ants" strikes a perfect balance between the album's two dominating moods, transitioning from chilling and soulful to a majestic disco breakdown halfway through. The next song, "Glitter Freeze," simply features a succession of crescendos that deliver a shiver down listeners' spines.
A glowing blurb could be written for each of the 15 stellar tracks on the album, but at some point it just gets redundant. The scope of the album is simply too large to give each track equal credit, no matter how much praise they all deserve. However, it would be remiss not to mention "Some Kind of Nature," a joint effort with Lou Reed that bounces along with each piano note, or the relaxed one−two of "On Melancholy Hill" and "Broken," which waft and croon, and allow the listener to breathe at last.
Listeners may complain that "Plastic Beach" lacks the mega−hit quality of "Clint Eastwood" or "Feel Good Inc." But as is the case with most bands' magnum opuses, no track stands above the rest because each song is equally incredible. Thematically, "Plastic Beach" is Damon Albarn's "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006), but musically, it's nothing short of his "Paul's Boutique" (1989).
