The small-scale experimentation, though, falls flat on the record's few rock tracks. A light, Latin-tinged piano playfully slides over a sunny groove while Albarn exhibits "Tender"-like plaintiveness with lines like, "I can't stand your loneliness." Despite the fact that this track is unfamiliar territory for both Nakamura and Albarn, their charismatic playfulness makes for undeniable fun. The album's foray into dub-lite, "Slow Country", is Gorillaz's charming peak. And curiously, I can think of few other samples that would compliment Del's urgent delivery as effectively as Albarn's laconic vocal haze. On "Clint Eastwood", Del tha Funkee Homosapien handles the song's verses, allowing Damon a small cameo in the looped chorus. "New Genious (Brother)" is gloomy trip-hop with orchestral flourishes that wrap around the flux of Albarn's falsetto. On "Man Research (Clapper)", Damon wails hysterically over Dan's relentless, echoing thump.
Gorillaz's best tracks exploit the unlikely, but successful dynamic between Albarn and Nakamura. As a result, this record reveals itself as far less disposable than its cartoon cover art suggests. No, what we've got here is the same brooding backpacker hip-hop that elevated the similar Deltron 3030 LP to unforeseen heights. Nakamura's refreshing production doesn't rely on today's hip-hop skitters and squiggles for its futurism. And that, friends, is why Gorillaz is a conceptual failure.īut maybe this is for the best. There's no band (animated or otherwise) making this music it's the Automator throwing down beats, manipulating samples, and letting Kid Koala's scratches interrupt his flow. Dan "The Automator" Nakamura is similarly recognizable. Early reports suggested that Albarn contributed to only a few songs, but he could rightfully be called the band's frontman his croon can be heard on all but 4 of the album's 16 tracks.
Even people who only know Blur as "that band who did 'Woo-Hoo'" will immediately detect Albarn's ever-so-Brit pipes. And it's the best Blur offshoot released to date.Īs soon as the record begins, the cartoon façade fades. The Automator-produced "act" is a smarmy, promotional gimmick. The novelty group finds Albarn assuming the role of 2-D, the animated lead singer of a pack of four misfits, whose likeness was envisioned by Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett. To make matter worse, another Albarn side project, Gorillaz, has already hit stores on both sides of the Atlantic. Blur recently announced that their hiatus will continue through the year's end, due to Damon Albarn's collaboration with Norman Cook. Somewhere in England, or maybe Iceland, Graham Coxon is crying.
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