Gorillaz, Demon Days (Music)
So, there's a new Gorillaz album.
I'll have you know that I'm one of the, like, six people who bought G-Sides (which actually has the best Gorillaz song ever, "Ghost Train" on it) and I have a Gorillaz t-shirt, so I had pretty high hopes for this one. I don't just go around buying t-shirts willy-nilly. No, they are specifically and meticulously chosen.
Anyway, back to Demon Days. I actually listened to this record a few weeks ago, but it's taken me this long to pass judgment on it. Honestly, I was pretty put-off at first, not so much because it was even a bad record -- I actually dug a lot of it -- but because it didn't sound like what I remembered Gorillaz being.
Thing is, this isn't what Gorillaz was on their first album. Pretty much the only things left are Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett (the animator) and the cartoon characters. Gone is Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, who produced the whole first venture, as well as apparently whoever did the voice for the Asian guitar-playing girl Noodle. There's no Tina Weymouth on this record, no Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. The only "band member" whose voice we hear at all is Albarn's.
Sorry. I meant 2-D's.
Anyway, the producer now is Grey Album wunderkind Danger Mouse, who turns the whole vibe into some sort of dark dance party, which takes a little getting used to. And there are lots of guest voices to be heard; notably MF Doom, De La Soul, Roots Manuva and...Dennis Hopper? Okay, maybe not so much that one, though, if he had used his "24"-style Eastern European accent, I'd have been more excited.
So this is a whole different Gorillaz, it seems. And, after some consideration, I think it's actually better.
Not every track is great -- the aforementioned Dennis Hopper story song is only good for one listen at most, and the song "White Light" is just a little too much of the same thing over and over -- but the standouts more than make up for them. The first single, "Feel Good Inc." is a barn-burner that actually does make you feel good, upon multiple listens, even. "Kids with Guns" kills you with a great bassline and some semi-nonsense lyrics that it's fun to try to sing along with. "Dirty Harry" doesn't quite live up to its similarly-named predecessor "Clint Eastwood," but it's a good track with a great guest spot from someone I still can't identify at the end. "November Has Come" is basically an MF Doom song, which is what makes it good, and "DARE" is the gayest song I'll ever admit to liking.
I think the big difference between this record and the other Gorillaz work is that this one is so much more...British, I guess. With the exception of MF Doom, De La Soul and Dennis Hopper, I think pretty much everyone who worked on it was a Brit. Danger Mouse is British, right? I'm not going to bother to look it up. Anyway, it's got merry old England written all over it.
It's not very hard to imagine Ali G dancing around to "DARE," which I often do, oddly enough.
Ahem. I think this review is over. A-.
I'll have you know that I'm one of the, like, six people who bought G-Sides (which actually has the best Gorillaz song ever, "Ghost Train" on it) and I have a Gorillaz t-shirt, so I had pretty high hopes for this one. I don't just go around buying t-shirts willy-nilly. No, they are specifically and meticulously chosen.
Anyway, back to Demon Days. I actually listened to this record a few weeks ago, but it's taken me this long to pass judgment on it. Honestly, I was pretty put-off at first, not so much because it was even a bad record -- I actually dug a lot of it -- but because it didn't sound like what I remembered Gorillaz being.
Thing is, this isn't what Gorillaz was on their first album. Pretty much the only things left are Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett (the animator) and the cartoon characters. Gone is Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, who produced the whole first venture, as well as apparently whoever did the voice for the Asian guitar-playing girl Noodle. There's no Tina Weymouth on this record, no Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. The only "band member" whose voice we hear at all is Albarn's.
Sorry. I meant 2-D's.
Anyway, the producer now is Grey Album wunderkind Danger Mouse, who turns the whole vibe into some sort of dark dance party, which takes a little getting used to. And there are lots of guest voices to be heard; notably MF Doom, De La Soul, Roots Manuva and...Dennis Hopper? Okay, maybe not so much that one, though, if he had used his "24"-style Eastern European accent, I'd have been more excited.
So this is a whole different Gorillaz, it seems. And, after some consideration, I think it's actually better.
Not every track is great -- the aforementioned Dennis Hopper story song is only good for one listen at most, and the song "White Light" is just a little too much of the same thing over and over -- but the standouts more than make up for them. The first single, "Feel Good Inc." is a barn-burner that actually does make you feel good, upon multiple listens, even. "Kids with Guns" kills you with a great bassline and some semi-nonsense lyrics that it's fun to try to sing along with. "Dirty Harry" doesn't quite live up to its similarly-named predecessor "Clint Eastwood," but it's a good track with a great guest spot from someone I still can't identify at the end. "November Has Come" is basically an MF Doom song, which is what makes it good, and "DARE" is the gayest song I'll ever admit to liking.
I think the big difference between this record and the other Gorillaz work is that this one is so much more...British, I guess. With the exception of MF Doom, De La Soul and Dennis Hopper, I think pretty much everyone who worked on it was a Brit. Danger Mouse is British, right? I'm not going to bother to look it up. Anyway, it's got merry old England written all over it.
It's not very hard to imagine Ali G dancing around to "DARE," which I often do, oddly enough.
Ahem. I think this review is over. A-.
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