All of which makes me anxious, sometimes unbearably so

Gorillaz: Gorillaz

The rock band as anonymous cartoon – ego-nullification or marketing ploy?

I remember the hype built up around this when it came out fueled by discussion of who all the people were. Damon Albarn’s voice was unmistakable as the central figure and likewise Del tha Funkee Homosapien’s rapping (which thoroughly sells the album’s highlight (and lead single) “Clint Eastwood”) placed him in there too, but the rest were a mystery for a while. Jamie Hewlett (of Tank Girl fame) was the cartoonist, and I’ve always supposed it was more his project than anyone else. A media/cartoon act more than a musical act, like a really hip and current Jem and the Holograms.

The thing about the Gorillaz is that while I always quite enjoy listening to their albums, they’re so wispy and innocuous that they can never anchor in my memory. I recall around the release of the album I was at work discussing the band and “Clint Eastwood” with a friend, and about ten minutes later the song played on the radio and I had already forgotten who the band or song was. However, thanks to Del’s dominance of the song, it proved easier to hang on to than the rest. Gorillaz feels almost like a hip-hop project that somehow didn’t fall together, that they put together all the backing tracks and then almost nobody showed up to finish the songs. The album starts pretty strong, really, even if “5/4″ is a little too Fine Young Cannibals for my tastes. “Tomorrow Comes Today” with its jagged, detuned bass and harmonica is a fine moment, and “Clint Eastwood” is one of Del’s finest songs, and the most memorable, infectious moment of the album. Later on, there’s the particularly weird and disorienting “Double Bass” that is the only real shining star in the latter half of the (overlong) disc, and really the only other thing of interest after the midway point is the dialogue samples from Day of the Dead in “M1A1″ (‘Hellooooooooo? IS ANYBODY THERE? HELLOOOOOOOOOOO!?’), although “Slow Country” is kinda okay.

The general sound of the album, a jumbled mess of electronica, rock, and hip-hop, is effective and well-calculated, but rarely does it adhere, and occasionally, as with “Man Research (Clapper)” or “Sound Check (Gravity)” quite profoundly irritating. Some of the later songs, such as “Latin Simone” or “Starshine” are just thoroughly and hopelessly unmemorable. Nevertheless, there’s something that compels me to return again and again to this album, perhaps because it always feels like a new experience.

***1/2

~ by jshopa on June 24, 2008.