“Plastic Beach” is a perfect spring break soundtrack. It may have arrived with less fanfare than the Gorillaz’s 2005 release “Demon Days,” but the new album — released March 9 — is full of auditory treats and random surprises.
Collaboration is the name of the game with this album. De La Soul returns from “Feel Good Inc.” to appear with Gruff Rhys on “Superfast Jellyfish”— a prime track for heading down to the beach. It’s rich, cheeky and just plain fun. Mos Def lends his talents to two songs on the album. Snoop Dogg shows up on “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach,” which serves as a welcome mellow start to the album.
Then there are other oddities that end up right at home among the rest of the mix. “White Flag” starts off with an Bollywood-esque tabla interlude — courtesy of the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.
Later on the album Lou Reed and Bobby Womack appear, and the title track reunites Paul Simonon and Mick Jones from The Clash. But the undertones from the Gorillaz are woven throughout the album, despite the joint influences.
“Stylo,” the first single from “Plastic Beach,” is a curious melding of a slowed-down grubby, funky beat, paired with Bobby Womack’s random spoken-word chorus. The video fittingly echoes this; we see the band speeding down a desert road in a muscle car riddled with bullet holes. The band members look just as haggard and run-down as the car. Bruce Willis makes a cameo in the music video.
The real treat in the video, though, is when band members Noodle, Murdoc and 2D transform into 3D. This is the first time we’ve been able to experience the virtual band interact with our reality and not just in holographic or cartoon form. The fourth member, Russel, is absent from the video and Noodle is an android.
But this is the Gorillaz, and it’ll all make sense eventually. Since the band is made up of fictional characters, the added enjoyment is in its dramatic and quirky storylines. It’s amusing to watch it all play out.
Eclecticism has always been the Gorillaz forte, and “Plastic Beach” is no exception. At times, the album seems a bit distracted, but each track is solid and unquestionably theirs. Despite the collaborative fingerprints throughout, they don’t smudge the gestalt of the album.
So regardless of where you’re headed for spring break, take a vacation, relax, and bask in the light of “Plastic Beach.”