First Look: New Gorillaz Album

‘Toon time in toyland once again, with Plastic Beach to be released this week by Virgin... but have these musical apes finally slipped on their banana peels?

By Jason Gross

Recently announced: that Gorillaz will be one of the headliners at this year's Coachella festival. But how important is Blur frontman Damon Albarn's futuristic cartoon-themed band?  Virgin parent company EMI actually blamed them and Coldplay for declining profits.  Maybe not surprisingly, since Gorillaz notched up multi-platinum sales when such a thing's become a rarity in the biz.

Keeping a relaxed release schedule, album #3 appears half a decade after Demon Days and maintains the theme of multi-styles (funk/rap/soul/rock) and as many guest appearances than your average rap album.  For anyone who found the first two albums too head-spinning, Plastic Beach is a relief as it's their most consistent release.  Unfortunately, that also makes it their most boring one, too, as their earlier wild highs (singles like "Clint Eastwood" & "Feel Good Inc.") and lows is what made them exciting and interesting.

Albarn keeps his guest list fascinating (including Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, a mini-Clash reunion, Bobby Womack, and an Arabic orchestra) but except for Womack, they're mostly wasted, doing undistinguished cameos.  As before, the highlights come from the rappers - Snoop Dogg at his languid best introducing the record, and Mos Def near the end ("Sweepstakes").  As for Albarn himself, he sounds kind of tired, whether he's singing or trying rap.

All in all, not a terrible record per se, but not one you'll run to like the first two albums.  Maybe Albarn needs to let the next record gestate a while longer or try to stop being be an over-achiever with his other multi-star bands (Monkey; The Good, The Bad and The Queen).