Gorillaz - Gorillaz
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.44 You Save: $3.45 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.41 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Gorillaz
Free Music Review: Greatest Band that Never Existed
Hit: 5 Stars
Gorillaz is probably the greatest band producing music right now. No, scratch that-they are the greatest band producing music right now. A pity most people won't 'get' it. The band is the brainchild of Damon Albarn (from Blur) and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. That's right CARTOONIST! Why cartoonist? Because Gorillaz is a fictional cartoon band! The idea is so ironic, so fit for the times...it's genius. Think Ms. Spears and Backstreet Boys are manufactured? Ha! Gorillaz is the ultimate manufactured band (they don't even exist!). Okay, cartooning aside (the music videos are awesome, imagine Western animation meeting Japanese anime mereged seamlessly with GCI graphics) lets focus on the music.
What makes Gorillaz so incredible is the music. The range this band has in amazing!! This is album is: a rock record, a hip hop record, a dance record, a punk record, and a techno record rolled into one. Not to mention the Spanish speaking, world beat track. The lyrics, while at once catchy and strange ('she turned my Dad on/she turned my Dad on/ She made me kill myself') are appropriate and unique. But that's not the main event here, Gorillaz music is where you'll find yourself floored. The sound is both High-Fi extemely polished on some tracks, and on others girtty and almost Lo-Fi. I've never heard a more textured record in my entire life. From the brutally sharp trumpets on "Latin Simone" to the electro regaee of "Dracula."
There are so many near 'magic' moments for me on this record. The killer chorus and awesome rap of the smash single "Clint Eastwood" is one. The blistering turntable scratch on "Sound Check" is another. The ultra creepy "M1 A1" with it's frightening build up and awesome guitar/drum work is another. Which brings me to another wonderful aspect of this ablum: mood. Never have I heard such a moody album. Certain tracks are bright and sunny ("19-2000" and "Rock the House") while others are dreary and/or downright scary ("M1 A1" and "New Genius"). It's this amazing diversity and genre bending, borrowing, and splicing that makes this record such a huge hit on an artistic level (which of course spilled over into the realm of the commercially successful).
The only downside to this band is that as cartoons the ability to tour/perform live is somewhat limited. The only downside to this record is that it ends. Gorillaz rule!
Free Music Review: Rock/Alternative Hip-Hop/Brit Pop Band
Hit: 5 Stars
This band is a virtual band, but it is still awesome. 2-D-Lead Vocals, Keyboards, Murdoc-Bass, Russel-Drums, Noodle-Guitars, Vocals. This c-d is always in my c-d player! Gorillaz is one of my top 5 favorite bands with P.O.D., SUM 41, Relient K, and A Flock Of Seagulls. Here is the list of songs and my ratings for them.
1.Re-Hash. Why is it called re-hash? Good bass, but the song is vaugely familiar. 7/10
2.5/4. Why is it called 5/4? One of the c-d's semi-hits. great guitar, drums, and verses. 10+/10
3.Tommorow Comes Today. Great harmonica another semi-hit. 10/10
4.New Genious. Reminds me of frankenstein, and other people think so too. Why is it called New Genious? 10/10
5.Clint Eastwood. Why is it called Clint Eastwood? The mega hit song. Great rap from Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and good drums, bass, and piano. 10+/10
6. Man Research (Clapper). Why is It called man research clapper?
Silly song were 2-D says "This is a breakfeast club!", and starts ya ya ya. You will get it when you hear it. 3/10
Punk. I don't know if 2-D says the word Punk in this song because no-one knows what he is saying. Great guitar and drums. 10+/10
8.Sound Check (Gravity). Starts out soft, then the awesome turntable kicks in. 10/10
9.Double Bass. Reminds me of double chocolate brownies. bad instrumental song. 2/10
10.Rock Da House. The last semi-hit on the c-d. Good rap from Del, and good drums, but bad horns, flute and piano but I will give it a 10/10
11. 19-2000. The follow-up hit. Why do they call it 19-2000? good dance song. 10/10
12.Latin Simone. Dumb song. 2/10
13.Starshine. Good space song 10/10
14.Slow Country. Why the heck do they call it that? uncool song 4/10
15.M1 A1. Good song with creepy beginning, and let's fet this party started la la's. Why didn't they make this song the intro?
10/10
16.Dracula. crazy song. 6/10
17.Left Hand Suzuki Method. Another crazy song. 3/10
18.19-2000(Soulchild remix). Awesome more upbeat version of 19-2000. 10+/10
Clint Eastwood (ED Case remix) Good upbeat 2-D chorus, but the dumb ragae guy makes the rest of it dumb. 8/10
Gorillaz are coming out with a new c-d called Demon Days! Go to their official fansite to see thee video for their awesome new hit single Feel Good Inc. feat. De La Soul.
Free Music Review: A genuinely enjoyable album
Hit: 5 Stars
It's tempting to judge Gorillaz -- Damon Albarn, Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura's virtual band -- just by their brilliantly animated videos and write the project off as another triumph of style over substance. Admittedly, Hewlett's edgy-cute characterizations of 2-D, Gorillaz' pretty boy singer (who looks a cross between the Charlatans' Tim Burgess and Sonic the Hedgehog), sinister bassist Murdoc, whiz-kid guitarist Noodle, and b-boy drummer Russel are so arresting that they almost detract from Gorillaz' music.
The amazing "Thriller"-meets-Planet of the Apes clip for "Clint Eastwood" is so visually clever that it's easy to take the song's equally clever, hip-hop-tinged update of the Specials' "Ghost Town" for granted. And initially, Gorillaz' self-titled debut feels incomplete when Hewlett's imagery is removed; the concept of Gorillaz as a virtual band doesn't hold up as well when you can't see the virtual bandmembers. It's too bad that there isn't a DVD version of Gorillaz, with videos for every song, à la the DVD version of Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World.
Musically, however, Gorillaz is a cutely caricatured blend of Albarn's eclectic Brit-pop and Nakamura's equally wide-ranging hip-hop, and it sounds almost as good as the band looks. Albarn has fun sending up Blur's cheeky pop on songs like "5/4" and "Re-Hash," their trip-hop experiments on "New Genious" and "Sound Check," and "Song 2"-like thrash-pop on "Punk" and "M1 A1."
Despite the similarities between Albarn's main gig and his contributions here, Gorillaz isn't an Albarn solo album in disguise; Nakamura's bass- and beat-oriented production gives the album an authentically dub and hip-hop-inspired feel, particularly on "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today." Likewise, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Miho Hatori, and Ibrahim Ferrer's vocals ensure that it sounds like a diverse collaboration rather than an insular side project. Instead, it feels like a musical vacation for all parties involved -- a little self-indulgent, but filled with enough fun ideas and good songs to make this virtual band's debut a genuinely enjoyable album.
Free Music Review: Yes to Gorillaz
Hit: 5 Stars
Wow! You know Rock is in trouble when one of the hottest bands of the year is fictional. This band, created by Jamie Hewlett, the creator of the Tank Girl comic, and his London roomate Damon Albarn, the lead singer of the great Brit band Blur has struck a cord with the nation with a style that erases everything we expect from pop music. They had an interesting idea in creating their fictional band. The members of Gorillaz are 2D, who is basically the animated Damon Albarn himself, Murdoc a slightly insane metalhead bassist, Noodle, a ten year old Japanesse guitar goddess, and Russel the drummer who is seminly posessed by a dead rapper.The videos are cool, but the music is cooler with songs like the singles, "Clint Eastwood", and "19-2000" rocking their way into MTV's and pop radio's rotations. Other songs on the album such as "Dracula", "Latin Simone", "M1A1", and"5/4" are wonderful songs that are like nothing ever heard before in pop music. However, the artists involved with the music are just as cool as the songs if not cooler. Damon Albarn provides the main vocals, but Buena Vista Social Club's Ibrahim Ferrer, Tom Tom Club's Tina Weymouth, Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, rapper Del the Funky Homo Sapien, and hip hop producer Dan the Automater all lend their voices and music to the most interesting patchwork of an album we've heard in a long time. The genreless songs that make the album great include Cuban jazz, rap, dub, rock, punk, power pop, electronica, alternative, hip-hop, country, movie soundtrack, and celtic influences.
Remember the days when this album could have been produced by a real band? When artists like Beck, Cornershop, Garbage, Cibo Matto, Blur, Sublime, Prodigy, and Bjork were making music that refused to be defined by a genre, and actually sell albums? I wish that I could hear more of this kind of genre mixing from the mostly ordinary (stuff) heard on rock radio today. Say yes to music that doesn't fall into categories. Support music that breaks the rules!
Free Music Review: Who cares if it is popular...
Hit: 5 Stars
There are quite a few people out there that dismiss this album merely because it is popular and has a hit song that gets massive airplay. Firstly, I am surprised that it is getting so much airplay in the US simply because "Clint Eastwood" is more of a trip-hop song with a harmonica line than an N'Synch or Brittney song. That isn't supposed to happen. Secondly, there is so much experimentation and "dirty" producing (extreme reverb, bass turned up on most parts, hardly any treble), that it doesn't really fit into the ultra-perfect production standards of today's mass market, boys-on-a-leash type albums. I guess it is time to go into a bit about the album itself. Well, there are 3 types of songs on this album. The first kind is catchy, radio-friendly trip-hop with what seems to be harmonicas sliding in and out of the background. The second is the experimental music, which isn't really poppy, more like dance music with repetitive vocal echoes scattering the background. And the third type of song is the slow, moody peices that actually seem to show a correlation between depression and aggression (just listen to "Gravity"...the ultra-slow and moody depression jumps straight into a scratching, militant assault by the turn tables). Every song on this album fits into one of those categories. It is for that reason alone that people are so divided over this album, have different favorite songs, and are so captivated by the imaginary cartoon band.
Again, who cares if this album is mainstream, there is enough diversity on this album to keep anyone on their toes. It is just hard to say if a person can take this much diversity without growing an extreme hatred for the Gorillaz. Instead of basing your purchasing desicion on "Clint Eastwood", pick random songs from around the album to preview first. Who knows, maybe you should just be the singles you like.