June 23rd, 2005
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Gorillaz
Demon Days ****
When Damon Albarn emerged from the did-they-break-up-or-not? haze of Blur, many were bemused or just smugly cynical about his Gorillaz project. How dare a bona fide indie boy mess around with hip hop and collaborate with Dan the Automator? Another accomplice was Jamie ‘Tank Girl’ Hewlitt who created their angular cartoon personas. If ‘Gorillaz’ was a brattish upstart, ‘Demon Days’ is its’ sussed older brother. Albarn and the gang dish up a soupy broth of hip-hop, dirty breaks and jazzy strings. ‘Last Living Souls’ takes a chance on some cheap sounding bontempi beats and it gets away with it. The excellent ‘Dirty Harry’ plumps for 80s electro keyboard on minimalist funk foundations and the contrasting vocals are left to rapper Bootie Brown and a school choir. The mood bobs and weaves all the way through from the ominous drone of ‘Kids With Guns’ to the shady narration of an on-form Shaun Ryder on ‘Dare’. It’s also a bit of music who’s who with guest spots from Nenah Cherry, Roots Manuva, MF Doom, De La Soul and The London Community Gospel Choir but the best and most out there collaboration is with actor Dennis Hopper. He narrates a nightmarish bedtime story ‘Fire Coming Out of The Monkey’s Head’.
Info: www.gorillaz.com