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Gorillaz-Humanz |OT| After All

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K

Killer Queen

Banned
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It's been seven years since the worlds most popular virtual band released their third studio album "Plastic Beach" in 2010 and after the long hiatus following their release of "The Fall" they've returned with their fourth album titled "Humanz"
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Who are/What is "Gorillaz"
For those just joining us, Gorillaz are a Brittish cartoon band created by Blur front-man Damon Albarn and comic artist Jamie Hewlett in 1998. The virtual side of the band consists of 2-D(Vocalist), Murdoc Niccals(Bassist), Noodle(Guitarist) and Russel Hobbs(Drummer). The side of the band grounded in reality consists of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, who remain the the only full time members of Gorillaz with the band employing numerous musicians from different backgrounds to contribute to create their albums.The groups works are split up into phases, each with their own story that's told through numerous mediums from music, videos, promotional material, artwork, etc.
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Phase One: Celebrity Take Down(2000-03)
This phase started with the release of their "Tomorrow Comes Today EP" and also consists of their self titled album and ended with G-Sides(An album consisting of B-Sides and remixes from the self titled album, stylized as G-sides, representing Gorillaz-Sides)
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Phase Two: Slow boat to Hades(2004-07)
Consisting of the bands legendary album "Demon Days" and D-Sides. Also released during this phase was the bands (Now out of print) backstory book "Rise of the Ogre"
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Phase 3:Escape to Plastic Beach(2007-'13)
Work on this phase allegedly began shortly after phase two but went through some changes before becoming Plastic Beach, which was eventually released in 2010, and is the groups largest and most expensive effort to date, with the studio sessions yielding 70 finished and unfinished songs, which may have been released as sequel albums following Plastic Beach but plans for such a thing never materialized. Plastic Beach also never released an official B-sides album, but instead released "The Fall" due to It's inexpensive nature as it was recorded on an Ipad while the band was touring. This phase was seemingly left incomplete as the conclusion to this phase was never animated, though the Rhinestone eyes storyboard remains "canon".
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Phase 4: We are still Humanz(2017-??):
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HUMANZ BACKGROUND
While "Humanz" seemed to have started its life in fall of 2015 the concept behind "Humanz" comes from the thought of "How would you react and what would you do should some kind of negative, world changing event take place". This thought entered Damon's mind at the beginning of 2016 and thus "Humanz" entered its infancy. While the album was neither inspired or about Donald Trump, Trump's presidency is the kind of event Damon had in mind when brainstorming this concept. The album is one Damon considers to be a party album with up beat songs, but in typical Gorillaz fashion, lyrically dark. The album was produced by Remi Kabaka and The Twilight Tone of D/\P and recorded in: London, Paris, New York, Chicago and Jamaica.
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  • Ben Mendlesohn(Interlude Narration)
    [*]Jamie Principle and Zebra Katz
    [*]Anthony Hamilton
    [*]Benjamin Clementine
    [*]Danny Brown
    [*]De La Soul
    [*]Grace Jones
    [*]Mavis Staples
    [*]Danny Brown
    [*]Pusha T
    [*]Kali Uchis
    [*]Kelela
    [*]Popcaan
    [*]Vince Staples
    [*]Jehnny Beth of Savages
    [*]D.R.A.A.M
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Regular:
01.Interlude: I switched My Robot Off
"02.Ascension feat. Vince Staples"
03.Strobelite feat. Peven Everett
"04.Saturnz Barz feat. Popcaan"
05.Momentz feat. De La Soul
06.Interlude:The Non Conformist Oath
07.Submission feat. Danny Brown and Kelela
08.Charger feat. Grace Jones
09.Interlude: Elevator Going Up
"10.Andromeda feat. D.R.A.M "
11.Busted and Blue
12.Interlude:Talk Radio
13.Carnival feat. Anthony Hamilton
14.Let Me Out feat. Mavis Staples and Pusha T
15.Interlude: Penthouse
16. Sex Murder Party feat. Jamie Principle and Zebra Katz
17.She's My Collar feat. Kali Uchis
18.Interlude: The Elephant
19. Hallelujah Money feat. Benjamin Clementine
"20. We Got The Power feat. Jehnny Beth"
Deluxe Edition
21.Interlude: The New World.
22.The Apprentice feat. Rag'n' Bone Man, Zebra Katz, and RAY BLK
23. Halfway To The Halfway House feat. Peven Everett
24.Out Of Body feat. Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz, and Imani Vonshà
25.Ticker Tape feat. Carly Simon and Kali Uchis
26. Circle Of Friendz feat. Brandon Markell Holmes
Super Deluxe(Cont.)
-Alternate Song Versions/Remixes TBA-
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O

overcast

Member
Can't wait to check it out tomorrow.

Early impressions seem pretty mixed, but that's Gorillaz for you. Nice OT.
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
Man, without the glasses Noodle looks either tired or stoned as hell.

It's still weird to me to see her age without any noticeable age to the rest of the cast.
 
G

Gorillaz

Member
Will another album go by where no song still touches Damon's best solo track of Hong Kong?Especially with all these feats?

It looks like it

Courage said:
this shit's trash
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I'm not letting a damn talking dog and if I remember correctly a ye Stan ruin this for me

No courage....no
 
F

Fjordson

Member
Courage said:
this shit's trash
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It's just alright I think. A few decent tracks. Lackluster compared to the other Gorillaz records, though.

I really like We Got the Power for some reason. It's weird and corny, but I like it. But maybe the Oasis fanboy in me is giving it bonus points for Noel being on it.
 
P

Plum

Member
I guess you went with my OT name after all, huh? I don't mind!

The release of this really crept up on me but I'm definitely looking forward to giving this a thorough listen tomorrow.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
The only tracks I'm not too keen on are Carnival and Sex Murder Party, which, while I like their sinister vibes, are both kind of dithering. SMP should have been a climactic song considering its place in the album. They kinda drag down the last stretch of it unfortunately. Strobelite is a lil long too and could have benefitted from more Damon.
 
G

G0523

Member
I'm sure the album is good but it's not a Gorillaz album. It's like Gorillaz served as the producer and they have guest vocals from whomever on each track, similar to many EDM albums. After waiting 7 years for the next Gorillaz album, this is mighty disappointing. But if you keep in mind that it's not a Gorillaz album, I'm sure it's still good.
 
K

Killer Queen

Banned
G0523 said:
I'm sure the album is good but it's not a Gorillaz album. It's like Gorillaz served as the producer and they have guest vocals from whomever on each track, similar to many EDM albums. After waiting 7 years for the next Gorillaz album, this is mighty disappointing. But if you keep in mind that it's not a Gorillaz album, I'm sure it's still good.
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Can we not do this
Like at all.
You could say the same shit about Plastic Beach.
The only members of this band are Damon and Jamie who does the art. No one's stopping you from saying you don't like it or being disappointed but we don't need the "it's not Gorillaz because XYZ bullshit reasoning" in here.
 
A

Aurongel

Member
Its alright as a standalone record but it lacks a lot of identifiable personality and wit. Damon describing it as a party album feels accurate because it has a lot of the vapid qualities of pop music during certain songs while others are typically dark and moody like their past work.

Its a really odd hodgepodge of tones that dont really feel cohesive to me and the songs that are similar in theme lean more towards the simplistic pop and of the spectrum. I like it but it feels super passive and forgettable to me.
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
G0523 said:
I'm sure the album is good but it's not a Gorillaz album. It's like Gorillaz served as the producer and they have guest vocals from whomever on each track, similar to many EDM albums. After waiting 7 years for the next Gorillaz album, this is mighty disappointing. But if you keep in mind that it's not a Gorillaz album, I'm sure it's still good.
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Well, do you consider Plastic Beach a Gorillaz album? I mean, I don't know how you can say this about Humanz and not the same thing about Plastic Beach, which I remember having a ton of featured artists and whatnot. It's been a thing since the beginning, too, really.
 
F

Flousn

Member
I´m so torn...i basically like all the tracks I´ve heard yet, but i kinda miss the Gorillaz/Demon Days-Days where the Band actually felt like a band.
Since Plastic Beach, the Gorillaz Albums sound more like thematically arranged playlists with an array of collaborations.
Gorillaz have always been very experimental and genre-defying, but the Voice of Damon Albarn/2D and the rather poppy Refrains was something i really liked about their music and it tied the Albums together (for me). I somewhat miss those qualities in the new Songs, even though they are fantastic in their own right.
 
A

aBarreras

Member
Flousn said:
I´m so torn...i basically like all the tracks I´ve heard yet, but i kinda miss the Gorillaz/Demon Days-Days where the Band actually felt like a band.
Since Plastic Beach, the Gorillaz Albums sound more like thematically arranged playlists with an array of collaborations.
Gorillaz have always been very experimental and genre-defying, but the Voice of Damon Albarn/2D and the rather poppy Refrains was something i really liked about their music and it tied the Albums together (for me). I somewhat miss those qualities in the new Songs, even though they are fantastic in their own right.
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i feel that the lack of damon vocals on some songs, make the song with damon vocals stand out even more, i dont know.

i kinda get you, but i like the whole album very much, havent heard the bonus tracks tho,
 
A

A-V-B

Member
Flousn said:
I´m so torn...i basically like all the tracks I´ve heard yet, but i kinda miss the Gorillaz/Demon Days-Days where the Band actually felt like a band.
Since Plastic Beach, the Gorillaz Albums sound more like thematically arranged playlists with an array of collaborations.
Gorillaz have always been very experimental and genre-defying, but the Voice of Damon Albarn/2D and the rather poppy Refrains was something i really liked about their music and it tied the Albums together (for me). I somewhat miss those qualities in the new Songs, even though they are fantastic in their own right.
Click to expand...

Kinda my feelings, too. I enjoy the collaborating, but I loved when the Gorillaz had a strong musical identity of sorts, and a lot of that was, I suspect, just Damon's own sensibilities.
 
A

AlexFlame116

Member
Got the Deluxe Edition early thanks to Amazon! I'm so glad!

So far I'm 7 songs in and....it's okay. I'm sure it will get better!

For now Plastic Beach is still my favorite.
 
W

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
A very strong album with a solid foundation that excels at growing the story of the Gorillaz even more. If someone were to have handed this album to me 16 years ago after I had purchased their first album I'd barely recognize the band, but that's probably more important than anything. They've grown as a band (Jamie and Damon have, they are the core band, everyone else has literally been a guest). Probably one of their most mature and focused albums they've had. If Gorillaz was a garage band, Demon Days was a jam band, Plastic Beach was the answer to Demon Days questions and The Fall was the fleeting moments after, Humanz is the band realizing their only mission anymore is to make sure when the ship sinks and there isn't anything left you'll still have the community and commraderie of music to bind you together and keep you dancing.

I don't rank albums because fuck that's dumb and a waste of time, but this is a damn fine album. Just like Demon Days was maligned and Plastic Beach/The Fall still get a lot of hate so to will Humanz but in time it'll make more sense than anyone realizes quite yet. Maybe they're further ahead of the story than we can quite see.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
Aurongel said:
Its alright as a standalone record but it lacks a lot of identifiable personality and wit. Damon describing it as a party album feels accurate because it has a lot of the vapid qualities of pop music during certain songs while others are typically dark and moody like their past work.

Its a really odd hodgepodge of tones that dont really feel cohesive to me and the songs that are similar in theme lean more towards the simplistic pop and of the spectrum. I like it but it feels super passive and forgettable to me.
Click to expand...

I think that the poppier aspects are well utilized in the album's larger theme of "a party at the end of the world" where each artist sort of gets to express their own personal reactions to such an event in a celebratory and urgent way. So I don't think it's really fair to say it's vapid, especially when lyrically I don't think Gorillaz is ever "deep".

But production wise I think that it is a little less interesting sonically than their other main albums, and some of the tracks don't stand out as much since they're almost all driven by extremely heavy synth bass and drums. I don't know how much of that is Damon vs Twilight Tone, but one of my critiques is definitely that live instrumentation is missed here.
 
H

hughesta

Banned
Gorillaz pretty much only exists to give Damon an excuse to experiment and collaborate. There's no way Gorillaz would be making music if Damon couldn't use it as a vehicle for collaboration.
 
O

overcast

Member
Nice post wenis. Curious to see the negative version of that honestly (in the way it's written)

Their instagram is gold by the way. Posting a lot of behind the scenes stuff.
 
L

Lord Frieza

Member
My copy of the Deluxe Edition CD just shipped, so I highly doubt I'll get it tomorrow. I'll probably just listen to it via Google Play as I wait.
 
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