There’s quite a bit of connective tissue between Gorillaz’s 2010 triumph Plastic Beach and their latest album, Cracker Island. For starters, both are thematically concerned with the moral decay of contemporary society, conjuring up imagery of far-off archipelagos that serve as manifestations of everything from consumerism to group think to the trappings of money and fame. Unfortunately, Gorillaz—the brain child of Blur’s Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett—has next to nothing incisive to say about these and other matters, resulting in an effort that repeatedly stalls before it ever has a chance to really take off.
On the disco-tinged “New Gold,” rapper Bootie Brown—whose electrifying performance on the puckish “Dirty Harry” two decades ago feels like a complete 180 from what he’s phoned in here—delivers what could serve as one off the album’s many well-worn thesis statements: “Trendin’ on Twitter’s what some of us live for/Friendship’s here but now fuckin’ revolving door.” On the equally lifeless “The Tired Influencer,” a dejected Albarn moans about living in “a cracked screen world,” which is only moderately less cringe-inducing than when he claims on the otherwise tight synth-pop title track that our current version of “the truth” is “Auto-Tuned.”
Even more galling is what Albarn views as the ultimate corrective to these newfangled dilemmas: the healing power of love. On “Oil,” he and Stevie Nicks harmonize over AOR-styled instrumentation about drone-bombing the world with affection. This lovey-dovey outlook reaches a critical mass on the album’s quixotic closer, “Possession Island,” where Albarn pleads, with the assistance of Beck, for us to get along with one another, as we’re “all in this together.” While it isn’t necessarily a bad sentiment to end on, it feels especially out of touch coming from a rich white male who, realistically speaking, has little to lose by blindly embracing unity.
Much like 2017’s overstuffed Humanz, Cracker Island is, more times than not, overly indebted to its impressive list of guest stars, foregrounding their talents instead of employing them as natural extensions of Albarn’s musicianship. Track seven, “Tormenta,” is a breezy, sunny blast of reggaeton featuring Bad Bunny, but it’s also entirely divorced from the album’s narrative up to that point, while “New Gold” feels more like a Tame Impala track than a Gorillaz one, as Albarn’s only contribution is a particularly underwhelming bridge.
When left to his own devices (and stripped of his usual slew of Tumblr-approved guests), Albarn engineers some of Cracker Island’s most stand-out material, albeit ones that still vary greatly in quality. Songs like the Greg Kurstin-produced “Tarantula” and “Skinny Ape,” while still containing some unnecessary passages (most conspicuously the latter’s ska breakdown), are comparatively barebones and cleanly produced. Even better is “Baby Queen,” a gorgeous piece of dream-pop that cuts back on Albarn’s worst theatrical tendencies. For an all-too-brief few minutes, Cracker Island doesn’t smack of Old Man Yells at (i)Cloud.
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Oh, cool, I get to be the first person to say that music is subjective, but you’re wrong.
Slant is a fitting title for this publication…get over the white male stuff and review the album. You’re the only one out of touch here, Paul!
“…it feels especially out of touch coming from a rich white male who, realistically speaking, has little to lose by blindly embracing unity.”
Damon is an odd choice to lash out against when it comes to hating on rich white males considering the diversity of voices that have always been an important part of the Gorillaz musical project.
Least out of touch music journalist
I disagree.
Jake must be buddies with this wannabe political journalist.
I’m sorry, you mean to tell me that ‘Skinny Ape’s ska breakdown is bad? did we listen to the same album? and for record ‘Tormenta’ is about the finding innerpeace so the slow pace of the song makes sense. I give this review a 1/10
Say what you will about the album, at least I could finish it. This article on the other hand…
This album will age like fine wine, unlike this review that will spoil faster than unfridgerated milk.
I actually agree with this unlike everyone else, I’ve been a fan of Gorillaz since I was 8 back in 99 and this has to be the most underwhelming album they’ve made. humanz is easily the worst but this one isn’t as bad it’s just really kinda bland oil was a good track skinny ape I like the song with beck was ok for three second song with him I have personally been wanting them to Collab for a long time and when they finally did on this and the last album I was just expecting something transcending but instead was kinda underwhelmed by it and most of this album. I don’t think Gorillaz make bad music really ever but compared to their own library this album is at the bottom with humanz for me. mainly because of the preachiness of um, the Gorillaz have always had a message of some kind but it wasn’t obvious art the first listen and didn’t beat you over the head, that’s what makes the now now and song machine vastly superior to humanz and cracker Island.
This album was very boring to me. Just a blur of synthpop that didn’t use the guests to their full potential.
People hating on the Bad Bunny track, but that reminded me of the one with MF DOOM on demon days. The song the peaked my interest the most was the remix at the end of the deluxe album.
Did you really criticize this album based on the efficacy of it’s lyrics on bring 100% accurate dissections of the woes of modern society? Boy you must have well informed opinions based on… musicians… Love to rip apart the lyrics in the songs you enjoy.
There is literally no ska in Skinny Ape. If you don’t know what ska sounds like, maybe you shouldnt be a music critic.
Fast, punky electro rock. There is no back beat. It bears no similarity to ska in any way shape or form.
Absolutely insane that someone employs you to review music without knowing basic music genres