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 Let's just start this short review with a simple statement; this record is genius. As previous reviewers have stated, the first Gorillaz record was rather difficult to fathom initially, but this one is a plug-and-play appreciative record. On first listen from the second that the record started playing in my CD player, I was hooked. This is greatly in part to the record's famous producer in hip-hop and alternative rap production, DJ Danger Mouse (creator of the infamous Grey Album).
The beat patterns and structures on the record are amazing, simply put. Danger Mouse and the rest of the Gorillaz Partnership experiment with some of the craziest and most inventive rhythms I have ever heard on a popular record. For example, on Each Planet We Reach Is Dead, the group goes from a furious trip-hop beat style into an inventive jazz pattern that complements the track well, and finally helps hip-hop realize that using such beats can be done. The words are equally as clever and poignant as anything else that Albarn or the Gorillaz have previously done, and with the combination of Danger Mouse's experimentation with very obscure synths and sounds the record is a display of ingenuity that has been long overdue.
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I got a pre-release copy of this cd and listened to it during work. In its entirety, this cd has a very nice flow of rhythm to it. Reminded me a little of The Avalanches mixes. It has a different feel from their debut album, but the intricate mixing of tunes and rap and even just spoken words shows how gifted the artists are and how well they work together. Late last week I have had a different song every day ringing in my head, going from Last Living Soul, to El Manana, to Dirty Harry, to All Alone. This album definitely gets to you after several listening sessions. Dennis Hopper's narration is creepy in the Monkey MOuntain song.
