There is a ten year gap since I reviewed my last record by this next band. That could’ve just been the randomness of the dice but it wasn’t. It’s been 14 years since they released a record I liked enough to buy. Let’s explore the record that brought me back to the fold…sort of.
Disc 1738 is…Cracker Island
Artist: Gorillaz
Year of Release: 2023
What’s up with the Cover? The Gorillaz hanging out in front a creepy shack. I imagine them as being the weird locals that live in a shed adjacent to a campground. Everyone reminds their kids not to wander over there. “It’s not part of the park, honey, bad people live there.”
They aren’t really bad people, just a weird cult that practices the dark arts and tries to summon dread Cthulhu. Kids do wander over onto the property from time to time, but most of the time they return unharmed. Most of the time.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila is the Gorillaz fan in the house, and introduced me to their eponymous debut as well as their second (and best) record, “Demon Days”. Since then I’ve dabbled based on how much I’ve liked the album. It’s been since 2010 since I was intrigued enough to buy them but last year I decided “Cracker Island” was sufficiently over the line to give it a go.
How It Stacks Up: I have four of the Gorillaz eight studio albums. “Cracker Island” comes fourth of those. Here’s the full recap since I’ve once again exhausted all the Gorillaz albums currently in the house.
- Demon Days: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 138)
- Plastic Beach: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 656)
- Self-Titled: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 74)
- Cracker Island: 2 stars (reviewed right here)
Rating: 2 stars
It’s true that the Gorillaz electronica lounge funk is not generally in my wheelhouse. I’m sure this impacts my overall impressions of all their records but hey, it’s my music blog. I’m sure you can find other blogs where electronic lounge funk is totally the writer’s jam, and you can go read those blogs if you are so inclined. They won’t be as good, of course.
Back to the record, where the consistently best thing are the beats. Gorillaz have a natural talent for creating dope beats. Beats that sink you into a relaxing groove in the same way you collapse into a bean-bag chair, slow and comfortable. The production is excellent, generating a crisp sound with heavier bass than I would like, but not so much as to be offensive.
The result of all of this is that even weaker songs are still listenable. You can just groove along with that beat and all will be well. Lyrically, none of the songs are even remotely as interesting as the beat and a lot of the other musical elements are equally just meh, but there are notable exceptions that rise above.
The first of these is the title track, which is a straight up dance banger. You will hear this song and you will want to immediately go to Cracker Island and dance your ass off until the sun rises. This song is all about the joy of the rave. Will your kids go missing while you’re there? Relax, and just tell them to steer clear of that hole in the floor of the centre of the shed and it’s all good. Most of the time.
I also dug “New Gold”. Like a lot of hip hop bands, Gorillaz invite a lot of guests to collaborate on their records. Here they invite Tame Impala and rapper Bootie Brown. I usually dislike Tame Impala but whatever they are doing on “New Gold” it is working. This song is funky as hell and the chorus has a delightful “arms in the air” vibe. As for Bootie Brown, consider me converted. Old school flow that jumps with lively energy from bar to bar in a way that makes you think you’re going to tip over from all the forward leaning beat. But you don’t. Bootie’s got you, baby.
My last favourite is “Possession Island”. This one is not a dance tune, unless maybe a slow dance (anyone miss the art of the slow dance at clubs? I do…). This song is stripped down to piano, strings and the welcome and well-suited guest vocals of Beck. This song will fill your soul with the kind of sorrow so artful, you’ll be glad to be sad. Lovely stuff. Do I love the mariachi elements that get introduced in the last minute? Reader I do not, but the song is so good overall I forgave this bit of excess.
In the end, these three songs were enough to hold my attention throughout (it helps that they are spread out at the beginning, middle and end of the record). The other songs faded into one another and left me bored, but it was never too long until a good one came along. Very similar to my Beach Bunny review, but this time just over the keep-it line.
Best tracks: Cracker Island, New Gold, Possession Island
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