Gorillaz: Demon Days

CML call number: CD/ROCK/Gorillaz
Sasha Frere-Jones wrote in the New Yorker: "In 2000, [British musician Damon] Albarn … formed a new band, Gorillaz, officially consisting of four cartoon characters … an ingenious conceit, enabling Albarn to orchestrate a comeback without showing his face. Albarn, who writes the band's songs and plays almost all the instruments, could now make music with whomever he pleased. … [W]hat makes Gorillaz universally appealing is Albarn's music, a blend of low-key hip-hop and mellifluous pop, ornamented by an assortment of African and Asian instruments. … 'Demon Days' … has lingered in the Top Forty of the U.S. charts for six months. … [Albarn co-produced 'Demon Days' with hip-hop artist] Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse. Albarn also enlisted guest artists … De La Soul and the singers Neneh Cherry and Shaun Ryder. … Albarn is a mercurial synthesist who weaves together bits of rock, pop, and reggae without condescending to any of them. … 'Feel Good Inc.,' a tightly wound hip-hop song, is memorable for Albarn's forlorn hoots and for what sounds like a guitar theme from a sixties spy movie." -- "Damon's Day", 11/28/05