‘Humanz’ might be the most sketchy, and perhaps most under-the-radar, Gorillaz album yet, but it has arrived on the scene at exactly the right time. What better way to mark the evolution of fake news and a political world in disarray than the return of the planet’s first virtual band?
For anyone new to all of this, Gorillaz are Blur’s Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, augmented by a hefty list of guest stars, and they deal in genre-hopping music akin to settling in with your record collection set to shuffle.
Within the first quarter of an hour of music here, we’ve already experienced rap, funk, disco and autotuned R&B and it’s totally fine because it all blends together seamlessly (or where the seams are showing, we’re treated to some pretty decent ‘interludes’ to cover them up).
The Vince Staples-led opener Ascension is sublime, with the energy of the rapper’s delivery and the gospel chanting brought very much down to earth by Albarn’s weary asides. Follow that!
Well, Strobelite tries and almost succeeds but there’s nothing there to truly lift it above a decent disco-funk tune. But we’re back on track with the dub-Dancehall of Saturnz Barz before handing over the baton to the ever trustworthy De La Soul for their turn on Momentz.
The break of seven years between this album and the double-header of ‘Plastic Beach’ and ‘The Fall’ has evidently given Albarn plenty of time (aside from ‘Everyday Robots’, Blur’s ‘The Magic Whip’ et al) to pen some cracking tunes. But sometimes it’s the simple things that stand out. Grace Jones’ Charger is a good example: throw together a fuzz-guitar sample, a few car alarms and some improvised vocals and you’ve got yourself a very listenable few minutes of noise. It seems effortless to the man sometimes.
There are a couple of downsides, though. With all of the excellent songwriting on show, it’s amazing that Sex Murder Party and Carnival somehow slipped through the net in half a dozen forgettable second-half minutes. Crucially, they don’t detract from the overall feeling you get from the record. ‘Humanz’ might not be ‘Demon Days’, and the first four songs proper are the best it has to offer, but just how Albarn keeps on churning out glorious music like this year after year is anyone’s guess.
Gorillaz Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Sat June 10 2017 - MARGATE Dreamland
Mon November 27 2017 - BRIGHTON Centre
Wed November 29 2017 - GLASGOW SSE Hydro
Fri December 01 2017 - MANCHESTER Arena
Sat December 02 2017 - BIRMINGHAM Barclaycard Arena
Mon December 04 2017 - LONDON O2 Arena
Tue December 05 2017 - LONDON O2 Arena
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