Gorillaz - Gorillaz

Gorillaz is the debut studio album by British ‘virtual’ band Gorillaz, originally released in March 2001 via Parlophone Records.

Gorillaz were created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four fictional animated members: 2-D (lead vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Their fictional universe is explored through the band's music videos, as well as a number of other short cartoons. In reality, Albarn is the only permanent musical contributor, and the music is often a collaboration between various musicians. 

It'd be tempting to judge Gorillaz just by their brilliantly animated videos and write the project off as another triumph of style over substance. Admittedly the characters are so arresting that they almost detract from Gorillaz' music.

The amazing "Thriller"-meets-Planet of the Apes clip for "Clint Eastwood" is so visually clever that it's easy to take the song's equally clever, hip-hop-tinge for granted.

Initially, Gorillaz self-titled debut feels incomplete when the imagery is removed; the concept of a virtual band tends to struggle when you can't see the virtual bandmembers. Musically, however, Gorillaz is a blend of Albarn's eclectic Brit-pop and Dan Nakamura's equally wide-ranging hip-hop. Albarn has fun sending up Blur's cheeky pop on songs like "5/4" and "Re-Hash", their trip-hop experiments on "New Genious" and "Sound Check", and thrash-pop on "Punk" and "M1 A1".

Despite the similarities between Albarn's main gig and his contributions here, Gorillaz isn't an Albarn solo album in disguise; Nakamura's bass- and beat-oriented production gives the album an authentically dub and hip-hop-inspired feel, particularly on "Rock The House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today". Likewise, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Miho Hatori, and Ibrahim Ferrer's vocals ensure that it sounds like a diverse collaboration rather than an insular side project.

Gorillaz feels like a musical vacation for all parties involved - a little self-indulgent, but filled with enough fun ideas and good songs to make this virtual band's debut a genuinely enjoyable album.

Check out the tracks: “Clint Eastwood”; “19-2000”; “Rock The House” and “Tomorrow Comes Today”.

This double album 2LP record set is a 2015 reissue on black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves, pressed in Europe.