Gorillaz versus Mark Gormley March 14, 2010 5 comments	By Aaron

‘Plastic Beach’, the newest album from pop supergroup Gorillaz, is a confounding listen. Much like its title suggests, from a distance, this album appears to be everything that fans have been waiting for and more. With an impressive cast of co-stars, it reads to be a ground-breaking blast… on paper. But when one examines closely, it turns out that the sand and waves are merely hollow representations of how amazing the record could have been. As the equally plastic NOW Magazine puts it: “It has hooks, but none as immediate as past Gorillaz hits.”

It shows characteristic signs of dance-worthiness, but at other (unfortunately more frequent) times, it devolves into utter tedium. Too many tracks start out at the pace that they will ultimately maintain, and nearly every song seems to pass through some stage where the novelty edges dangerously near grating or downright annoying. Although a progressive group in some senses of the word, most of the songs begin with great promise only to dwindle into repetitious lushness, never breaking out of that 4/4 ‘tick tick tick tick’ hi-hat and 1-2 bass snare humdrum. The reviews are puzzlingly positive, with only the Los Angeles Times breaking the mold and slamming it handily: “Too many of these 16 hazy, half-crazy tracks sound like undercooked studio goofs recorded in the wee hours by Albarn and his impressive circle of celebrity pals.” Perhaps the writers in LA were not so awestruck by the celebrity guests. They and Brasky both urge you to keep in mind: although perfectly good corn sometimes turns up in turds, it is inadvisable to consume.

Other reviews paint a picture of an unforgettable album worth listening to again and again: “[Plastic Beach is] not just one of the best records of 2010, but a release to stand alongside the greatest Albarn’s ever been involved with and a new benchmark for collaborative music as a whole.” says the BBC. While it may be a shot in the arm for pop music, overall it seems like just another album, the way that many bands’ fourth and fifth records happen to turn out (read: Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins, No. 4 by Stone Temple Pilots, etc). The main gripe that Brasky has with this album is that it simply never finds that explosive passion from previous recordings. Although the snark and intrigue remain, the energy and soul seem to have been drained from the disc, replaced by something ‘plastic’, something that the band seems to assume that we will automatically get excited about simply because it exists under the ‘Gorillaz’ moniker.

What has happened here is a symptom of what is wrong with the music industry today. You can give dozens of talented artists all the money in the world to create an amazing album, but all the thousands of gadgets and guest lists and marketing and music videos featuring Bruce Willis can’t immediately produce something honestly innovative the way that the tedium and struggle of real life is able to. What have Damon Albarn and Snoop Dogg got to rap about these days? Having to wait five minutes for the maitre’d to snag a second bottle of Rothschild from the wine cellar? After a few tracks, the album becomes very similar to a “2 Hot Girls in the Shower” youtube video that you’ve been watching, waiting for the tits, and in the end that black screen comes up and you realize that even though it was called “2 Hot Girls in the Shower”, it’s just two women in their thirties standing in the shower talking about inane crap.

But if the Gorillaz new album is something that is ‘so good it’s bad’, so to speak, here is something that is ‘so bad it’s good’. Singer-songwriter Mark Gormley is everything that is RIGHT with the music industry these days.

Mark Gormley is completely without pretense, ego, and restraint. Bill Brasky made Mark a guitar from Velociraptor skulls and dark matter to celebrate Mark’s being elected the president of the Moon. Mark Gormley puts all the money in ATMs. Mark Gormley invented three ring binders. He also does Chuck Norris’ taxes.

Tags: Internet mark gormley Music review