New Gorillaz album - Cracker Island

[Styopa]

It was arguably arrogant for Damon to produce Plastic Beach himself and think he could still come up with big hits. The project had always been fed on hits and the lack of them on Plastic Beach certainly hurt it. The live shows also got off to a wobbly start. Jamie had never wanted them and the execution was off. I think it's a gorgeous sounding album but it took 7 years for On Melancholy Hill to cross over.

Agree with all of this. The choice to self-produce PB was a mistake imo and is the main reason why I personally find it my least favorite Gorillaz album (not counting The Fall). Even though there are good songs on PB, the production on the whole record feels so thin and flimsy. Also agree that they were still figuring out the live band at that time. Gorillaz live today is so much better and smoother than they were in 2010.

To my ears, Plastic Beach sounds like the biggest and fullest production of all the Gorillaz records. Someone here (I think it was Doug) described the production as 'lush' and I would entirely agree with that. The production on the post-PB records sound much thinner to me and less organic. A lot of them sound like they have produced digitally whereas when I hear PB I hear the sound of musicians together in a room.

[jonathas]

Weirdly I was really down on the Plastic Beach production when it first came out. It sounded thin to me, and a big step back from Demon Days. I guess the retreat from boom-bap drum patterns towards more of an electro sound felt like a backwards step then; a bit tinny and malnourished. Weirdly, a decade on, no-one uses old school hip hop drum patterns any more, and the production on Plastic Beach sounds relatively fresh and contemporary. In retrospect, I don't think Damon did a bad job at all.

[aldamasta]

I love that Plastic Beach’s initial reception was brought up. I remember a few years back I started seeing discussions online about how PB is one of the greatest albums of the decade and/or of all time, and I’ve felt like the initial reception by fans must have been a made up memory of mine? But no, it really did get shit on by some at the time. God how well it aged. And Rhinestone Eyes I would definitely consider a hit. I’ve heard it on radio stations in the US, tik tok really blew it up, and I know a lot of casual fans who cite it as a top Gorillaz track.

As for CI’s chart, #3 is pretty good! But selling nearly 50K physical albums is huge in this age, that’s wonderful! Some have been cynical about all the vinyl variants and what not, but they clearly helped propel this record. And Gorillaz is an expensive as hell project - glad to see it’s paying off.

[stephen]

Plastic Beach was underwhelming but I think that's mainly to how good and successful demon days was, and also the poor choice of the first single. It still had catchy songs on it though, even on first listen there were stand out tracks. Rhinestone Eyes, Empire Ants even Glitter Freeze were unique enough to be remembered second time around.

Cracker Island on the other hand, I've listened to it on full half a dozen times and the only memorable track is Silent Running, the rest just kind of pass me by. That's not to say it's not a good polished album, I think it sits closely to The Magic Whip where it's just lacking a few big hitters

[tom_cas1]

Plus Plastic Beach came out a massive 5 years after Demon Days. Demon Days had Gorillaz as the biggest band in the world, in my opinion. Amazing songs, amazing videos, just sensational. Then 5 years went by and they lost momentum. And then it was another 7 YEARS until Humanz. Crazy. I do wish they could have released something a bit sooner after Demon Days to keep the ball rolling. Obviously we all know what other projects Damon was doing during that hiatus (GBQ, Monkey), but still.

[idreamofpikas]

Debuted at no4 in the worldwide chart

http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums-week10-2023.htm

Top 3 acts are all asian, the one continent that is still buying large amounts of physical media.

[JackS]

Impressive - Gorillaz cracked the Top 100 artists on Spotify. Sitting at number 90. Usually in the 200s

[tom_cas1]

The album gets better and better the more I listen to it. Very, very good. Although I have to say my least favourite song is probably Silent Running. The only one I tend to skip. Does nothing for me currently.

[joaogabriel_lf]

Impressive - Gorillaz cracked the Top 100 artists on Spotify. Sitting at number 90. Usually in the 200s

Now at number 65! Impressive numbers by then…

[John_d]

It felt quite staged, a bit of a stretch, in that interview last week when Zane Lowe mentioned Gorillaz now being at a "stadium" level. But there can't be many acts in the Spotify top 100 who actually tour? They're not at a stadium level in the UK (how many did they get to APE? 3/4 capacity? 30,000ish?) but I doubt Damon cares! What a roaring success this album has been. I'm delighted for them.

[aldamasta]

Gorillaz in the US, depending on the spectacle involved, the guests, and the location, are definitely stadium level. And they did 2 nights at the O2 in 2021, right? That’s near stadium level, and with how little they’ve played the UK a one or two off stadium show (like blur I guess) could probably sell well. I dunno, just a guess.

Gorillaz in terms of sheer listeners and relevance is probably bigger than it’s ever been. That’s just mind boggling. As Damon said though, he was born on the 23rd, so 2023 is his year. And it definitely is so far!

[JackS]

Impressive - Gorillaz cracked the Top 100 artists on Spotify. Sitting at number 90. Usually in the 200s

Now at number 65! Impressive numbers by then…

Now sitting at 59. Tormenta closing in on New Gold in terms of streaming numbers. Wonder if they’ll crack the Top 50 artists…

Tormenta has also been consistently in the Top 30 songs globally in Spotify since release day

[John_d]

Gorillaz are currently 55th most listened to !

And they have released a Bad Bunny video, of sorts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO8Nj09525U - would have been nuts to have not done this!

[JackS]

Just watched their Week 2 Coachella set. Phenomenal. How Damon can just casually bring Beck, Bad Bunny, Little Simz and De La Soul on stage is astonishing. And he looked so happy up there. Great stuff

[aldamasta]

It was a great performance, and yes it’s insane how Damon does it. I was surprised Bad Bunny came out, that was a ton of fun! And Little Simz really killed it, the crowd was so into Garage Palace.