New Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, nearly finished

According to Damon Albarn, the third Gorillaz studio album is to be called Plastic Beach. Speaking to Paul Morley's Showing Off..., Damon revealed that the idea behind the name came from the plastic at the beach near his Devon home.

"With this record I've tried to connect pop sensibility with trying to make people understand the essential melancholy of buying a ready made meal in loads of plastic packaging. People who watch X Factor might have some emotional connection to these things," he said.

The record, which started off as Carousel and is currently in the finishing stages, will feature many high-profile guests such as Lou Reed, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Bobby Womack and The Horrors. Oddly, no word about the producers has been given yet, but all that is known about the album can be found on Gorillaz-Unofficial's Third Album info thread.

In addition to Plastic Beach, Damon has a wide variety of projects going on. The collaboration album with Tony Allen and Flea is nearly finished and he is preparing to compose a libretto for Royal Opera House in co-operation with Alan Moore. Also, he would like to make another The Good, The Bad & The Queen record and travel to Africa to record an album with Mali Music collaborator Afel Bocoum.

Read the full transcription of the interview on Gorillaz-Unofficial.


Update added December 16, 2009:

Thanks to Gorillaz-Unofficial, some new things have emerged about Plastic Beach:

• The album artwork has been posted on the EMI Australia blog (probably an inverted and stretched image of the original artwork).
• Plastic Beach listening party was held on 12th December in the USA.
• Desert Dispatch reports that Gorillaz have been filming a "Mad Max style" music video in Calico Ghost Town, California.
• Gorillaz are supposedly signed to perform at the Coachella Festival 2010.
  

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