47. Gorillaz- Demon Days


I could come up with more reasons why I shouldn't like this record or the various components of it- I'm not a fan of Damon Albarn, am not really huge on hiphop and think the whole concept of Gorillaz is very contrived. And yet, here's their second album and it has captured my stereo and proved one main theory of musical appreciation- preconceptions will stop you from hearing great albums.
Led by strong singles Feel Good Inc. and Dare, Albarn and new collaborator Danger Mouse have created a comic-style of album with a nice pedestrian pace and dosing crisp beats, clever samples and welldelivered bouts of hiphop lyricism without ever forgetting the all-important melodic line- the little Kraftwerkian keyboardloop from Dirty Harry being one that doesn't leave the cranium for a long time. I wondered why they need the whole cartoon-shenanigan but perhaps hiding behind the anonimity of the characters was needed to provide Damon Albarn with the added inspiration to create this unblurred, focussed album. Damn good.