Gorillaz: The Fall: Riding on their bus from gig to gig during their most recent tour, the Gorillaz decided to put together this album with little more than their voices and an iPad, and it turned out not too shabby at all! More low-key, experimental feel than previous albums; you can definitely picture their bus gently bumping through American landscapes, the band members staring wistfully out the window. The tracks all feed/fade into each other really nicely, making for a really coherent-sounding album, one of those that you listen to all the way through. Pretty solid! FCC clean. Try 1 & 2 together, 5, 13, 12
1) Instrumental except for some unintelligible talkbox; nice contrast between bass hook and higher-pitched synths on top. Fades beautifully into the next track.
2) Play in tandem with track 1; soothing ukulele with deep bass drums/synths for a cool contrast
3) Subdued sound at beginning, interrupted with harsher synths.
4) Upbeat synth instrumental track.
5) Ruminations on Chicago, somewhat dramatic sounding with layered harmonies and doleful synth chord progressions.
6) Oh man, you can really feel the band driving along a dusty, empty, littered desert landscape here.
7) Loud, hectic synths. Mysterious, dystopian sound to it.
8) Like a slow synth-ballad from outer space.
9) Stressful synths, all instrumental.
10) Calmer, with steady vocals.
11) Computerized spoken word intro, then a strange electro buildup.
12) Snazzy, jazzy little synth & piano number.
13) Soulful guest vocals, with both synths and country-sounding guitars. 14) More computerized female spoken word, with soaring synth instrumentals.
15) Yodeling. Yep.
Kyle Vandenberg