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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

NME.COM feature on Gorillaz - Plastic Beach album including album review, artwork, tracks, listen now, tour dates, discography and more.

Release date: 08 March 2010

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Gorillaz, James Murphy and Andre 3000 - 'DoYaThing'

Gorillaz, James Murphy and Andre 3000 - 'DoYaThing'

Specially commissioned Converse track

  • Feb 23, 2012
Gorillaz, James Murphy, Andre 3000 - 'DoYaThing'

Gorillaz, James Murphy, Andre 3000 - 'DoYaThing'

Failing at ‘normal people’ jazz, but they do their thing so well

  • Feb 21, 2012
Album Review: Gorillaz - The Fall (Parlophone)

Album Review: Gorillaz - The Fall (Parlophone)

Damon ditches the celeb mates and takes up the iPad for his best cartoon hip-hop album to date

  • Jan 17, 2011

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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Videos

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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach YouTube Videos

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Gorillaz News

Damon Albarn hints at Gorillaz album without Jamie Hewlett

Damon Albarn hints at Gorillaz album without Jamie Hewlett

Blur and Gorillaz frontman says project could exist without Murdoc cartoon

Blur's Damon Albarn says new Gorillaz material is 'unlikely'

Blur's Damon Albarn says new Gorillaz material is 'unlikely'

Is the end of the cartoon band?

Gorillaz unveil video for new track 'DoYaThing' - watch

Gorillaz unveil video for new track 'DoYaThing' - watch

Jamie Hewlett directed promo for Converse collaboration

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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach: Wikipedia Album Entry

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features guest appearances by several artists, including Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Primarily a pop album, Plastic Beach contains lyrics concerning consumerism and ecology-related themes.

The album has produced three singles, "Stylo", "Superfast Jellyfish", and "On Melancholy Hill".

Creators of Gorillaz, musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, began working on a new Gorillaz project in November 2007 called Carousel, which evolved into Plastic Beach, the group's third studio album. In the November 2007 issue of Q, when asked what his top priority for 2008 was, Damon Albarn replied "Well, I'm doing the next Gorillaz thing, but it won't be called Gorillaz." In the February 2008 Gorillaz-Unofficial interview, Jamie Hewlett elaborated on this, saying "I think the idea behind it is that it's like how The Who presented their movies – Tommy and Quadrophenia and so on. Those were presented as by 'The Who' even though none of the members of the band were in the movies. I don't think anyone from The Who was in Quadrophenia. But it's the same people working on it, that's the principle." In a July 2008 interview with The Observer he also said, "Gorillaz now to us is not like four animated characters any more — it's more like an organisation of people doing new projects. [...] That's my ideal model — Gorillaz is a group of people who gave you this, and now want to give you new stuff."

In the Observer interview, Hewlett said that there is "a new project which Damon and I are working on now, called Carousel, which is even bigger and more difficult than Monkey, and it isn't going to fit anywhere and no one's going to like it, ha ha ha! We've started work — I've done a lot of visuals and Damon's done a lot of music but we haven't figured out how they're going to fit together. I can't say much about it yet but it's sort of like a film, but not with one narrative story. There's many stories, told around a bigger story, set to music, and done in live action, animation, all different styles, well... originally it was a film but now we think it's a film and it's a stage thing as well and... look, it's basically us doing what the fuck we want without worrying about whether it's for a record company or a film company or whatever. So I'm not sure how it'll pan out, or even if it will happen. But Damon's written around 70 songs for it, and I've got great plans for the visuals, but right now, at this moment, it's still just a really good idea." Carousel was to be about the mystical aspects of Britain.

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Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Lyrics

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Lyrics

To the dark, dark sea's
Comes the only whale
Watching ships go by
It's the day we try

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Gorillaz - Cloud Of Unknowing Lyrics

On the cloud of unknowing
My world seems open
Every satellite up here is watching
But I was here from the very start

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Gorillaz - Some Kind Of Nature Lyrics

Some kind of nature
Some kind of soul
Some kind of mixture
Some kind of gold

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Gorillaz - Stylo Lyrics

Love, electricity, shock wave central
Power on the motherboard, yes
Push up, overload, legendary heavy glow
Sunshine, thunder roll, keep this all together

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Gorillaz - Superfast Jellyfish Lyrics

This morning you've got time
For a hot, home cooked breakfast
Delicious and piping hot
In only 3 microwave minutes

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Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes Lyrics

I'm a scary gargoyle on a tower
That you made with plastic power
Your rhinestone eyes are like factories far away

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Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill Lyrics

Up on Melancholy Hill
There's a plastic tree
Are you here with me?
Just looking out on the day of another dream

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Gorillaz - To Binge Lyrics

Waiting by the mailbox, by the train
Passing by the hills 'til I hear the name
I'm looking for a saw to cut these chains in half

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Gorillaz - Sweepstakes Lyrics

Pay day, you're a winner

Pay day, you're a winner
Keep cool, form a line

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Gorillaz - Broken Lyrics

Distant stars
Come in black or red
I've seen their worlds
Inside my head

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Gorillaz - Glitter Freeze Lyrics

Where's North from here?

(Morse code spells out "Plastic Beach")

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Gorillaz - Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach Lyrics

Gorillaz and the boss Dogg
Planet of the Apes

The revolution will be televised

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Gorillaz - Empire Ants Lyrics

Oh, joys arise
The sun has come again to hold you
Sailing out the doldrums of the [Incomprehensible]
The polyphonic prairies here, it's all around you

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Gorillaz - White Flag Lyrics

Hey, look, yo

No castaway, no survivor
I ain't lost and this ain't shipwrecked

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Gorillaz - Pirate Jet Lyrics

It's all good news now
Because we left the taps running
For a hundred years
So drink into the drink

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