Gorillaz: Demon Days : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Four years after Gorillaz' 2001 debut, is Damon Albarn's cartoon side project still worth the shtick? The answer is a qualified yes. Gorillaz' second studio album, Demon Days, is a hit-or-miss pastiche of art pop, hip-hop, dub and dance. Producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura has been replaced by Jay-Z/Beatles remixer Danger Mouse, and he's taken the group into subtler, more layered territory, embracing piano, strings, choir music and Atari-style electronic blips.

Demon Days doesn't really get going until the fifth track, "Dirty Harry," which pairs the Pharcyde's Booty Brown with electro-boogie beats and an angelic children's chorus. The single "Feel Good Inc." features De La Soul, a hot beat and a jaw-dropping video. The album's weirdest, artiest moment is "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head," a deeply spooky spoken-word bit by Dennis Hopper. But, surprisingly, Albarn's vocals, phoned-in and incredibly flat, weigh the record down. Without the lush melodies that always balanced Blur's smartass cynicism with emotion, his voice becomes a downer. Once a brilliant way to free Albarn up, Gorillaz has become an all-too-cool facade for him to hide behind.