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Album of the Week #1 - Humanz
Humanz - Gorillaz
★★★☆☆
Welcome to Album of the Week! This is a segment Fletch and I will be continuing on Mondays. We'll be highlighting albums we find great or new releases, and sometimes even classics as well. Stay tuned for more!
My three favorite songs on this project are Andromeda, Saturnz Barz, and Submission. I don't think there's one aspect of Andromeda I dislike. Usually, Gorillaz songs feature soft verses and rhythmic raps over beats such as Feel Good Inc., but Humanz takes a different approach entirely. D.R.A.M. and 2D/Albarn blend together very well together vocally, which certainly caught me off-guard upon first listen, as I'm used to the D.R.A.M. who sings over trap beats rather than the material Gorillaz puts out. The production for the track is very nice as well, and I really was surprised to hear D.R.A.M. do so well on this kind of music style. Saturnz Barz is an all around banger, in my opinion. Once again, hearing Popcaan on a Gorillaz track is quite a shock to me, but hearing the two together felt very natural. His heavily-accented raps did nothing but support the space-ageish electronic beat in the background of the track. Plus, 2D's verse/bridge is stellar and extremely catchy. I get chills every time the "I'm in the staking bar..." section of the song comes on. Submission is an absolute blast to listen to as well, and Kelela's vocal performance is extremely soulful, and Danny Brown's verse is great as well. As previously mentioned, I would have preferred to hear 2D on the track, but the track itself is pretty solid.
I'm not very fond of We Got The Power, Sex Murder Party, and Carnival. In my opinion, there's something about Jehnny Beth's voice on We Got The Power that doesn't blend with the rest of the track well. It's somewhat abrasive and I don't think the lyrical content is not profound or catchy in the slightest. Sex Murder Party just feels like 4 minutes and 19 seconds of the same 5 second loop to me. I found it to be extremely repetitious and monotonous at times. However, despite the rest of the track, Zebra Katz is definitely the highlight. Carnivall is the same to me as well, as I just don't find it interesting as a standalone track.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts of your own below, this is an open discussion!
Background
Gorillaz are an English virtual band created in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett. The band consists of four animated members: 2-D (lead vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar and vocals), Noodle (guitar, keyboards) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). Their fictional universe is explored through the band's website and music videos, as well as a number of other media, such as short cartoons. The star-studded Humanz is their fourth studio album, following Gorillaz, Demon Days, and Plastic Beach. It was released on April 28th, 2017.Likes
Some of the features on this project were stellar. For example, Vince Staples, Pusha T and Danny Brown's lyrical skills really made it pop much more. This enormous roster of features really proved to be quite the collaborative effort. The vocals on this project, not just from 2D/Albarn, were stunning. Mavis Staples, Kelela, Kali Uchis and D.R.A.M. were some real highlights from the bunch. Their vocal skill over Albarn's production worked very well. Andromeda, for example, is such an amazingly smooth song, which wouldn't be the same without D.R.A.M.'s silky voice over some of the bridges. I enjoyed the tracks which incorporated the more electronic sound that they achieved on this album. Songs like Strobelite really proved their abilities as songwriters to create a catchy tune with great production, and you cannot deny that the group is extremely skilled at creating hits. Humanz is a showcase of their ability to make a good pop record, straying away from their normal electro-alternative sound.Dislikes
However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the mass feature mania featured on Humanz can be somewhat of a double edged sword. While listening, I often forgot I was listening to a Gorillaz project, simply because of the lack of 2D/Albarn's vocals, which are beautiful enough on their own. For example, I believe tracks like Ascension would definitely flow more if there were added verses from 2D, to balance it out. Tracks such as Submission don't even feature 2D at all. Though I'm not saying they were bad tracks, to me it certainly feels like they are missing a chunk of what makes the Gorillaz… Gorillaz. I think that Danny Brown and 2D would be stellar on a track together, and it almost feels like the listener is missing out on what could have been. To me, the album is more of a compilation of sorts, rather than an album with a flow. Not to mention, only about half these tracks really catch my attention when I am listening. Out of the 26 tracks (of the deluxe edition, that is), a lot of them are sleepers. I feel like the album could have definitely been condensed a lot more, discarding tracks like Sex Murder Party and Carnival, and been much more consistent. It seems like they tried to change their sound, but couldn't really decide on what to go for. Listening to tracks like Hallelujah Money and Momentz next to each other feels like they are on two separate planes of existence. Gorillaz are definitely capable of keeping a theme and sticking to it, and that's what I believe made albums like Demon Days so great, as loosely conceptual as it is. Albarn mentioned this album having somewhat of a political theme, but it felt somewhat drowned out besides tracks such as Hallelujah Money.
Favorite tracks
My three favorite songs on this project are Andromeda, Saturnz Barz, and Submission. I don't think there's one aspect of Andromeda I dislike. Usually, Gorillaz songs feature soft verses and rhythmic raps over beats such as Feel Good Inc., but Humanz takes a different approach entirely. D.R.A.M. and 2D/Albarn blend together very well together vocally, which certainly caught me off-guard upon first listen, as I'm used to the D.R.A.M. who sings over trap beats rather than the material Gorillaz puts out. The production for the track is very nice as well, and I really was surprised to hear D.R.A.M. do so well on this kind of music style. Saturnz Barz is an all around banger, in my opinion. Once again, hearing Popcaan on a Gorillaz track is quite a shock to me, but hearing the two together felt very natural. His heavily-accented raps did nothing but support the space-ageish electronic beat in the background of the track. Plus, 2D's verse/bridge is stellar and extremely catchy. I get chills every time the "I'm in the staking bar..." section of the song comes on. Submission is an absolute blast to listen to as well, and Kelela's vocal performance is extremely soulful, and Danny Brown's verse is great as well. As previously mentioned, I would have preferred to hear 2D on the track, but the track itself is pretty solid.
Least favorite tracks
I'm not very fond of We Got The Power, Sex Murder Party, and Carnival. In my opinion, there's something about Jehnny Beth's voice on We Got The Power that doesn't blend with the rest of the track well. It's somewhat abrasive and I don't think the lyrical content is not profound or catchy in the slightest. Sex Murder Party just feels like 4 minutes and 19 seconds of the same 5 second loop to me. I found it to be extremely repetitious and monotonous at times. However, despite the rest of the track, Zebra Katz is definitely the highlight. Carnivall is the same to me as well, as I just don't find it interesting as a standalone track.Conclusion
Overall, I'm somewhat indifferent towards this project. Much like a lot of Gorillaz' others works, it's certainly a hit or miss. I really liked a lot of tracks on here individually, yet when it all comes together, it feels somewhat messy and all over the place. To me, it seems like Albarn wanted to make this a great collaborative effort (which he did), but couldn't decide on where he wanted to take it sonically. I feel like the tracklist could have been condensed a lot, and the project could have flowed a lot better with maybe 14 or so songs. I give this project a solid 3 out of 5 stars.Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any thoughts of your own below, this is an open discussion!
