Broadening your musical tastes can often times be very rewarding, after all, it implies finding enjoyment in areas of the musical spectrum that you previously wouldn't have given the time of day to. I experienced this with hip-hop, indie rock, and this gem, a mixture of the two.
Demon Days, Gorillaz sophomore album, was given to me as a birthday present right when it came out in 2005, and honestly, I was very apathetic to it's sound. At the time, it was metal, metal, and more metal with a side of metal when it came to what my musical diet consisted of, so the decidedly un-heavy sound of Demon Days was a definite turn-off in my book. It was'nt exciting for me, and I just couldn't stand the rapping on many of the tracks since, at the time, I thought rap was the source of all evil in the universe. I maybe listened to it twice, then shelved it, then forgot about it, and I think it actually disappeared into my brother's room for many years. I didn't care, because I saw no reason to give this album any of my time again.
Fast forward to the latter half of my high school years and you'll see that I have become a pretty voracious music listener. I wasn't quite into jazz yet, but I became a fan of prog rock, indie rock, electronica/industrial, alternative, and even a little hip-hop, and it was then that I was reminded of Demon Days. I thought "Hey, maybe I'll like this album now." and unearthed it from underneath piles of shoes and horse fetuses in my brother's room (wait, nevermind, no horse fetuses.) I almost completely forgot what the album sounded like, and only after a few songs after pressing play, I was surprised that I dismissed this album like it was nothing only 5 years earlier. The sparse guitar work here (mainly handled by Simon Tong) is a far cry from the dense riffs of metal, but allowed for great detail on songs like "November Has Come" and "Feel Good Inc." and Danger Mouse's production is spot on, as to be expected from him. There are also some fantastic guest appearances on this album, from rappers like De La Soul and MF DOOM to, uh, Dennis Hopper doing spoken word.
Where this album shines, and is the reason why I'd label it a 10/10 classic, lies within this album's variety paired with it's overall quality. Basically, this thing covers so many different styles of music while playing through without a single misstep and without sounding like a disjointed mess. The first song after the intro "The Last Living Souls" starts out with a simple metronome before erupting into a Caribbean beat, and is followed up by "Kids With Guns" which is pure indie rock. "Dirty Harry" melds together a children's choir with rapping by Bootie Brown backed by a real string section, a feature that's on many tracks throughout this album's duration. "Feel Good Inc." creates a feeling that the title implies with dreamy guitars that segue into raucous rapping by De La Soul. "Every Planet We Reach is Dead" features soulful backing vocals and a climax of strings, piano and organ while "Dare" is a straight-up dance track. The two big standouts here are "El Manana" and "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head". The former is a moving piece that features some of the most passionate vocals on the whole album and perfect utilization of the string section while the latter is a spoken word by Hopper about an island of "Happy Folk" and their plight, backed up by a great beat and equally great melodies. As if the first 13 tracks weren't enough of a cornucopia of different styles and textures, the last two ("Don't Get Lost in Heaven" and the title track) are a real collective curveball. The songs feature the London Community Gospel Choir and melodies one would find in a children's lullaby. There's so many genres at play here, and still, Gorillaz (created by Blur's Damon Albarn, btw) sounds like they've made an entire career out of each one.
Overall, this album feels like a cohesive whole despite all the playing around with various styles, and it's hard to put it into words, but I'd say that this thing is a feat of, well, music. You can't call it indie rock because it's on a major label. You can't call it hip-hop because only four tracks feature rapping. "Alternative" is the most fitting but even that doesn't do this thing justice. Anyone who is a fan of music, period, should give this thing a listen and share the joy that I feel almost every time I listen to it.
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