This Is A High

I've reached across virtually every Web 2.0 platform to relay the news: the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, comes out on March 9. I had been hoping for another Gorillaz release in 2010, given Damon Albarn's relative lack of output in the last year or so. I first learned about the album a few weeks ago, when Albarn talked in an audio interview about getting together a list of guest stars that outdoes even Demon Days in terms of sheer, ridiculous diversity. They include: Barry Gibb, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (!), Bobby Womack, Mark E. Smith (in the Shaun Ryder part, I imagine), Snoop Dogg, and the Syrian National Orchestra.

I'm pretty sure that I'm the biggest Damon Albarn fan I know--his handsomeness and boisterous personality have resulted in a lot of bad press on this side of the Atlantic, but I could make a good case for Albarn as the forerunner for a lot of what we might call world music-oriented popular music, from M.I.A. to Vampire Weekend. He managed to prove all the haters wrong by making one great Blur record in 2003 without Graham Coxon, and that is in addition to forays with Gorillaz, the Good, the Bad, and the Queen, his solo album Mali Music, the Chinese opera Monkey: Journey to the West, and this mind-blowing song by Amadou & Mariam. Plus, he reunited with Coxon and Blur for a farewell tour that didn't result in any new music but did provide footage for an upcoming film that promises to rank up with the Beatles Anthology in terms of manipulative weepiness (protip: 13 outdoes even Sea Change in that department).

In short, Albarn has emerged as the only guy to come out of the Britpop scene who seems to have an enduring and evolving interest in different types of music (please compare with Oasis). Except maybe Jarvis, but was he ever as willing to cede the spotlight to such a sterling group of fellow musicians? Check out the new Gorillaz track "Stylo" here, and imagine a world where popular radio showcases Albarn, Mos Def and Bobby Womack trading vocals.

An additional note: What is this album going to do for Gorillaz, narrative-wise? The cover for the "Stylo" single features Murdoc and Noodle, the latter seemingly having finally reached puberty, but from what I recall, Noodle was killed after her floating island windmill was shot out of the sky by mysterious helicopters in the video for "El Manana." Is it possible that Plastic Beach will lack the mixed-media unity of its predecessors?