Going into this album I knew next to nothing aboutย theย Gorillaz outside of a few of their hit records and the fact that they use animated characters to represent themselves in their music videos. Theyโve always intrigued me and I had always planned on checking out a full length but I never got around to it, and their lengthy hiatus really caused them to slip my mind all together. But they are finally back with new music and this time I was sure to check out all they have to offer. So this a newbieโs reaction to his very first Gorillaz listening experience withย Humanz.
For whatever reason I always assumed they were a pop rock outfit and that may very well have been the case with their previous albums, butย Humanz is literally impossible to classify genre wise. When I say literally, I mean literally. This thing is all over the place with sounds from pop to hip-hop to funk to rock to anything and everything in between. Itโs honestly a daunting listen, and not just due to itโs incredibly lengthy 26 track listing but because youโre ripped from wildly different sound to another. Thereโs no sense of cohesion here that at times makes it hard even for someone like me who listens to a vast range of musical styles to get into any kind of vibe with the album. I found myself skipping around trying to find the parts I like. With that being said, the parts of the album that I liked, I really liked. โThe Apprenticeโ is by and far my favorite track on the album with itโs incredible groove, โAscensionโ has such dope synth loops, and โAndromedaโ is soo bouncy. Thereโs some incredible stuff on here, just not all of it.
โAll these liberated women sitting in my lap
Iโm finna catch a body like I got a gun and badge
Iโm finna turn Obama to my partner โfore he dash
Pull up to the pad, wipe my ass with the flag
Iโm just playinโ, baby, this the land of the free
Where you can get a Glock and a gram for the cheapโ
Lyrically,ย Humanz is as all over the place as the production. Thereโs no central theme to the album and their list of guest features is as varied as it is long. With the exception of โBusted and Blueโ thereโs a guest feature on every single song of the album. They all do admirable jobs and bring a lot to their respective songs, especially considering most of them are working outside their normal genres, but because there were so many guest features I never got a great sense of who and what the Gorillaz actually sound like. The whole album felt like Gorillaz and friends which is why they probably intentionally named the last โsongโ ofย Humanz โCircle of Friendz.โ
Have you heardย Humanz? Whatโd you think about it? How does it compare to their other albums? Seriously, I wanna know. Let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave your own ratings and reactions to the album.
