The Fall – Gorillaz

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‘The Fall’ is the next step in the evolution of the ever changing sound of Gorillaz.  Recorded over 32 days while on the road, during the American leg of their Plastic Beach World Tour, with an iPad, ‘The Fall’ is a prime example of an album that opts for style over substance.  The America inspired album is nothing more than a collection of blipped out soundscapes that front man Damon Albarn crafted in his spare time.  The tracks ‘Phoner To Arizona’, a funky electo introduction to the album, and ‘Bobby In Phoenix’, featuring flowing synth bursts with Bobby Womack urging the listener to talk about their feelings, are the standouts of the 15 track album.  With track names like ‘The Parish of Space Dust’ and ‘California And The Slipping Of The Sun’, one would think that ‘The Fall’ is Albarn’s most manically inspired album yet, but disappointingly falls short of the standards Albarn had previously set with ‘Plastic Beach’.

4.0 out of 10

>Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Single)

>Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

“The Suburbs” is the title track from Arcade Fire’s third studio album of the same name.  The release is only a few days away and I am giddy with excitement.  “The Suburbs” is a breezy piano ballad with front man Win Butler reminiscing on the teenage years of the cul-de-sac.

He looks back at the time with fascination and longing: “In my dreams we’re still screaming/Running through the yard/And all the walls that they built in the 70’s   fall.” Butler looks at the rows of houses not as homes, but as a war zone.  But now that he has grown up, he is realizing that he wants a daughter and wants to show her beauty in the world, before the world does its damage.

9.0 out of 10

The Suburbs LP drops Tuesday, August 3rd