No, they weren't. Yeah, they were hiphop from the start, with some various artists that complimented the style, but there's a difference between the feature in Clint Eastwood and the "feature" in Momentz or Ascension.
The band originally was a concept band, formed by Albarn and a comic artist Jamie Hewlett, with at least some focus put into visual style of Hewlett and the characters that made up the virtual band.
Now it's just Albarn's happy cuck music amalgamation to preach politics and focus more on the features than on Albarn's writing and production.
Who even fucking cares about the virtual band anymore? the video of them in the spooky house told no story, added no characterization, it's just fluff added on to say "oh hey, right, we were this band before i think". Plastic beach and Demon day's plot and concept totally thrown out the window.
They had style and cohesion in past albums, Humanz is just a mixtape to sell you on other people's music, not Albarn's.
Humanz is not a gorillaz album.
Colton Richardson
debut, plastic, humanz
Nathaniel Perry
The stuff I've heard for Humanz has generally been pretty good (I liked Saturnz Barz, Andromeda, and We Got the Power) but man stuff like Ascension is just really shitty to hear. It's not anywhere close to the light-hearted and catchy classic hip-hop that older Gorillaz was keen to deliver. It sounds like generic shitty groid music.
I really hope the full album isn't just filled with junk like that.
James Murphy
the rest of the album is just hallelujah money on repeat
Carter Nelson
Fuck, I hope not.
I even really like Let Me Out, even if it's a far cry from their usual stuff; it's good but it doesn't really feel like Gorillaz.
I really, honestly miss when they had more of a punk influence.
Jack Walker
>trump supporters getting mad that gorillaz guy isnt on their side
Evan Cruz
As someone who isn't a fan of trump at all, I still hate where the Gorillaz is going. Ascension was dogshit. Just terrible
Lucas Hall
imagine thinking the gorillaz were always apolitical until now
jfc get your shit together man
I don't really like this new style but it makes perfect sense when you consider what the whole point of the gorillaz has been since the start
Gabriel Sanders
If the album was pro-trump id be just as annoyed. They were at least a lot more subtle or flowery with metaphors in past albums when it came to politics, humanz lyrics are literally
"Mama Mavis, oh Mama, they tried my patience Obama is gone, who is left to save us? So together we mourn, I'm praying for my neighbors They say the devil's at work and Trump is calling favors"
Fucking garbage.
ALL MI LOIF XDD
Jordan Nguyen
Ascension is really, really fucking garbage. I honestly have no idea how they managed to lower Gorillaz to the level of "DROP DAT ASS FO' IT CRASH"
Isaiah Nelson
Gorillaz lyrics arent really that deep
Leo Brown
they werent apolitical but they certainly weren't as upfront and preachy.
it's fine to have a political message in your song, but when you literally talk about presidents by name it sorta ruins the whole immersive "virtual band" concept feel.
ITS NOT FUCKING GORILLAZ
Luke Smith
yeah I'm totally bummed out this is such a lazy album that capitulates on the work of other artists, mostly (((rappers))), and I don't get to enjoy as much of that good sweet pure awesome DAMON ALBARN singing and composition
Really a SHAME
Gabriel Adams
>DROP DAT ASS FO' IT CRASH its because Albarn doesnt even write the songs anymore, he just lets his features write them and he'll do some production underneath.
Charles Lewis
if i wanted to listen to someone else's music id listen to their shit.
when i listen to gorillaz i want to hear, yaknow, the gorillaz. you remember them right? the band made by DAMON ALBARN? weird how id wanna listen to DAMON ALBARN on an album made by the band created by DAMON ALBARN huh.
If i wanted to listen to danny brown id listen to his album instead.
Ayden Jackson
that's literally not true
Liam Jenkins
This. Features were great before because it was always like 50% Gorillaz and 50% other artists. Even songs that leaned much more to the "Other artists" territory (The Sounder, for instance) still felt better produced and less, uh, stupid, as if Albarn had more of a say in it.
Carson Nguyen
This will be over soon. Right now we're in this weird market divot where being "politically conscious" is the only way to sell anything. Consumers won't buy into your product unless it has progressivism written all over it. SNL Late Night television News Popular music Movies
Jayden Flores
Good thing Damon left the names out then in the official release?
Josiah Mitchell
She's My Collar is so good
Xavier Lopez
yeah, really fucking subtle of him, good job damon, really discrete of you
Nolan Parker
Ascension is a great song, lot of folks triggered by rap music itt
Charles Foster
Agreed. Spacemonkeyz vs Gorillaz is more of a Gorillaz album than Humanz.
Luke Kelly
It's not even the progressiveness. It's just shitty contributors and the actual Gorillaz team taking back seat.
Lucas Perez
It's okay but it's really sung by a shitty artist.
We went from Orchestral Intro to SHAKE THAT ASS BABY
Oliver Reyes
WHERES DEMON DAYS
Ian Brooks
This tirade against artists putting in politically charged lyrics in a song is the stupidest thing I've seen in ages. >NO POLITICS OR DIFFERING OPINIONS IN MY MUSIC PLEASE I CAN'T TAKE IT Is exactly what's going on and it makes you all look pathetic. Music, and all art for that matter, has always had a politically charged underbelly. Get the fuck over it.
Bentley Thompson
I love rap music, but i also love the gorillaz.
when I listen to a gorillaz album i want to hear the gorillaz, not some random rapper each song.
In the original album, and the other two, it was mainly 1 other guy that'd rap overtop, and compliment Alburn's vocals. WHICH IS FINE.
This album though is more gorillaz play production while they demo a ton of different rappers and artists, instead of gorillaz.
Cant even have a proper video with 2-d because he's only ever singing in maybe 1 song as the main vocalist.
Fuck the original idea for the band as a virtual concept i guess? basically no longer the gorillaz, which is why im mad.
Benjamin Jones
>implying demon Days wasn't "fuck bush and his war: the album"
Hunter Young
Not even listening or understanding the lyrics, it still sounds like trash.
Nicholas King
I'm a big fan of Vince Staples' music but that song is not good
Angel Long
Was I addressing the sound of the music? I'm addressing this myth that Gorillaz has never been very upfront about their political stance.
Brody Anderson
this
Luke Bell
Are we just shitposting whether or not it's too political or not? Who the fuck cares, what matters in music is whether or not it sounds good, not politics and lore.
Elijah Carter
doesnt help that the music sounds like garbage, ontop of being annoying AF with their "message".
Gavin Thomas
It's a shame it can't sound good and have decent message and meaning like MF Doom or something.
Josiah Brooks
Considering the dick sucking for Let me Out in the last thread you are the minority.
Christian Smith
I liked it a lot
Isaiah Reed
Me too user, me too.
Adam Cooper
Same here
Aiden Clark
wow sure hope your opinion is validated by being in the "majority" lmao the fuck?
Charles Edwards
great discussion lads, glad u could all get each other off in a nice lil circle jerk
Luis Murphy
It is actually, brings me joy to see the right opinions in the majority. I had almost lost hope. But I see there are still people who think political messages should be shunned in art, or make stupid comparisons to songs like Momentz to M1A1 like in that last thread to justify their opinion on how a decent song is actually cancer incarnate.
Samuel Torres
I know you do reddit
Luis Ross
What really sucks is that Vince Staples had a great feature. The rest is pretty lame.
Matthew Hughes
whatever helps you sleep at night bro maybe stop being sucha pussy bitch tho?
Lucas Diaz
gorillaz was always shit and they will remain shit stop making threads about this plebs
Jonathan White
>that pic >what did he mean by this?
Mason Martinez
So what do you all suppose will be the next single and get the next music video? I hope it's She's My Collar but I have a feeling it'll be Momentz
Ayden Rodriguez
songs written by albarn vs albarn and features old gorillaz was way more about albarn's writing and vocals. new gorillaz is way more about muh feature. basically to counter the argument that humanz sounds like older gorillaz
Jackson Flores
'older gorillaz' hasn't existed since their S/T.
Demon Days sounds wildly different from that album. PB sounds different from both. Humanz sounds different from all three.
You'd have to be a moron to think that Gorillaz would have this pattern, come back seven years later, and make an album that sounded like their older stuff.
Landon Torres
demon days and plastic beach still have a ton of albarn on them humanz doesnt
Chase Cox
Humanz has more Damon than PB does. not counting the interludes Damon is on every song on Humanz (but has incredibly minor parts on Carnival, Submission, and Strobelite.)
so fine, we'll be nice and say Damon doesn't have a part on 3 songs on Humanz.
on PB, Damon isn't on White Flag, Glitter Freeze, Superfast Jellyfish, Sweepstakes, or Cloud of Unknowing. Five songs.
Damon is spread a lot thinner on Humanz than he is on PB (he has more songs to himself on PB) but he's present more overall.
Camden Wilson
What's it like not being able to appreciate the banger of the year?
I'm genuinely curious. You must be a pretty miserable person.
Liam Edwards
It's better than like half of the stuff on Summertime 06.
Brody Nelson
I haven't heard the album yet but literally all of the singles sound good.
I don't necessarily like all of the songs, Hallelujah Money is ruined by the way-too-over-the-top guest vocals and We Got The Power is just an average radio-friendly synthpunk track. But the production sounds fucking amazing across the board.
Nolan Murphy
It's not the injection of politics. It's the injection of dated references.
"The war is over, so said the speaker with the flight suit on"
Great! If you lived through the era, you know exactly who they're talking about, if you don't, it's just a cool sounding bit of lyrics.
When you fucking namedrop the folks IN OFFICE though, you guarantee that song will be worthless within a decade or two at most.
Jose Murphy
What did he mean by this?
Jaxon Lopez
but they booped it out so that specifically doesn't happen.
Caleb Rodriguez
>momentz is actually good >muh de la soul >rebbit agrees >y u all so mean 2 de la sol
Keep crying faggots. You know the track sucks. De La Soul fucked up and made their worst song ever, it had to happen some day.
Carson Ramirez
>but they booped it out so that specifically doesn't happen.
And in turn just made the intro sound like shit. Ideally, they shouldn't have named dropped at all, but they made it fucking worse by trying to censor it.
Angel Gray
momentz is the best Gorillaz / De La collab
yes better than FGI, plebs please leave
Jace Reyes
Literally the only single I liked was Ascension.
Charles Wood
momentz is the best Gorillaz / De La collab
yes better than FGI, plebs please leave
Grayson Hall
that means you too buddy
Christian Edwards
Dirty Harry was "Fuck George Dubya Bush: The Song"
Demon Days as a whole was a political statement of a post-9/11 world
Plastic Beach was all about environmental consciousness and shallow consumerism
Gorillaz were always Damon Albarn's political vehicle
and the cartoon characters were an advertising gimmick from day one.
Nathan Rivera
Damon clearly sings on the Chorus of Superfast Jellyfish. By more Damon, we mean we want songs where Damon is clearly more involved musically, and not just mumbling in the background.
John Smith
Gruff Rhys is on the chorus of Superfast Jellyfish.
Ethan Jones
Did a good leak come out yet?
Brayden Diaz
nope. all 320kbps downloads are encodes from that shitty vinyl rip from reddit the best download there is is the 128kbps from the listening app
Xavier Martinez
Is sadly right -- but use that one and bump it from your speakers! Honestly sounds great already
++ without the bonus tracks and knowing they're supposed to be after We Got the Power *really* makes you feel like that's not supposed to be the final track :/ I wanna hear 'em bad
Nathan Morgan
>Angry cuckservative from t/thedonald getting mad at DAMON ALBARN for being political, as if it's anything new
are you gonna get mad at the rappers because they say curse words, too?
Carter Wright
"Pigs (Three Different Ones)" "Margaret on the Guillotine" "God Save the Queen" "1999" "Sympathy for the Devil" "Ronnie Talk to Russia" "Biko" "Here's to You, Nikola and Bart" "Reagan"
Anthony Baker
And every single one you listed are relatively lesser known songs of those artists precisely because they don't have the timelessness of their other, better, works.
Blake Long
>moving the goalpost
Joshua Bennett
>Cherrypicking examples
Don't try that bullshit mate.
Jaxon Harris
Reagan is literally the first song that pops up on youtube when you search 'killer mike'
Andrew Torres
MUH TIMELESSNESS!!!!
EVERY ALLUSION TO REAL LIFE EVENTS HAS TO BE VAGUE AND METAPHORICAL!!! DON'T BRING REAL LIFE INTO MY MUSIC!!!! REMEMBER WAR PIGS? TIMELESS!!!!!!
Austin Brown
Nigga, are you fucking retarded? Google customizes their results.
I search Killer Mike and the first shit that pops up is his Bernie Sanders stuff.
I went into incognito mode and I get Pressure.
Caleb Torres
incognito mode got me Reagan again but whatever I guess.
either way it's certainly one of his most well known songs outside of RTJ
Leo Johnson
>Everyone who disagrees with me is obviously a fascist >No one can ever legitimately hold an opinion contrary to mine
Looking forward to summer break? I know the 8th grade is an exciting time in a young person's life.
Jacob Rogers
who cares
it's a top-40 reddit radio pop band. why are you overthinking this?
>Who even fucking cares about the virtual band anymore? the video of them in the spooky house told no story, added no characterization, it's just fluff added on to say "oh hey, right, we were this band before i think". Plastic beach and Demon day's plot and concept totally thrown out the window.
who the fuck cares about gorillaz "lore" and story lmao. c'mon.
Hunter Bell
I guarantee you most songs you can pick that aged badly didn't do so because of lyrics also, see
Anthony Hernandez
Ahahha, I love this. You faggots think I'm a Sup Forumsster who dislikes Let Me Go?
It's my favorite song on the album. I just think how they handle the intro is one of the most retarded things they done since sticking Sweepstakes into the middle of Plastic Beach.
Tyler Martin
painful truth right there
Joshua Parker
>reddit you need to go back
Nathaniel Parker
jesus christ, people like you are making me like the album even more. their music has always had a slight political undertone, and this album is no different. Demon Days was chock full of references to environmental issues and war, and really there are only two songs on this album that feel explicitly political. If you can't get down with this, this album fucking wasn't meant for you. "preaching politics?" Give me a break. So many other musicians and artists are doing it WAY more obnoxiously in 2017/Trump era. You're too retarded for your own good OP.
Christian Myers
how can you live with such shit taste
Jose Torres
Jesus Christ, there is an underlying degree of self awareness in that hook and if you can't comprehend that you should fucking off yourself
Benjamin Morris
>I would defend any crap, the post
Kayden Fisher
don't expect people on Sup Forums to do anything other than shitpost trash opinions that require as little thought as possible
Christian Morales
gorillaz is a reddit band
Julian Hall
>reddit stopped reading there
crawl back to whatever community you came from
Kevin Turner
You are just 10 years older, that's the reason why you don't like it.
Asher Nguyen
I'm not even trying to defend it, album is 7/10 at best, but thats a retarded issue to take with the song. If you listen to current rap you would realize that Vince Staples is far and away one of the least problematic rappers at the moment. What about the lack of Albarn on the track? There are much better reasons to take issue with this project/song that go beyond your deeply internalized semi-ironic racism.
Lincoln Turner
gorillaz is a reddit band
Daniel Baker
What? No. I'm gonna get mad at the rappers for simply existing. Black don't crack, but I wish it did.
Hunter Richardson
>Who even fucking cares about the virtual band anymore? the video of them in the spooky house told no story, added no characterization, it's just fluff added on to say "oh hey, right, we were this band before i think". Plastic beach and Demon day's plot and concept totally thrown out the window. I was watching a couple of their oldest videos like Clint Eastwood and Rock The House (the band is in some weird environment and gets menaced by a supernatural phenomenon, which they deal with at varying degrees of success, and it's a bit of fun basically) and realised the spirit house video is just harking back to that. The virtual band aspect does not inherently require the "deep lore multimedia narrative plot-driven anime" part which turned up later.
Jackson Richardson
nobody dislikes humanz because it sounds different
people dislike humanz because it's mediocre
Ethan Price
Well what did you expected out of the dullest bands in music history? Seriously each album following the meme monkey boy and his pals as they fight for freedom has been indistinguishable from the others. Aside from the gloomy imagery, the band´s only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of hip hop features, Making the music feel inert. a-at least Damon days was good though "No" that album was terrible. As I listened, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "went to an ANTIFA protest." When you Listen"Gorillaz" you are, in fact, trained to listen to entry level Sup Forumscore