Back in the day they were on the same cool urban vibe as 3030 or Handsome Boy Modelling School...

back in the day they were on the same cool urban vibe as 3030 or Handsome Boy Modelling School... now it's like they're on the same obsessively homosexual retrowave shit as studio killers

strobelite is fucking atrocious

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youtu.be/0nOGy52xygY
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2d is more than 40 years old, give him a break.

Is it really shocking that a band that's been around for nearly two decades has changed or tried new things? Has any pop culture icon stayed exactly that predates the 9/11 era and remained moderately successful?

Times change. Formulas change.

PIss off the beat is pretty jiggy

>Started off as 19
>Now 39

Jesus it's been that long.

>you're getting old user

I think the new gorillaz is partly about how shitty and empty virtual reality is and that's why strobelite video is so stilted and limited.

I reached this conclusion while very high though so take it with a grain o salt

I think they are just testing the waters with their 3d modeling, both in what they can do and what the audience wants. Despite it's obvious poor animation, a lot of people enjoyed Sleeping Powder and despite it having a much better animation some people didn't care for it in Strobelite.
I think they are still deciding on what kind of effort they want to put into their next videos, ironic and cheap animations/models or expensive and polished animations/models.
Of course another solution is: if the song is good then no one will care about the animations.

Even 2D pop stars make mistakes late in life.

Strobelite was honestly such a step back in terms of animation quality. Its baffling how far its fallen. They had objectively better models and animation in the past, the music video for DoYaThing being the best showcase of it.

youtu.be/0nOGy52xygY

>I think they are just testing the waters with their 3d modeling
Their old 3d models were awesome, especially this There was nothing to test out.

IMAGES TO CONSIDER

1. Video opens with live action man cartoonishly and unrealistically being punched by boxing glove.

2. Murdoc, a cartoon character, walks across the floor observing a mob of extras dressed to look like cartoon characters. These extras are in the background of most of the club shots and their dancing is as static or more static than 2D and Noodle's. background text, "YOU'RE LIVING THE STROBELITE, accented by swirling vortex pattern drawing the eye inward.

3. A woman at the base of a pyramid serves numbing drugs (alcohol) to the club. Murdoc makes some sort of deal with the Devil here.

4. Multiple Noodles and 2Ds perform the exact same dance in a dazzling, empty VR environment.

5. More dancing, except 2D and Noodle are now trapped in a box. Two more pyramids, Two more strobelites.

Lyrics from Saturn Barnz:
With the holograms beside me (Whoa-oh) /
I'll dance alone tonight (Whoa-oh) /
In a mirrored world, are you beside me (Whoa) /
(Whoa) All my life? (Whoa)

You have to count in the budget limitations. DoYaThing looked so good only because of sponsorhip deal with Converse - they got enough money to produce it. It's why you see their logo pop up at the start.

You could say their usual budget is far more limited. It's the reason why Rhinestone eyes and a lot of other songs of Plastic Beach didn't get their animated music videos.

A lot of people forget how expensive animation is.

At least it's not 100% nu-rap anymore.

>what the fuck happened to gorillaz

You both got old, user.
The Gorillaz you knew is dead, someone's identity and ego pretty much dies, consumes itself, and is reborn slowly every 5-10 years, wot the fuck you 'fink it's going to subsist en statum for like 20 years?

>studio killers
Why are you trying to seem current by referencing shit from 2012.

>homosexual retrowave shit as studio killers
Hey, back off man, Studio Killers is their own thing.

>See
They can't rely on a huge endorsement every time they want to make a 3D video, they need to in-house that shit.

Strobelite looks on par with an MMD video

They blew all the animation budget on ALL MY LIFE and the substance of Phase 4 will be in that 2-D Netlfix cartoon Hewlett is making

Fuck you, Strobelite is great.

It's sad to see how easily people that call themselves "fans" give up on something they like.

Are you really taking anything produced by gorillaz at face value?

So who's gonna win the 2Dbowl? Seemed like this phase was pushing hard for Murdoc to win, but now it seems like Noodle is also a possibility.

No-one

>The Gorillaz you knew is dead
I miss the weird Gorillaz who lived in a mansion in a dump and had a drummer who was possessed by one of his friends. Gorillaz used to be a lot of fun, all their "deepest lore" shit was done tongue in cheek for the longest time, now it's just bland and pedantic.

Music was shit, redesigns were shit, new mocap animation is super shit
Humanz was a fucking disaster

Hey dude, fuck off.

Did I hurt your feefees?

We'll never see shit on the level of this anymore.

youtube.com/watch?v=cLnkQAeMbIM

>That music
>Those designs
>That amazing animation

New Gorrilaz has none of this

I don't know why anyone expected Humanz to be good or revolutionary. Every piece of media goes to shit if its creators have any sort of "creative differences".

Maybe now Albarn can fuck off back to Blur, who actually make, y'know, good music.

I'd imagine new gorillaz has a much lower budget, given how music sales have plummeted over the years.

Blur are shit.

The project stopped making sense after Demon Days.

Nah, I just disagree with your taste.

Russels gonna split that ass in half with his mighty American girth

I dunno, I wouldnt blame people for wanting it to be good, though I personally started seeing warning flags as soon as "All Hail Money" came out.

The ones I blame are those who are in denial, acting as if this is just as good as the previous three albums. Theyre the ones who, should there be a fourth, will stop any future albums being good.

Sorry you have shit taste, mate.

Every album is supposed to sound different. Plastic beach is dreamy and watery, humanz is about the end of the world and everyone is rioting and partying.

So what else has Peven Everett done that's good?

Care to elaborate as to why.

Plastic Beach made sense for the most part.

That doesn't make it good.

Wouldn't you have a band that tries something new and fails then tries to sound like their popular songs and fails?

What sort of asinine false dichotomy is this?

I'm fine with them trying something new, but I think this hyper-mainstream mumblerap direction they went in was a terrible move. It comes off like really cheesy trendhopping, to the point that I almost kind of WOULD prefer if they stuck to their old sound. They'd sound dated, sure, but it wouldn't seem like bangwagoning

I rather listen to the Gorillaz not Popular Rappers Feat: 2D

Don't expect Sup Forums to get it. THey're 100% on the dick riding wagon

What is there to get?

>Music was shit
>Redesigns were shit
What's it like having taste this shit?

That humanz is the worst album the project has released.

You tell me.

>music was shit
Yes. Without a doubt.
>new mocap animation is super shit
Sure.
>redesigns were shit
I'll stop you right there.

But they are Noodle and 2D looks especially ugly. Murdoc and Russel are okay.

Your daily reminder that Sup Forums has absolutely zero taste.

I feel like this would be a good post if the Gorillaz were a real band and not the brainchild of a a cartoonist and one guy from Blur.

Album rankings?

Demon Days 9/10
Plastic Beach 8.5/10
Gorillaz 7/10
The Fall 5.5/10
Haven't heard Humanz yet.

Also Noodle is best Gorilla.

user, there can't be anything deeper or meaningful to this. It's different from what things were like during OP's childhood. How can you not understand this?

[spoilers] Donald Trump [/spoilers]

Gorillaz's current problem can be summed up like this:

1) Humanz was entirely too fucking political for its own good. The songs most removed from political scare-mongering nonsense were the better songs, and there were only like, two of them.

2) Humanz wasted a lot of money using musical talent of collaborators. Maybe Gorillaz would have a wider budget to do more visually creative things if they didn't have to make contracts owing royalties to some other musician.

3) Making your long time fans wait 7+ years between albums is a surefire way to kill interest in your work, especially if all you intend to produce is low-quality, sub-par shit you hashed out in like, a year, because you figured you were done lollygagging like a fuck over your own failed personal projects.

4) New content is always important. Re-using the same video clips, pictures, and adverts is the epitome of lazy, and Humanz/this phase is chock full of this. Even moreso than phase 1 ever was.

5) The Humanz phase embracing MEMEry is probably one of the cringiest things about it so far. No matter what anyone says, Gorillaz was always a counter-culture band taking the piss out of the music industry and celebrity fame. Now they're a group that embraces their REAL band identity, embraces "normie"/safe shit, and tries its best not to earn the ire of anyone who might give them a tut or two.

I miss what this band used to be but whatever, I'm also getting older and I realize I'm not part of the fan base they want to consider anymore.

Someone tell me what is so political about the new songs. Seems just like user said here >humanz is about the end of the world and everyone is rioting and partying.

>2d is now a middle aged man trying to be hip with the kids

>Blew these designs on a shit album with garbage animation

JUST

Bump

They're one of the biggest bands on the planet. They've always been political. They've always had collaborators. The music has always spoken for itself. You are the problem.

Name a song on the first album that is as overtly political as the majority of HUmanz. Name a song from DD that's as overtly political as the majority of Humanz. PB. See what it is that I am asking?

When you have to use wonky-ass sound effects to cover up whole parts of a song because they're wailing about TRUMP like he's the devil in disguise, you got a song that is going way overboard with in-your-face politics.

Yes, the other albums are "political" in that theyre addressing some serious or silly shitty things about society. Album 1: dismantle your celebrity icons. Album 2: the world is a scary place amidst war and terror but don't fall to despair. Album 3: stop being wasteful you fucks, the earth is beautiful. Album 4? FUCK TRUMP HES A BAD MAN HUH DURR DURR

fanboys desperately try to call you wrong when you're clearly right

The songs that werent raped by the "guest" artists don't do.

Andromeda
Busted and Blue
My Collar
Ticker Tape

I've got a soft spot for Submission

Fire coming from the monkey's head is on-par with let me out in terms of political shite.

But it still outclasses 90% of Humanz so it's all good.

>When you have to use wonky-ass sound effects to cover up whole parts of a song because they're wailing about TRUMP like he's the devil in disguise, you got a song that is going way overboard with in-your-face politics
Honestly, the fact that Damon edited out all references to Trump and Obama baffles me. We all know Let Me Out is about Trump and that Pusha referenced Trump at the beginning of the song, don't bother trying to hide it. If you're going to wear your politics with your heart on your sleeve, at least have the balls to name drop the politician you're dissing.

1 - fully agree. humanz can't decides if it's a light party album, or some kind of revolutionist march. it's possible to be both (dirty harry), but it's tough to stretch that out to a full album - especially when, again, the album sounds more like Graduation than something with real 'depth'. Demon Days pulls it off by having a fitting atmosphere, being more grimy and dark. Humanz feels more like a club party than the ironic-political-thing they aimed for.

2 - Fucking correct. Imagine if Random Access Memories had literally no vocoders, or synth-y beats; it's still great music, but it also takes away what made it 'daft punk'. Humanz /almost/ does exactly that - I like Albarn's production work, for that most part... but when I put on Gorillaz, I'm here to hear him, upfront and center. Collabs are a big part of the project, sure - and to be fair, I think that's kind of the point of "Humanz", as the title suggests - but the point remains. There should be, at least, as much Damon as everyone else.

3 - I can understand why there was a wait, so that's fine by me. However, you'd think the product of half that wait would sound like more than The Fall with more production. Momentz sounds fucking awful, countless songs feel like weird demos, so on. They're good music, in a sense, but still pretty unimpressive.

4 - New content can be tough to churn out when Jamie is the only artist, so I can also side with them on this issue.

5 - gorillaz have always been 60% a joke, even back when they weren't cheesy as fuck. They're really leaning on the funny angle lately, but it's not like 2-D hasn't always been an idiot, jokes have been hammered in, yadda yadda. I think it's just more apparent now because the 12-16 crowd forces memes into every form of media - I.E., the bath, 2-D's pants, All My Life, Pickles, and more.

Demon Days is openly political, but less immature about it. Humanz calls Trump the fucking devil, and implies that he is causing the end of the entire planet.

Nice.

Demon Days calls out 2005-relevant political events, but if you didn't know what they're referencing - which I didn't, for the longest time, I won't lie - they make the same impact. FCOOTMH is as much an eerie tale as a critical metaphor, DH is as much an anti-war song as a Bush argument.

Let Me Out exaggerates the issue to the point of being so over-saturated that it's just plain stupid - as does Ascension, and Hallelujah Money.

I actually prefer Everyday Robots over Humanz

Quick, name your favourite track from each album!
>Gorillaz: 5/4
>Demon Days: All Alone
>Plastic Beach: Some Kind of Nature
>The Fall: The Parish of Space Dust
>Humanz: Andromeda

I'm sure there's meanings and whatnot, it's not impossible to hide subtexts in a video. Still - how much does this actually /matter/? You can paint a rock, but it's still a rock. It might be well painted, but it's a rock.

The thing that irks me about Strobe is how 'blah' it is. Meanings aside - because I know they're there, sure - all that we actually see happen is Murdoc talking, Noodle and D doing a really, really poorly animated dance, and Russel being ignored for no reason whatsoever.

Is there some artistic meaning? Probably. But it's still and ugly, cheap video.

>Gorillaz - Tomorrow Comes Today
>DD - November has Come
>PB - Stylo
>Fall - HillBilly Man
>Humanz - Ascension

I can't decide if I count disc 2 of Humanz as part of the album. If it is, Apprentice destroys every other song on it.

>Gorillaz: Slow Country
>Demon Days: Every planet we reach is dead.
>Plastic Beach: Alternates for me, literally my favorite album and every song has been a favorite at least once. Currently Some Kind of Nature.
>The Fall. Bobby in Phoenix
>Humanz: Ticker Tape

The whole album reeks of music industry shitheads trying to be marketable
like they didn't even make sure if half the people featured on their album would fit or sound good
they just wanted to get as many (black) artists featured b
even the album art is lazy repurposed demon days

there are some songs i liked, but they weren't even wow

I agree. I was excited to listen to thenew album and when it dropped all i could think was "what in the fuck is this shit?".

Some of the songs were alright but alright is all it can achieve.

what happened to the evangelist and the boogieman

What the hell is nu-rap?

fucking this

>Gorrilaz: 5/4
>Demon Days: O Green World
Plastic Beach: To Binge
The Fall: Revolving Doors
Humanz: Busted and Blue

Gorillaz: slow country
Demon days: El manana
Plastic beach: to binge
The fall: revolving doors
Humanz: ticker tape
Bonus round:
G-sides: 12d3
D-sides: stop the dams

some one-off interview said they're hanging out somewhere in england. gorillaz couldn't give less shits about their "story"... phase 3 still doesnt have an actual ending. at least when the do ya thang video was canon it wrapped up the phase.

back in the day you knew to stay on Sup Forums

You yourself admit every single album has a political theme. Humanz' is, nothing has changed since the last three albums, let's pretend it's the end of the world. If you want to misconstrue deliberately editing out political references into the exact opposite intention that's on you. But you're pretty dumb.

...

The production is top notch and has as much depth as any of the other albums. That and you whining about not enough Damon and wanting something familiar equal you not knowing what the fuck you are talking about.

Dunno, that's why I'm asking you, dumbshit, you would know

>Gorillaz: 19-2000
>Demon Days: Feel Good Inc.
>Plastic Beach: Empire Antz
>The Fall: Haven't heard it
>Humanz: Momentz

it matters exactly as much as all other art matters, which is to say, it's subjective. It matters if it's relevant to you, if you decide it matters.

If you paint a rock, it is still a rock, but there is now a painting on the rock that you can look at. When you go to a museum do you just see blank canvases?

Let's be clear about something: Damon Albarn has come out and explicitly said that Humanz was a concept from "A world where Trump got elected", which in turn, is an album about "The end of the world". Are you seriously trying to tell me that Humanz isn't the most INSANE with its hamfisted political commentary? That it's as subtle as the previous 3 albums?

Damon Albarn's lyrics have never really been that subtle

books are just fancy dead trees, my boy.

thats why I never read

i suppose that's true. the allusions in it are interesting, for sure, i'll give it that - if only because it gives the video a bit of meat

>tfw all this Slow Country

Gorillaz greatest crime is that the studio version of Clint Eastwood doesn't have the intro from the music video

What the fuck happened to Murdoc's character this phase? It's like he's literally lost all spark and is now nothing but shitty memebait catering to tumblrwhales.

Are you me?

I fucking hate this shit.

Also, 2D's new voice actor is shit, what happened to Nelson De Freitas? And what even is the theme of this new phase? The drive behind it? The story? There's fucking nothing.

Why don't Albarn or Hewlett crowd fund or use Kickstarter? They'd make a killing off that.