Gorillaz

Humanz PARLOPHONE. CD/DL/LP

Fifth LP from Damon Albarn/ Jamie Hewlett virtual reality hip-hop cartoon superstars.

Seven years ago, Plastic Beach cemented the idea of Gorillaz as a collaborative state-of-theart R&B, electro and pop vehicle, a notion somewhat reversed for its low-key, experimental follow-up The Fall. This time, Damon Albarn blends both approaches for a boundlessly inventive and occasionally quite bonkers record that draws heavily on the input of its myriad guests – some familiar, such as Grace Jones, De La Soul and Mavis Staples, others, like Zebra Katz, Vince Staples and D.R.A.M., supremely cutting edge. Indeed, Albarn’s voice is a spectral presence, save for an unalloyed, ballad Busted And Blue; instead, the visitors rule, from the syncopated electro beats of opener Ascension, with Vince Staples’ sizzling politico rhyming, to the Jehnny Beth of Savages-led hippy love-up of We Got The Power (Noel Gallagher’s in there somewhere), via deep house cuts like Peven Everett’s Strobelite and the PiL-on-crack of Charger with Grace Jones.