Gorillaz Have Stylo

Gorillaz fans rejoice! The band is releasing a new album called Plastic Beach on 9 March. There are some new videos on You Tube from the forthcoming album on thier channel. One track that really sticks out is called Stylo.

The video is a masterpiece and is perhaps thier best work to date. The track features Mos Def & Bobby Womack, also there is an appearance of Bruce Willis as the "unknown assailant". When I first watched it I had a little bit of a flashback to Knight Rider due to the catchy bassline sounding almost like the theme from that television show, and the fact that it was a black Camaro "muscle car". Part of me wants to believe that is what they intended because of thier previous subtle references to American pop culture in thier songs and video. Throughout the clip you'll learn more about what's actually happening based on visual clues. 2D is wearing a scary clown mask on the top of his head. Noodle is not actually Noodle, but what the Gorillaz Web site calls Cyborg Noodle. There is nothing unusual about Murdoc other than he is racing a really cool old car with a star on the side, but what I can't understand is why Russel is absent. Is he in the trunk?

If you watch all of the videos from the channel you'll be able to surmise that Plastic Beach is more than an album. It is a fantasy place where the characters are going. For what purpose though, is not able to be determined. There are short videos called idents that are about 30 seconds long and briefly give insight to the characters and also show how they may get to the island called Plastic Beach. My favorite ident is of 2D.

On the Gorillaz Web site gorillaz.com there is a pretty neat online mission game based around Plastic Beach. When you click on the Plastic Beach link at the top, you will be presented with a flash application that lets you explore the area and also to talk to pelicans and other inhabitants. Altogether everything makes for a very entertaining experience. It kind of reminds me of the multi-media artwork of The Matrix series where they used movies, Web site, and video games to interlink the story. The only thing missing is a full length motion picture from the Gorillaz.