#Cracker Island 2023 album by Gorillaz

[t-jfh]

(Nexus Studios)

Gorillaz evoke a stylized 3D-world in the Cracker Island music video.

Band members 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel of the BRIT and Grammy-winning virtual Gorillaz turned to Nexus Studios to create the psychedelic video for their new track Cracker Island’ ft. Thundercat. Directed by artist and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett and Nexus Studio’s Emmy-nominated director, Fx Goby, the live-action/animated hybrid music video takes viewers on a late-night jaunt to the City of Angels.

(Nexus Studios)

In the Cracker Island music video, director Goby draws on his multidisciplinary expertise with 2D and 3D animation as well as live-action.

YouTube video >> Gorillaz - Cracker Island ft. Thundercat (Official Video) (Released 29 July 2022 - 3mins.+39secs.):

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Gorillaz — Riffing on the perils of the metaverse and living online.

Gorillaz: Cracker Island album review – smaller, subtler, and better for it.

Damon Albarn has reined in the excess – though there are still cameos from the likes of Bad Bunny and Stevie Nicks – for a trim album that is one of the band’s best.

By Alexis Petridis

The Guardian - 23 February 2023

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Gorillaz featuring Peven Everett perform Strobelite at WFUV 2017.

YouTube video >> Gorillaz feat. Peven Everett - Strobelite [Live at WFUV] (Recorded 16 April 2017 / 4mins.+37secs.):

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Little Simz covers Gorillaz Feel Good Inc for Triple J - Like A Version.

YouTube music video >> Little Simz covers Gorillaz Feel Good Inc for Triple J - Like A Version (Released 1 August 2019 / 4mins.):

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[kenzie-ann27]

Nobody knows what they're fooling with here.

Gorillaz | Cracker Island (2023)

[minimusics]

Gorillaz - "Cracker Island"

Not that I'm a huge fan, but based on their legacy, I expect more from the Gorillaz. Something about the album feels reminiscent of 2010s top 40 (i.e., corporate-sounding synth pop), and the songs themselves don't feel distinct. It's pleasant enough, but it feels edgeless.

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genre: pop, synth-pop, electropop, funk, neo-psychedelia year: 2023

personal rating: 5 (out of 10)

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Why this album? This album has been listed on a best of 2023 (so far) list by Dig!, Far Out, Rolling Stone, and Uproxx.

[i-zabelaus]

YES!!!

[coffeetablettowers]

Text:

Weeeell look who's plummeted slightly sozzled down your chimney and crashed into your festive fireplace! Yes, tis I, Saint Niccals, delivering ye the greatest gift of all - myself! In the form of my heartwarming Christmas Day message, aka the REAL king's speech. What a lovely surprise. Before this arrived you were probably having a dreadful time with the nearest and dearest (I know I am), so let me defibrillate your day with a jolt of Murdoc magic!

BTW, no, I did NOT use an AI to write this. No chance. I'll prove 987alkhjflkajfq. I just wrote that with my face. Would an AI do that? Nope, cos AI's don't have faces, also they're very boring and predictable. Apart from Cyborg Noodle who's dangerously unhinged due to that hole in her noggin, but other bots - very beige. No, this really is me, writing by candlelight, robed in a billowy dressing gown, festive cheer all about me; turkey on fire, tree riddled with vermin (Russ found it in a graveyard), chestnuts roasting in the George Foreman.

Right then, without further ado, 2023, let's have a look at ya

Twas a year of the Tormenta (that's 'storm' in Spanish, also track 8 on my latest smash). Every kind of storm imaginable, inc loads of actual storms. A year when the Doomsday Clock moved to 90 seconds from midnight - a smidge ominous, but it's not midnight yet! So there's still hope. Not for our xmas turkey, alas, which Noodle has just put out with a fire extinguisher. But let's focus on the positives - like my incredibly successful album Cracker Island. Wow. Really suffered for that one, you know. Mostly Stuart's fault for dragging us into a cult-war, but TBF it did set up a terrific boss-battle finale for the Silent Running vid. And then Coachella! Ahh, the Gorillaz BFF's all together on one stage! (Plus one numpty who arrived late after falling asleep on the ferris wheel.)

Most important thing at the end of any year, ask yourself - what did you learn? I learned nothing. But what did YOU learn? Maybe that there's no utopia. Maybe this world is all we've got, so we'll just have to make do and polish the turd. Oo that reminds me, I need to wrap 2D's present.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.

Your rizz,

MURDOC A. NICCALS

[musicjam10]

Cracker Island, Gorillaz, 24. February 2023.

I must say this was a pretty big disappointment from Gorillaz, and it's not a secret that I feel that this album is less than enjoyable. Knowing the extremely powerful creative force of Gorillaz, you would expect from Albarn something more than a rough draft of a rookie artist's first album.

Even the art department got the short end of the stick. Knowing all the great album covers, like Demons Days and Plastic Beach, this one ends up being nothing more than a badly done digital sketch of the final idea.

To start on a high note, the two singles, Cracker Island (featuring Thundercat) and New Gold, were decent. Two totally different songs, but none the less something you would expect from Gorillaz. New Gold is my favourite of the two; the psyhadelic Tame Impala voice perfectly blends with Bootie Brown's more funky-disco rap voice; even Albarn's voice was very nicely complimented in here. A great calm disco beat that is in a way modern but still has the Gorillaz stamp of approval.

The second single, Craker Island, was promising enough, but it didn't deliver as expected. The song overall is great; the instrumental beats were the standout, and if I may say, one of my favourites in general, so it's such a shame when you hear Albarn's not-so-singer voice get into the mix. It was rough and unpolished, and it destroyed the whole song for me. His strong British accent doesn't fit well as a lead disco singer.

But if I had to pick one song where it surely fits, it's Possession Island (featuring Beck). Unfortunately, it doesn't have any connection with the rest of the hyper-beat, disco-esc album and it is easily forgettable.

The rest of the album is all over the place, from Spanish pop-rap to slow orchestral baleds to, personally, one of the worst Gorillaz songs, Skinny Ape, which is a hyperbeat mashup of everything and anything. It's every ear's worst nightmare.

Even though genre mashup is what you expect from Gorillaz, you would at least think that it all has a certin flow to it and not the feeling that they threw everything on the wall and saw what sticks. If you are unable to produce something coherent, is it even worth it in the long run, not only for the artist but for the fans as well? It's hard for an album to just stand with two singles holing it up, but it's not the first time Gorillaz has done it.

I would love to have a different view on this album, but maybe at the moment it's not the right time.

I would give it a: You can skip this album easily. It's not even close to their best work, and for me, it's a waste of time. I would much rather recommend Plastic Beach if you haven't heard it and want to feel the full Gorillaz magic.

If you found my review worth discussing in any way, I'm happy to do so.

Yours trully,

MJ.10.

[musicp0sting]

New Gold (ft. Tame Impala, Bootie Brown) - Gorillaz

Album: Cracker Island Release Date: February 24, 2023 Genre: Alternative Rock / Electronica / Funk

soundcloud / spotify / apple music

[m-a-d-e-l-e-i-n-e]

I'm a little late to this lol but here are a very musically challenged 19-year-old's favorite albums of 2023 (as of the beginning of 2024) 🥳

(also these are not really in order yet)

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

This is Why by Paramore

Cuts and Bruises by Inhaler

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

In Times New Roman... by Queens of the Stone Age

Take Me Back to Eden by Sleep Token

Cracker Island by Gorillaz

Hotel Bleu by Broadside

VOID ETERNAL by nothing,nowhere.

Exotico by Temples

RUCKUS! by Movements

No Joy by Spanish Love Songs

Unreal Unearth by Hozier

Memento Mori by Depeche Mode

Back to the Water Below by Royal Blood

Everything is Alive by slowdive

Holy Waters by Puma Blue

Losing What We Love by Knuckle Puck

Suicide and Sunshine by Trophy Eyes

Bad Dream Jaguar by Sun June

Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown

The Last Remaining Light by Far Caspian

Asking for a Ride by White Reaper

Still Love by Teenage Wrist

The Maine by The Maine

[hndrk]

Twenty-Three of '23

I have been varying levels of ill for pretty much the entire second half of 2023, so in a surprising turn of events a year that had my Blur boys release a fantastic new album plus me seeing them live at Wembley Stadium will still have to be classified as "yeah, this sucked". Here's hoping that 2024 is going to be better for all of us… well, at least on a personal level.

MY FAVOURITE SONGS OF 2023

1. The National, "New Order T-Shirt" 2. Wanda, "Bei niemand anders" 3. Blur, "The Everglades" 4. Romy, "Weightless" 5. Indigo De Souza, "Younger & Dumber" 6. Avalon Emerson, "Astrology Poisoning" 7. Sufjan Stevens, "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?" 8. Gorillaz, "Silent Running" 9. Middle Kids, "Bootleg Firecracker" 10. Sparklehorse, "Evening Star Supercharger" 11. Nicolas Britell, "Andante Risoluto (Succession OST)" 12. NewJeans, "OMG" 13. Caroline Polacheck, "I Believe" 14. Eddy de Pretto, "LOVE'n'TENDRESSE" 15. Casper, "emma" 16. The Blaze, "BLOOM" 17. Rosalía, "LLYLM" 18. Teleman, "Trees Grow High" 19. Lana del Rey, "Margaret" 20. (G)I-DLE, "I DO" 21. Pol Granch, "tiroteAo" 22. Zara Larsson, "Memory Lane" 23. Al Costelloe, "Badmouth"

Bonus track:

The National, “Hornets”

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MY FAVOURITE ALBUMS OF 2023

1. Blur, The Ballad of Darren 2. Sufjan Stevens, Javelin 3. Sofia Kourtesis, Madres 4. The Blaze, JUNGLE 5. Lana del Rey, Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd 6. Gorillaz, Cracker Island 7. Avalon Emerson, & the Charm 8. Caroline Polacheck, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You 9. Olivia Rodrigo, GUTS 10. DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, Destiny

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You in a bath on the phone, tellin' somebody That maybe they're better off leavin' Than stayin' in it alone When you cried at the beach and recovered in seconds And said, "Everything's fine," but I knew that it wasn't Then you stayed out of reach of me for almost a year I keep what I can of you Split-second glimpses and snapshots and sounds You in my New Order t-shirt Holdin' a cat and a glass of beer I flicker through I carry them with me like drugs in a pocket

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PERSONAL YEAR IN REVIEW

"Do you guys ever think about dying?" 2.0

[deviiancetv]

Playlist Check!? Album Reviews of 2023

Albums I LOVED:

Fountain Baby by Amaarae

Queen Degenerate by Snow Wife

Raven by Kelela

BB/ANG3L by Tinashe

Club Romantech by Icona Pop

How Do You Sleep At Night? by Teezo Touchdown

Portals by Melanie Martinez

Ends & Begins by Labrinth

Cracker Island by Gorillaz

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Honorable Mentions:

Pink Friday 2 by Nicki Minaj

Heaven Knows by PinkPantheress

Scarlet by Doja Cat

Something To Give Eachother by Troye Sivan

Kaytraminé by Kaytranada & Aminé

Spiral Bound by Rebecca Sugar

My 21st Century Blues by Raye

Weedkiller by Ashnikko

Lacuna in The House of Mirrors by Kamauu

2022 Album Reviews • 2021 Album Reviews

[figmentrinzler]

My Year In Vinyl: 2023

I got enough to cover my bed. Breakdown below the picture

Italics if it was gifted to me. Otherwise all bought by myself

Anamanaguchi

-Miku (teal edition)

Coheed and Cambria

- In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 (remastered edition)

-Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking World (electric blue variant)

Daft Punk (collection now complete 🥰)

-Random Access Memories (anniversary edition)

-Tron Legacy (tron blue edition)

-Alive 2007

-Alive 1997

-Human After All

The Electric Mayhem (Muppets)

-selftitled (tie dye edition)

Dadi Freyr

-Welcome

-I Made An Album

Ghost

-Prequelle (smoke variant)

-Impera (Australian Exclusive colored edition)

Gorillaz (only missing G sides and D sides)

-Cracker Island (pink edition)

-The Fall

Hadestown OBC Collection

Käärijä

-Cha Cha Cha mixtape (green)

Ludo

-Broken Bride (original pressing set)

Jeff Rosenstock (missing only Post at this point)

-Worry (blue variant)

-We Cool?

-Ska Dream (white and black variant)

-Hellmode (tie dye AND pink variants)

REM

-best of

Silversun Pickups

-Carnavas

Suburban Legends

-Rump Shaker (20th anniversary red edition)

[devious-little-milkmaiden]

Favorite Albums That I Listened to in 2023

I'm not a huge fan of listening to albums, so I'm actually surprised as to how many I listened to in the past year: though that's mostly because a friend and I started giving each other album recommendations.

Cracker Island Gorillaz, 2023

I was excitedly anticipating this one, though I'm a pretty moderate Gorillaz fan. They had some great collaborations on this one, such as Bootie Brown, Beck, Bad Bunny, and Stevie Nicks! It's not my favorite Gorillaz album but still a pretty solid one.

Favorite songs: "Cracker Island", "Oil", "Skinny Ape", and "Silent Running".

Bella Donna Stevie Nicks, 1981

In contrast to Cracker Island and Gorillaz, I am a huge Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac fan. Bella Donna is Nicks' debut solo album, and I absolutely love how powerful it feels, and the Nicks era that it ushered in.

Favorite songs: "Edge of Seventeen", "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

The Kick Inside Kate Bush, 1978

Kate Bush is an artist that I love dearly, though I usually prefer to cherry-pick her songs rather than listening to entire albums of hers, usually because each individual song on her albums vary greatly by tone. I would say that The Kick Inside is one of the few that I do enjoy listening to from beginning-to-end. Some of my absolute favorites of Kate Bush come from this album, and overall, it does have a pretty consistent tone. It's airid, ethereal, comedic and whimsical.

Favorite songs: "The Saxophone Song", "Wuthering Heights" (!!!!!!) "Oh to Be in Love", "L'Amour Looks Something Like You" (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The Queen is Dead The Smiths, 1986

Very appropriate listen for 2023.

I don't know much about The Smiths lore or what it says about me that I like them or whatever, I just enjoy listening to their music :).

Favorite songs: "I Know It's Over", "Cemetery Gates", "Bigmouth Strikes Again"

Melt My Eyez See Your Future Denzel Curry, 2022

This was one that was recommended to me by a friend based on his personal taste, which is pretty different from mine. I absolutely adore this album's sound. It has a sort of vulnerable charm to it.

Favorite songs: "Walkin", "Mental"

Are You Experienced Jimi Hendrix, 1967

I only started listening to Jimi Hendrix in 2023, and boy have I been missing out. His voice!!! His sound!!!! His guitar!!!!! Him!!!! Absolutely spectacular. This is Exhibit A in music that changes you. I feel like that scene in Elvis where all the girls lose their minds when I listen to this album.

Favorite songs: "Purple Haze", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "Love Or Confusion", "The Wind Cries Mary" (!!!!!!) "Are You Experienced", "Highway Chile"

Hozier Hozier, 2014

I listen to this one and I think, "Yep, this is a Hozier album." Idk how else to describe it. Quintessential Hozier: ethereal, folksy, bee-boppy.

Favorite songs: "Jackie And Wilson", "From Eden", "Someone New", "Sedated", "Work Song" (!!!!!!!!)

Wasteland, Baby! Hozier, 2019

Again, quintessential Hozier, yet a bit more refined, more dark and romantic. Hozier's artistry is aging like wine. Transcendent.

Favorite songs: "Almost (Sweet Music)" (!!!!!) "Movement" (!!!!!) "Would That I", "Sunlight"

Never for Ever Kate Bush, 1980

Kate Bush at her finest. She is my everything. Similar to The Kick Inside, this one is whimsical and comedic, yet it differs with a much heavier weight and increased closeness.

Favorite songs: "Babooshka", "The Wedding List", "Army Dreamers" (!!!!!)

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars David Bowie, 1972

I want this buried with me. My absolute favorite of Bowie's albums. It has a transcendent proximity, a sentence which makes no sense. It feels close and far away at the same time (what I am pretentiously describing is called an echo).

Favorite songs: "Five Years", "Soul Love", "Starman", "It Ain't Easy", "Lady Stardust", "Star", "Ziggy Stardust", "Suffragette City", "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"

Superclean, Vol. II The Marías, 2018

Another one of my friend's recommendations. This one puts me in a good mood and clears my mind. :)

Favorite songs: All of them.

Unreal Unearth Hozier, 2023

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Favorite songs: "De Selby (Part 2)", "First Time", "Francesca", "I, Carrion (Icarian)", "Who We Are" (RASDHFKASDJGSDKGFGNASJDDSJGAFVLDFEJRGAOLFNVASGNWRG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), "Abstract (Psychopomp)", "Unknown / Nth", "First Light"

Thee Sacred Souls Thee Sacred Souls, 2022

The Greta Van Fleet of soul, taking it back to one of the most recognizable sounds from the genre. They're just so sweet.

Favorite songs: "Lady Love", "Easier Said Than Done", "Future Lover" (I have a t-shirt of theirs with this song's lyrics)

Also, it's not on this album but "Running Away" is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC AND I CANNOT GET ENOUGH OF IT.

Mozart: Requiem Mozart, Karitta Mattila, Sara Minguardo, Michael Schade, Bryn Terfel, Berliner Philharmoniker

It has the drama. It'll make you feel like you're in a Donna Tartt novel. I have a bit of a hard time sitting through classical albums but this one is endlessly captivating.

Favorite songs: "Requiem, K. 626: I. Introitus. Requiem aeternam", "Requiem, K. 626: III. Sequentia: f. Lacrimosa", "Requiem, K. 626: V. Sanctus"

Final Thoughts: Quite a wide range of genres this year, though I must say I enjoyed stepping out of my usual listening tendencies and exploring some genres I was heavily deprived in.

[patrickjonesblog]

Top Albums of 2023

Hey, how ya doing? I got sick the last week of 2023 when I intended to write this so here I am in 2024 looking back on some of my favorite long players last year.

I saw so many of my favorite acts in 2023, it was probably the best live music year ever. So much so I spent what felt like a whole morning creating a "reel" on "instagram". The fruits of which you can watch here.

Enough about live music though, this is about wonderful studio recordings, so here's what's made the long list and then we'll kick straight into the top 10 with accompanying videos.

16 - Romy - Mid Air

15- Jessie Ware - That! Feels! Good!

14- Gracie Abrams - Good Riddance

13 - Lana Del Rey - Did you know there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd?

12 - Bombay Bicycle Club - My Big Day

11 - The Bug Club - Rare Birds: Hour of Song

10 - Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy

If you haven't seen Young Fathers Glastonbury set in 2023, I recommend you do so after you've read this blog. Gutted they cancelled their brooklyn show, but I hope to catch it this year.

9 - Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

Caroline Polacheck is the closest we've got to Kate Bush in 2023, the detail she puts into her visuals and the choreography of her performances, its high art. The track below isn't on the album, but it was the moment I realized her brilliance.

8 - Gorillaz - Cracker Island

This felt like an under the radar release from Gorillaz, at least here in the states. It's the first time Albarn has worked with Greg Kurstin (Adele, Mccartney, Kendrick) and you can hear his influence as it's a bit more poppy than previous releases.

7 - Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode

If you've read any of my blogs over the past decade you will have seen a lot of appearances from US Punk / Ska legend Jeff. The reason being; he doesn't make bad records.

6 - Sleaford Mods - UK Grim

How do you follow 2021's career highlight Spare Ribs? With more of the same, that's how. 12 albums in to their career now and they're still gathering pace. Blistering, acerbic, hilarious as ever.

5 - The Hives - The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

The first new music from The Hives in 11 years and they return with a literal bang. This album is as good as anything they came out with when they first charmed their way onto the scene in the early 2000's. The bellies may be podgier, Pelle's kicks aren't as high, but the riffs are as spritely as ever. Still one of the greatest live bands around.

4 - Blur - Ballad of Darren

I always get a bit anxious about a new blur album, they don't have to release new music, they have a back catalog that guarantees them legend status already. Releasing new music risks tainting that legacy so far into their career. I needn't worry, Ballad of Darren is a beautiful record with a legitimate brand new stadium filling anthem to add to their repertoire.

3 - Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

Bit of a surprise this one, maybe more for me than you dear reader. I didn't get the fuss of the first album (still don't) it sounded like any one of a million young pop darlings. But GUTS is different, it's eclectic, it's beautifully written, it tears at your heart, it raises your fists, it makes you dance. It has everything really. She's the real deal. It's objectively not made for a 42 year old man, but great music is great music and I bloody love this.

2 - Jenny Lewis - Joy'All

It was a tough call between this and Olivia, but i've given it to Jenny for the 20+ years experience she has on the young upstart. Jenny Lewis is maturing into a fine groove, she's replaced Ryan Adams as a much more palletable country-folk spot in my heart. Her songwriting continues to get better with age.

1 - The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein | Laugh Track

Stadium filling, Taylor Swift collaborating, David Letterman approved super band The National. It's a wild trajectory my favorite band has taken over the last few years. No longer critically acclaimed everyones favorite unheard of band, they're rightly at the upper table of indie-rock and its fully deserved. Not satisfied with releasing one beautiful record this year they follow it up soon after with the surprise Laugh Track an equally brilliant album in its own right. Most bands would kill to have one record this good in their whole career, its frankly not fair they can do two this good in a year. A joint number one for me as I can't separate them.

There you have it, 2023 all wrapped up, full of BIG acts with a smattering of newbies thrown in for good measure and probably the most female representation I've had in an end of year list.

You can hear these and LOADS more in my 2023 playlist.

And if you like any of this and trust my judgement follow my 2024 playlist which I curate throughout the year adding newly released tracks.

Aaaaaand away...