#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.):

•

•

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

•

•

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.):

•

•

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.):

•

[kenzie-ann27]

Nobody knows what they're fooling with here.

Gorillaz | Cracker Island (2023)

[lady-murderess]

they never drop a track at midnight, but I'm certainly not complaining, it's an absolute tune.

can they just drop the album already though? everything they've released from Cracker Island so far has been banger after banger. I need it now.

[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.

.

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

personal rating: 5 (out of 10)

.

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.

[bunnywand]

my top albums of 2023.. as i’m picking them in 2023

with 2008 to 2022 covered, now i can finally do my top albums of this year!! 😝

a p decent year for music, but kind of a strange one to pick for.. 2023 has felt so long that i could've sworn some of these albums ("cracker island" and "this is why") came out last year, some Rly good stuff only came out in the last week or so, and some of my fav stuff of the year has been eps.. so i think like in 2021 i'm gonna do a separate post for those again 😅

"this is why" comes incredibly close to being my album of the year, but i think it's gonna have to go to me rex's "giant elk" - a fucking stellar new release from one of my fav bands 😁✨

the picks:

blur - the ballad of darren

boygenius - the record

carly rae jepsen - the loveliest time

gorillaz - cracker island

janelle monáe - the age of pleasure

jenny lewis - joy’all

me rex - giant elk

paramore - this is why

problem patterns - blouse club

honourable mentions:

olivia rodrigo - guts (rly good album, but just slightly lost out to all of these 😆)

peter gabriel - i/o (only came out last week, and i've only listened once, but if it had come out sooner it'd definitely have made the list 😳)

witching waves - streams and waterways (another Rly fucking good album that only came out last week 😭)

[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

[carmybcrzatto]

I was tagged by @userparamore & @iero to post my top nine albums of 2023!

thank you 🖤

_

. Cracker Island by Gorillaz

. Aurora by Daisy Jones & The Six

. Perlen by Blond

. Nur Liebe, Immer. by Casper

. So Much (For) Stardust by Fall Out Boy

. This Is Why by Paramore

. Free Rein To Passions - The Dirty Nil

. Blame My Ex by The Beaches

. Calling The Dogs by Citizens

_

I'm tagging: @tommishelby @taylorisapuppy @cregan-starks @useremo @decidemp3 @joequinns @ariaster

[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”

///

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

///

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

///

PERSONAL YEAR IN REVIEW

"Do you guys ever think about dying?" 2.0

[broke-bruce-wayne]

2023 Album a Day Masterpost

I'm going to try and listen to a new (to me) album every day (or at least every weekday), so consider this an open invitation to send me suggestions. Any genre, new or old.

Albums listened to below the cut

Enjoyability in parenthesis

Day 1: you'll be fine - Hot Mulligan (3.5/5) Day 2: Long Lost - Lord Huron (4.5/5) Day 3: Goodnight Paradise - Nightmare Club (4/5) Day 4: SOS - SZA (4.5/5) Day 5: Lies They Tell Our Children - Anti Flag (4/5) Day 6: The Stranger - Billy Joel (3.75/5) Day 7: Battle Born - The Killers (3/5) Day 8: Blue Rev - Alvvays (5/5) Day 9: Rush - Måneskin (2.5/5) Day 10: Axis: Bold as Love - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (4.5/5) Day 11: Rhombithian - Sincere Engineer (4.5/5) Day 12: Reckless - Bryan Adams (4/5) Day 13: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You - Big Thief (4.75/5) Day 14: Let's Start Here. - Lil Yachty (4.5/5) Day 15: Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks (4.5/5) Day 16: Worry. - Jeff Rosenstock (5/5) Day 17: Beat the Champ - The Mountain Goats (4.75/5) Day 18: Ants from Up There - Black Country, New Road (4.5/5) Day 19: Anarchist Gospel - Sunny War (4.25/5) Day 20: Youth of America - Wipers (4.75/5) Day 21: I'm Not Getting Any Taller - Daisy the Great (3/5) Day 22: Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa (4/5) Day 23: Diaspora Problems - Soul Glo (4.25/5) Day 24: This is Why - Paramore (4/5) Day 25: When the Pawn... - Fiona Apple (4.75/5) Day 26: The Lonesome Crowded West - Modest Mouse (5/5) Day 27: Neveroddoreven - I Monster (4/5) Day 28: Hellfire - black midi (4.75/5) Day 29: Desire Pathway - Screaming Females (4.5/5) Day 30: Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem (4/5) Day 31: Let My Children Hear Music - Charles Mingus (4.25/5) Day 32: Dhaani - Strings (4/5) Day 33: Little Green House - Anxious (4.25/5) Day 34: Cracker Island - Gorillaz (3.75/5) Day 35: Flower Boy - Tyler, the Creator (4.5/5) Day 36: The Head and the Heart - The Head and the Heart (4/5) Day 37: Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman (5/5) Day 38: See You in Chemistry - Carly Cosgrove (4.25/5) Day 39: Dogsbody - Model/Actriz (4.25/5) Day 40: Low - David Bowie (4.5/5) Day 41: Little Plastic Castle - Ani DiFranco(4.25/5) Day 42: Shmap'n Shmazz - Cap'n Jazz (4/5) Day 43: 40 oz to Fresno - Joyce Manor (4/5) Day 44: Oh Me Oh My - Lonnie Holley (4.25/5) Day 45: Bridge over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel (4.75/5) Day 46: You're Gonna Miss It All - Modern Baseball (4.5/5) Day 47: Eau de VIXX - VIXX (4/5) Day 48: No Thank You - Little Simz (4.25/5) Day 49: Fantasy - M83 (3.75/5) Day 50: Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (5/5)

Day 51: Moanin' - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (4.5/5) Day 52: Fortress - Miniature Tigers (4/5) Day 53: Sick! - Earl Sweatshirt (4.25/5) Day 54: So Much (for) Stardust - FOB (3/5) Day 54 Bonus: Memento Mori - Depeche Mode (4.25/5) Day 55: Close to the Edge - Yes (5/5) Day 56: Come In - Weatherday (4/5) Day 57: The Moon and Antarctica - Modest Mouse (5/5) Day 58: Baby - Petrol Girls (4.5/5) Day 59: The Record - Boygenius (3.5/5) Day 60: Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (4.75/5) Day 61: Mono - RM (3.75/5) Day 62: Glow On - Turnstile (4.25/5) Day 63: Un Verano sin Ti - Bad Bunny (4.5/5) Day 64: Rat Saw God - Wednesday (4.5/5) Day 65: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco (5/5) Day 66: Rites of Spring - Tiger Really (4/5) Day 67: American Football (1999) - American Football (4.75/5) Day 68: Boat Songs - MJ Lenderman (4.75/5) Day 69: ...So Unknown - Jesus Piece (3.75/5) Day 70: Leviathan - Mastodon (4.75/5) Day 71: Sawayama - Rina Sawayama (4/5) Day 72: Brave Faces, Everyone - Spanish Love Songs (4.75/5) Day 73: Ugly Season - Perfume Genius (3.25/5) Day 74: Fuse - EBTG (3.5/5) Day 75: Horses - Patti Smith (4.5/5) Day 76: Pushing Daisies - Julie (4/5) Day 77: Get In Losers, We're Going to Eternal Damnation -Forests (4.25/5) Day 78: Lucifer on the Sofa - Spoon (3.25/5) Day 79: That! Feels! Good! - Jessie Ware (4.5/5) Day 80: Exile on Main St. - The Rolling Stones (4.5/5) Day 81: Somewhere City - Origami Angel (5/5) Day 82: El Camino - The Black Keys (4/5) Day 83: Skinty Fia - Fontaines D.C. (4.25/5) Day 84: Maps - Billy Woods & Kenny Segal (5/5) Day 85: Blue - Joni Mitchell (4.5/5) Day 86: Relationship of Command - At the Drive-In (5/5) Day 87: 濡れゆく私小説 - Indigo la End (4.25/5) Day 88: Formentera - Metric (4/5) Day 89: Why Would I Watch - Hot Mulligan (4.75/5) Day 90: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel (4.5/5) Day 91: Chet Baker Sings - Chet Baker (3.25/5) Day 92: Tigers Jaw - Tigers Jaw (4.25/5) Day 93: Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville - Ashley McBryde (4.75/5) Day 94: Seven Psalms - Paul Simon (3.5/5) Day 95: Let It Be - The Replacements (5/5) Day 96: The Weird and Wonderful Marmozets - Marmozets (4.5/5) Day 97: Joy as an Act of Resistance - IDLES (4.5/5) Day 98: Pool Kids - Pool Kids (4/5) Day 99: Scaring the Hoes - JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown (4.25/5) Day 100: Fishmonger - Underscores (3/5)

[deviiancetv]

Playlist Check!? Album Reviews of 2023

Albums I LOVED:

Fountain Baby by Amaarae (10/10 💓)

Queen Degenerate by Snow Wife (9.7/10 💓)

Raven by Kelela (9.5/10 💓)

BB/ANG3L by Tinashe (9.5/10 💓)

Club Romantech by Icona Pop (8/10 💓)

How Do You Sleep At Night? by Teezo Touchdown (8/10 💓)

Portals by Melanie Martinez (8.8/10 💓)

Ends & Begins by Labrinth (7.3/10 💗)

Cracker Island by Gorillaz (7/10 💓)

✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Honorable Mentions:

Pink Friday 2 by Nicki Minaj (7.8/10 💓)

Heaven Knows by PinkPantheress (8/10 💓)

Scarlet by Doja Cat (7.2/10 💓)

Something To Give Eachother by Troye Sivan (7/10 💓)

Kaytraminé by Kaytranada & Aminé (7/10 💓)

Spiral Bound by Rebecca Sugar (7.4/10 💓)

My 21st Century Blues by Raye (8/10 💓)

Weedkiller by Ashnikko (8.2/10 💓)

Lacuna in The House of Mirrors by Kamauu (7.5/10 💓)

2022 Album Reviews • 2021 Album Reviews