Artist: Gorillaz
Album: The Fall
Label: Parlophone
Released on gorillaz.com on Christmas Day 2010, The Fall could be the biggest free album release aside from Radiohead`s In Rainbows. The biggest difference betwixt the two being that The Fall is only a dog away, for free, and the ingredient of guilt ("pay what you suppose it`s worth") brought at least a pair of million dollars for Radiohead.
The best part of it all is that The Gorillaz are a fictional band, made up of fictional characters, functioning in a fictional universe_.bringing you a non-fictional, tangible album mastered on an Apple iPad_.genius.
This isn`t the traditional Gorillaz album like Plastic Beach or Demon Days. It was written and recorded by head Gorilla Damon Albarn while the band toured North America in late 2010. All of the songs were arranged using an Apple iPad, though the production platform is less compelling than the mind alone. If Albarn really did manage to put all these musical thoughts to touchscreen while touring the States, it`s to be applauded, as although the ideas contained within The Fall aren`t quite of the high standard exhibited elsewhere in the band`s career, they`re still largely enjoyable.
The Fall consists mostly of mellow electronica. The accompanying notes detail the 20 iPad apps used to produce and control the sounds we hear. Albarn self-records and produces. The highlight here is the track "Hillbilly Man", built about a staggering beat and an eerie vocal hook - it`s right up thither with the group`s best singles. "California and the Slipping of the Sun" hits upon one of the most musically interesting phrases of the full record, then fades out to morph into the irritating, 30 second-long `Seattle Yodel`, which could honestly be done without. The hearty bass throb and curious story of `The Joplin Spider` is another of the album`s highlights. "Aspen Forest"` is the only path that really gives you a sneak peak into The Fall`s unique method of creation: Apple keypad tones and remixed phone s sounds are mixed into the dog so that it sounds like someone`s texting on their cellphone.
The Fall is an album that with all of the technological blending seems fitting for a fictional band with fictional band members_existing in a fictional dimension.
Rating:
Written by Holly Miller-Carufel
buy it at insound!
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