First Listened: Somewhere around 2017, revisited in 2024
Fav songs: The Parish of Space Dust - Revolving Doors - Shy-Town - Detroit - Aspen Forest - Little Pink Plastic Bags
I love The Fall. I say this with no qualms and no retroactive statements about how it's not that good. It IS good. This album has been dragged and criticised by longtime fans of Gorillaz since its release in 2011: it was released on Christmas — it didn't take long for fans to start saying things like "worst Christmas gift ever" (lol).
The Fall is experimental but I wouldn't refer to it as "unfinished" nor "unpolished"; because that implies that it needs more work, more improvements as if it were a set of demos, but it's not. It's an album made on an iPad, period. It's not unfinished, and neither am I able to pinpoint any way you could "improve" these tracks. It's simply another way of making music, another simpler style that has its own charm but that was sweeped away under the waves of the glorious and orchestrally majestic Plastic Beach, released mere months prior to this album.
I have to say The Fall is a hidden gem in Gorillaz' discography. If you enjoy music, and you want to hear a sound that is different, I can't recommend this album enough. Change isn't necessarily bad, diversity or the unknown don't mean things are going for the worst. This is an experimental project that serves as a musical tour diary, and it's captivating. If you follow the events of Albarn's 2010 Escape To Plastic Beach Tour, this album might make a bit more sense, but it can also be enjoyed viewed through the lens of the fictional story of the band (2D, Murdoc and Cyborg Noodle touring America pointlessly without being able to actually perform on stage). Even without that extra information, the album flows and feels like one singular track (one trip) thanks to the clever and smooth transitions. There is no album like The Fall, narrating the nostalgic and static tour life of the early 2010s: being at the peak of fame but feeling alienated and isolated in your own world tour, missing home while being in a foreign land and taking in new experiences that blend into one another and form One song... The cover art is amazing: just 2D staring at the camera, looking lost, afraid, but also resigned in his body language. He's sitting in front of the microphone at the studio but he's not singing, he's looking at us (the listener) from this very personal "album-diary". I could go on forever. I have to put an end to this yapping and move on to the tracklist!!!
Revolving Doors is one of my all-time favourite Gorillaz tracks. The lyricism is lovely and, musically, another Albarn masterpiece. I can't joke about The Parish of Space Dust because I've cried to this song too many times. I've never been to Texas in my life but if I do end up going I'll probably play this song and start crying too (mentally planning a breakdown I'll have in 10 or so years). Have I mentioned that the sampling in this album is genius? It really feels a bit like "stream of consciousness" literature: recording parts of the radio and writing whatever comes to mind and making an album out of whatever you see, whatever you say and feel while on tour. It's so artistic and literal I'm so surprised no one gives a fuck about it. The Parish of Space Dust is one of those songs you just remember: it's so emotionally charged I'd put it up there with El Mañana and On Melancholy Hill from the suicide-inducing synths alone. I'll leave a quote about the song here:

"Space dust refers to the static heard when searching for AM and/or FM stations in rural areas, such as the Texas countryside. It is known that a (very) small amount of the interstation static on radios and televisions is created by cosmic background radiation. This radio metaphor is a callback/reference to the various FM radio chatter heard at the beginning and end of the song. Parish refers to a local church or place of worship, so the entire line may be Albarn/2D suggesting that the rural roads of Texas are an appropriate place to revel in the legacy of FM radio, especially as it continues to falter in the face of competition from the internet and streaming services."
From this lyric annotation on Genius (Genius interpretations can be stupid AF but most of the annotations on The Fall are pretty interesting background info)

Reading about that makes me think about Murdoc's Pirate Radio episodes released by Gorillaz from 2010-2011, and the original ending for the Phase 3 storyline. Even when it seems like it's the end of the world, will there be someone spewing nonsense into a radio with no one at the other side? Or will they have a singular listener, stuck in the "parish of space dust", trying to make sense of their words in between the constant FM static, holding onto the decaying radio?

First Listened: October-November 2024
Fav songs: Noid - Judge Judy - Darling, I - Balloon
Supppper great album :-) Chromakopia has been on repeat for me since its release and how I WISH I could see Tyler perform live! I think this album fully showcases Tyler's talent and the current state of the hip-hop music scene, and its future. It's a creative, fresh and captivating record, with an intricate narrative that feels oddly personal, even in its showcase of anxiety stemming from fame (especially in Noid, my favourite track as I mentioned). Tyler's mother narrates the album, bringing cohesion and adding to the lyricism in the particular blend of genres and concepts that is Chromakopia. Listening feels like reading a diary, a private confession. I also haaave to mention how insanely cool and mysterious the whole design and marketing for the album is, from the gorgeous cover to the costume design, colours... It really shows how serious Tyler's albums are as artistic projects that go beyond music and traditional storytelling.

First Listened: October-November 2024
Fav songs: Machine Love, Cadmium Colors, Dyad, I Wish That I Could Fall, Object of Affection
Baby do you know what you wanna hear? ^_^ My heart was immediately captured by Jamie Paige's Constant Companions! It's lovely, with gorgeous cover art and wonderful singles I've been following through the year. I've only recently gotten into Jamie Paige's music with エビチャーハン! (You're Telling Me A SHRIMP Fried This Rice?!) (shimp...), from the whole Shrimpku craze on Twitter, but I've become a huuuge fan of the rest of her works. Now, onto the album...
Jamie Paige is talented; she is particularly good at crafing melodies and recurrent musical motifs that tie all of her works together. The album is filled with what I can only refer to as "splendid funky melodies" — creative, addictive and fun bits of composition that make you fall in love with her style. The instrumentals are incredible, and she just seems to know exactly *where* to stop the music for dramatic effect, when to speed up the tempo, alter the pitch, when another beat is needed...The music flows naturally and sounds so alive, organic, like a real dialogue between "human" and "machine": her vocals and the synthesized voices. Also, I must say, her tuning of Kasane Teto SynthV is hands down my absolute favourite ever. She sounds ALIVE!
On that same note...Machine Love... In my humble, amateur opinion, this song is one of the best "vocaloid" (VSynth) songs released in the past 5? 10 years? Ever? I wish I could properly convey with words the heatrending feeling this track evokes in me. It gives me hope for Vocaloid, the english side of the community, and the future of this little space that can unite so many people with a shared passion. But beyond that, the song itself is genius. I love you Kasane Teto!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Jamie Paige!!!!! Cheers to many more years of music and also please physical release please thanks!!!

First Listened: October-November 2024
Fav songs: Machine Love, Cadmium Colors, Dyad, I Wish That I Could Fall, Object of Affection
Wip

First Listened: Unknown
Fav songs:A Hard Day's Night - Tell Me Why - Can't Buy Me Love - I'll Be Back
When I was around 2 to 5 years old, my mum would make me listen to several music artists she enjoyed, and The Beatles were a recurrent choice of hers. I don't have much to say about A Hard Day's Night other than the sound of it all feels strangely familiar (I listened to the songs at a very young age and can vaguely recall them). It's also very gentle-sounding and extremely pleasant to the ears like many of the songs in their discography, and it's a nice listen while I study or relax in Autumn or Winter! I find it fun to listen to some standalone songs, while the compilation itself might not be my favourite overall. I really, really love Tell Me Why (I am so surprised this song isn't way more popular???) and A Hard Day's Night: my personal highlights! :-)