Cartoon band gets real on "Plastic Beach"

Gorillaz's new album "Plastic Beach" is a mixture of soul, ghetto rap, electronic rock, classical music, world music, Jackson Pollock, jazz, pop, indie, a 1950s sitcom, "Planet of the Apes" and - wait, what was I trying to describe again?

In short, "Plastic Beach" is a work of art. Every contributor - from electro-rockers Little Dragon to rapper Mos Def - adds individual flavors that are pieced together brilliantly. And despite all the different genres and voices, nothing ever seems lost or out of place.

The surreal world conjured up by "Plastic Beach" is a bit like the sun-bleached suburbia in "Edward Scissorhands," and each track is an experience to be relished on its own. Some songs, particularly the title track, seem to progress almost in slow motion. This isn't the kind of hummable, head-bobbing music that we're used to from Gorillaz. "Plastic Beach" is ambitious and offbeat, and it's a considerable shift from the band's last album, "Demon Days."

"Plastic Beach" is more than just a change for Gorillaz, though - it's a definite step forward. All the contributors finally seem to have the freedom to experiment with their own styles. Even Snoop Dogg manages to rap about something other than weed in the super-cool and laid-back opener, "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach." Damon Albarn, as always, does a great job with his own vocals, especially in "On Melancholy Hill," a catchy tune with an enveloping electronic glaze.

Still, it's the rappers who steal the show. De La Soul's satirical jabs in "Superfast Jellyfish" ("Shower my habits while you dine like rabbits with the crunchy crunchy carrots") stand out well against Albarn's cheerful jingle. Meanwhile, Mos Def is the mastermind architect of "Sweepstakes," dominating the track with his own abstract rhythm and style.

A few tracks feature classical orchestral sequences that offer powerful contrasts to the more conventional songs and lend a peculiar charm to the album as a whole. Albarn and his merry band of collaborators have gleefully plundered from every corner of popular - and unpopular - music and come up trumps. With "Plastic Beach," Gorillaz has become much more than just a cartoon gimmick. The album is an assorted collection of the gangster and the suburban, the sunny and the melancholy, the radioactive and the plastic.

4 Paws

Pros: A plethora of genres and collaborators (Snoop Dogg?!) are artfully spun together into a coherent whole.