Gorillaz

1	Re-Hash 3:38
2	5/4 2:40
3	Tomorrow Comes Today 3:13
4	New Genious (Brother) 3:58
5	Clint Eastwood 5:40
6	Man Research (Clapper) 4:33
7	Punk 1:36
8	Sound Check (Gravity) 4:41
9	Double Bass 4:45
10	Rock the House 4:09
11	19-2000 3:28
12	Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo) 3:37
13	Starshine 3:31
14	Slow Country 3:36
15	M1 A1 10:42
16	Dracula 4:42
17	Left Hand Suzuki Method 10:01

Barnes & Noble

Roll over, Josie and the Pussycats, and tell the Archies the news: There is a new cartoon band in town, the poppy, trippy, hip-hoppy Gorillaz. But cosmonaut vixens or pie-faced high school kids the Gorillaz are not; instead, they're an urban-chic troupe of misfits known as Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D. (For more on their story, go to gorillaz.com.) As for the music, well, the people who actually created Gorillaz (sorry to spoil the fantasy) include avant-garde hip-hop producer extraordinaire Dan the Automator (Dr. Octagon, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Deltron 3030), Blur vocalist Damon Albarn, Cibo Matto singer Miho Hatori, rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, and former Talking Heads/current Tom Tom Club members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz. The album is a tasty brew of the many musical stylings purveyed by its creators. The single, "Clint Eastwood," combines the Automator's toe-tappin' beats with Albarn's chipper, oh-so-British vocals ("I'm feeling glad/I've got sunshine in a bag"), and Del's tough-guy raps ("Chicks and dudes/Who you think is really kicking tunes?"). Other standouts include the aptly titled, minute-and-a-half Albarn screamfest "Punk"; Del's Grandmaster Flash-style rap "Rock the House" (featuring the call-to-action "I want y'all to just get down"); the groovy indie rock of "Re-Hash," featuring Hatori's sweet backing vocals; and the ominous Pink Floyd-esque art-rock of "M1 A1," which features a sample from the horror flick Day of the Dead. Yep, this album is all over the place, but the Automator's production skills and seamless segues hold it all together. Action figures sold separately. Bill Crandall

All Music Guide

It's tempting to judge Gorillaz -- Damon Albarn, Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett, and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura's virtual band -- just by their brilliantly animated videos and write the project off as another triumph of style over substance. Admittedly, Hewlett's edgy-cute characterizations of 2-D, Gorillaz' pretty boy singer (who looks a cross between the Charlatans' Tim Burgess and Sonic the Hedgehog), sinister bassist Murdoc, whiz-kid guitarist Noodle, and b-boy drummer Russel are so arresting that they almost detract from Gorillaz' music. The amazing "Thriller"-meets-Planet of the Apes clip for "Clint Eastwood" is so visually clever that it's easy to take the song's equally clever, hip-hop-tinged update of the Specials' "Ghost Town" for granted. And initially, Gorillaz' self-titled debut feels incomplete when Hewlett's imagery is removed; the concept of Gorillaz as a virtual band doesn't hold up as well when you can't see the virtual bandmembers. It's too bad that there isn't a DVD version of Gorillaz, with videos for every song, à la the DVD version of Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World. Musically, however, Gorillaz is a cutely caricatured blend of Albarn's eclectic Brit-pop and Nakamura's equally wide-ranging hip-hop, and it sounds almost as good as the band looks. Albarn has fun sending up Blur's cheeky pop on songs like "5/4" and "Re-Hash," their trip-hop experiments on "New Genious" and "Sound Check," and "Song 2"-like thrash-pop on "Punk" and "M1 A1." Despite the similarities between Albarn's main gig and his contributions here, Gorillaz isn't an Albarn solo album in disguise; Nakamura's bass- and beat-oriented production gives the album an authentically dub and hip-hop-inspired feel, particularly on "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today." Likewise, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Miho Hatori, and Ibrahim Ferrer's vocals ensure that it sounds like a diverse collaboration rather than an insular side project. Instead, it feels like a musical vacation for all parties involved -- a little self-indulgent, but filled with enough fun ideas and good songs to make this virtual band's debut a genuinely enjoyable album. Heather Phares

Rolling Stone

[three stars] Gorillaz is kind of a soundtrack CD to the jaw-dropping animation Web site gorillaz.com, but it stands alone as a playful piece of genre-squishing art pop. Barry Walters