NOT-SO-FUNKY MONKEYZ

When I heard that the cartoon band was going to be allowing three fellow primates known as the Spacemonkeyz to remix their hit self-titled album, I was excited. Unfortunately, I have been let down. The “mutant chimps”, known as “D-ZIRE”, “DUBVERSIVE” and “GAVVA”, manage to mangle everything that was beautiful about the original work. In an attempt to make a dub version of each song, they completely strip the hard work of the original musicians. Imagine your favorite song from the original Gorillaz album, strip it down to its barest, most basic elements (typically the chorus), and lay a straight forward dub beat over it. Now, I know what you’re going to say: “If you just wanted to hear the original songs, why don’t you just listen to the original album?” But that’s just not it. The fact is I wanted to have some different music given to me. I was looking forward to hearing a different take on some very familiar material. Instead I was given a mixture of watered-down Gorillaz hits with watered-down dub beats-- muddy beats and cloudy production lost any substance the album may have had. For one brief moment, on “Starshine”, it seemed like things might be clearing up. But I must’ve been drunk or on crack, because the album continued on its crash course without pause. I think effort should be put into an album of new work, not invested in a remix album. If you’re a die hard Gorillaz fan, you probably have already gone out and picked this up. If you’re on the fence as to whether or not you should pick this up, maybe you should try and download a few songs first and give them a listen. Chances are, it’s probably not what you were expecting.