Gorillaz

Here’s an exciting concept—a cartoon band designed by Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett, playing music by Blur’s Damon Albarn. The band looks great: four ultra hip ethnically diverse stereotypes in cartoon form. And the band sounds great, as Albarn pulls together an amazing guest list—Del the Funky Homosapien, Buena Vista Social Club’s Ibrahim Ferrer, Cibo Mato’s Miho Hatori, producer Dan the Automator. Unfortunately, Gorillaz as a concept falls short. The guests all sound just like themselves, leaving the album to come off like “Blur and Friends.” No new characters are born out of the collaboration, even if some fine tunes are made. Buy this album for its great music, but don’t expect too much out of its multimedia aspirations, such as the highly disappointing Web site. A Gorillaz comic book might add some depth to the characters and also seems to be the medium most suited to showcase Hewlett’s talents.