10 Best Rock Albums Of 2020
6. Song Machine - Gorillaz
The career trajectory of Gorillaz has been a bit haphazard in recent years to say the least. With Damon Albarn seeming uninspired at points and some of the more forgettable cuts turning up on the Now Now and Humanz, maybe this band really was just a side project that had reached its fullest potential. Then Song Machine comes out and turns everything around.
While this album does have just as many guest stars as Humanz, there's not one point on this album where it feels like Albarn has lost his identity. Instead of having one overarching concept like on previous efforts, the freewheeling vibe of Song Machine feels like you're listening to little bits and pieces of Gorillaz perfectly refined into a single track. It also helps when the guest stars are doing a fantastic job, like Peter Hook's amazing bass performance on Aries and Schoolboy Q's amazing verses at the end of Pac-Man. Even songs that don't feature Albarn prominently like Friday the 13th still feel like Gorillaz tracks, with Octavian riding the beat in just the right way.
Whereas Humanz read as a bit of a mess from one track to the other, this is by far the most fun-sounding Gorillaz project that we've gotten since maybe Plastic Beach. And when your band is built off of a cartoon world, isn't having fun really what it's all about?