''Cracker Island'' is the eighth
studio album by the British
virtual band
In entertainment, a virtual band (also called a virtual idol, virtual singer, virtual group, cartoon group, cartoon idol, cartoon singer or cartoon band) is a band or music group whose members are not depicted as corporeal musicians, but animat ...
Gorillaz. It was released on 24 February 2023 via
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
and
Warner Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
. It features collaborations with
Stevie Nicks, Adeleye Omotayo,
Thundercat,
Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...
,
Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His musical style is defined as Latin trap and reggaeton. He rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Diles", w ...
,
Bootie Brown
The Pharcyde (currently known as The Far Side) is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown ...
and
Beck. A deluxe edition was released on 27 February with five additional tracks featuring the artists
De La Soul,
MC Bin Laden
Jefferson Cristian dos Santos de Lima (born 1993 or 1994), known professionally as MC Bin Laden, is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. He is recognized as one of the most popular funk ostentação musicians in Brazil.
Early life
Jefferson Cristia ...
,
Del the Funky Homosapien and
Dawn Penn
Dawn Penn (born 11 January 1952) is a Jamaican reggae singer. She first had a short career during the rocksteady era, between 1967 and 1969, but is most known for her single "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" which became a worldwide hit in 1994.
...
.
''Cracker Island'' received mostly positive reviews, with the album debuting at number one on the
UK Album Charts
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and number three on the US
''Billboard'' 200, making it the first Gorillaz album to reach number one in the UK since ''
Demon Days
''Demon Days'' is the second studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz. It was first released on 11 May 2005 in Japan and on 23 May 2005 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records. Produced by the band, ...
'' (2005). Overall, the album reached the top 10 in 19 countries.
Background
The majority of the work on the album began in 2021. "Tormenta", a song made in collaboration with
Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His musical style is defined as Latin trap and reggaeton. He rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Diles", w ...
, was the first completed. It was originally intended to be the lead single for the second season of the web series ''
Song Machine
''Song Machine'' is an audiovisual project by British virtual band Gorillaz. It is a music video web series consisting of a collection of music videos and singles that are released monthly by the band as episodes of the series, with each epis ...
'', before the project was shelved in favour of a traditional studio album (as was "
New Gold
New Gold Inc. is a Canadian mining company that owns and operates the New Afton gold-silver-copper mine in British Columbia and the Rainy River gold-silver mine in Ontario, Canada. Through a Mexican subsidiary company, they also own the Cerro San ...
", which would become the album's second single).
According to
Damon Albarn, permanent collaborator for Gorillaz, the new album was already completed in May 2022.
American record producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...
served as the main producer for the record, alongside British music producer
Remi Kabaka Jr.
Remi Kabaka Jr. (born 11 April 1970) is a British record producer, art director, percussionist and voice actor best known as the drummer and producer for British virtual band Gorillaz. He became a music producer for the band in 2015 after severa ...
The song "
Baby Queen" was inspired by a 1997 meeting that Albarn had with
Princess Siribha Chudabhorn
Princess Siribha Chudabhorn ( th, สิริภาจุฑาภรณ์; ; ; born 8 October 1982), commonly known as Princess Ribha ( th, หริภา; ; ), is the eldest daughter of Princess Chulabhorn Walailak and Virayudh Tishyas ...
at a
Blur concert in Bangkok.
Promotion
Six singles were released from the album. Gorillaz released the first single "
Cracker Island" (featuring bassist
Thundercat) on 22 June 2022. Along with the release of the single, Gorillaz announced that the band would be following up the ''
Meanwhile EP
''Meanwhile EP'' is an extended play by English virtual band Gorillaz, released on 26 August 2021. The EP was released as a celebration of Notting Hill Carnival in London, England, an annual event that was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 p ...
'' with a full new album. The name was announced as ''Cracker Island'', with its release date, artwork and tracklist being revealed on 31 August, alongside the release of the second single, "New Gold", (featuring
Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...
and
Bootie Brown
The Pharcyde (currently known as The Far Side) is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown ...
).
The third single, "
Baby Queen", was released on the ''
FIFA 23
''FIFA 23'' is a football video game published by Electronic Arts. It is the 30th installment in the '' FIFA'' series that is developed by EA Sports, and the final installment under the ''FIFA'' banner, and released worldwide on 30 September 20 ...
'' soundtrack on 30 September, after being leaked earlier that month. It was later officially released as a single on 4 November. The fourth single, "Skinny Ape", was released on 8 December, alongside the announcement of two virtual shows in
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
and
Piccadilly Circus on 17 and 18 December, respectively. The fifth single, "Silent Running" (featuring Adeleye Omotayo) was released on 27 January 2023, with a music video released on 8 February.
A deluxe edition of the album was released on 27 February featuring an additional five tracks: "Captain Chicken" featuring
Del the Funky Homosapien, "Controllah" featuring
MC Bin Laden
Jefferson Cristian dos Santos de Lima (born 1993 or 1994), known professionally as MC Bin Laden, is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. He is recognized as one of the most popular funk ostentação musicians in Brazil.
Early life
Jefferson Cristia ...
, "Crocadillaz" featuring
De La Soul (with the late
Trugoy the Dove
David Jude Jolicoeur (born September 21, 1968), also known under the stage name Trugoy the Dove and more recently Dave, is an American rapper, music producer, producer, and one third of the hip hop Trio (music), trio De La Soul. He was born i ...
) and
Dawn Penn
Dawn Penn (born 11 January 1952) is a Jamaican reggae singer. She first had a short career during the rocksteady era, between 1967 and 1969, but is most known for her single "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" which became a worldwide hit in 1994.
...
, a
2D Piano Version of "Silent Running" featuring Adeleye Omotayo, and a
Dom Dolla
Dominic Matheson, better known by his stage name Dom Dolla, is an Australian house music producer. He has been nominated twice for the ARIA Award for Best Dance Release; in 2017 for "Be Randy", with Torren Foot and in 2019, for the song " Take ...
remix of "New Gold" featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.
Critical reception
''Cracker Island'' received generally positive reviews from critics upon its release. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the release received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 80, based on 23 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews.
Aggregator
AnyDecentMusic? gave the album a 7.1 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.
Reviewing the album for
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "less an exploration of new sonic territory so much as it is a reaffirmation of his strengths" and felt that "there's a clean, efficient energy propelling ''Cracker Island'' that gives the album a fresh pulse."
Writing for ''
Clash'', Emma Harrison claimed hat, "this ten track album from Gorillaz is more akin to a sprint as opposed to a marathon on the virtual virtuosos’ eighth studio album," and felt that, "despite its diminutive length, ‘Cracker Island’ packs one hell of a punch and spans genres far and wide."
In ''
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
'', Lisa Wright declared the album "very much a set piece that prioritises concept and narrative, resulting in one of Gorillaz's most restrained, contemplative releases yet - one that will perhaps appeal to fans of Albarn's solo work more than devotees of his monkeys' more genre-hopping forays."
In a more mixed assessment from ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'', Ben Cardew said the album "walks a very thin line between playing to the band's strengths and relying too heavily on old tricks".
Paul Attard was also critical in the review for ''
Slant Magazine:'' "When left to his own devices (and stripped of his usual slew of
Tumblr
Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a sho ...
-approved guests), Albarn engineers some of ''Cracker Island''s most stand-out material, albeit ones that still vary greatly in quality. Songs like the Greg Kurstin-produced 'Tarantula' and 'Skinny Ape,' while still containing some unnecessary passages (most conspicuously the latter's
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
breakdown), are comparatively barebones and cleanly produced. Even better is '
Baby Queen,' a gorgeous piece of
dream-pop that cuts back on Albarn's worst theatrical tendencies."
[
]
Track listing
* On vinyl releases, "Tarantula" is placed as the fourth track, between "The Tired Influencer" and "Silent Running".
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes.
Musicians
* Damon Albarn – vocals , synthesisers , electric guitar , piano , bass, keyboards , acoustic guitar , Mellotron
* Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...
– keyboards , synthesisers , drums , percussion , bass , electric guitars , piano , marimba
The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...
, guitars , vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
, congas , Mellotron, acoustic guitar, pump organ
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...
* Thundercat – vocals, bass
* Stevie Nicks – vocals
* Adeleye Omotayo – vocals
* Tame Impala
Tame Impala is the psychedelic music project of Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. In the recording studio, Parker writes, records, performs, and produces all of the project's music. As a touring act, Tame Impala consists of Parke ...
– vocals, synthesisers, bass, guitar, drums, Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
* Bootie Brown
The Pharcyde (currently known as The Far Side) is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown ...
– vocals
* Bad Bunny
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His musical style is defined as Latin trap and reggaeton. He rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Diles", w ...
– vocals, keyboards, percussion
* Remi Kabaka Jr.
Remi Kabaka Jr. (born 11 April 1970) is a British record producer, art director, percussionist and voice actor best known as the drummer and producer for British virtual band Gorillaz. He became a music producer for the band in 2015 after severa ...
– drum programming, percussion
* Tainy
Marcos Efraín Masís Fernández (born August 9, 1989), known professionally as Tainy, is a Puerto Rican record producer and songwriter. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he entered the world of reggaeton with his work on '' Mas Flow 2 ...
– drum programming
* Beck – vocals
Technical
* Damon Albarn – production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
* Greg Kurstin – engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
, production
* Remi Kabaka Jr. – production
* Kevin Parker – production, engineering
* Tainy – production
* Samuel Egglenton – engineering
* Julian Burg – engineering
* Matt Tuggle – engineering
* Henri Davies – engineering
* Joel Workman – engineering
* David Reitzas – engineering
* Federico Fogolia – engineering
* Tim Visser – engineering
* Mark "Spike" Stent
Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...
– mixing
* Matt Wolach – mixing assistance
* Stephen Sedgwick – mixing assistance
* Randy Merrill
Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cag ...
– mastering
Artwork
* Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is an English comic book creator, illustrator, music video director, and songwriter. He is the co-creator of the comic book '' Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin and co-creator of the virtual band Gorilla ...
– artwork, design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
* Stars Redmond – assistance
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
References
{{Authority control
2023 albums
Gorillaz albums
Parlophone albums
Albums recorded at Studio 13
Warner Records albums
Albums produced by Damon Albarn
Albums produced by Greg Kurstin
Albums produced by Kevin Parker
Albums produced by Tainy
Synth-pop albums by English artists
Synth-pop albums by Icelandic artists