Demon Days

Instant 5 If anything gets a 5+++ this is it

This and Plastic Beach not being on the original list is a travesty. So many fantastic songs and features on this thing, and it just pushes everything that was great about their debut to another level

It's important to remember that artistic personas, genre-crossing collabs, and the general cross-pollination that's common in the modern music scene were non-existent in the early 2000s. This LP (and more generally, the whole Gorillaz project) felt like such a creative shot in the arm when it dropped – the lead singer of Blur role-playing as the same for a fictional band of cartoon characters was seen as out-there and almost revolutionary in a way. My music taste was still developing at the time, but even then I could tell this album sounded different than anything that was out there. The whole LP is exceedingly prescient, fusing slacker guitar with hip-hop and electronic elements well before rap became the dominant mainsteam genre. Most tracks sound modern even today, the airtight but organic production giving everything here a thin enough coat of gloss to help with preservation while maintaining the somewhat raw, impromptu lightness that buoys a thematically dark LP. This is a slam dunk addition to the list, easily a modern classic that set the stage for so much of what was to come in indie.

Was this not in the original list?

It's weird this wasn't on the OG list

This was my all-time favorite album for a long, long time; it still sits comfortably in my top 5. It was essential for me as a teenager in broadening my horizons and being able to appreciate music beyond what I was familiar with, and for that I will forever be in its debt. It is catchy, bursting with variety, perfectly sequenced, chock full of amazing features... I could gush about this album all day.

I preferred their debut, and this is still a five star album!

This is just an amazing mix between dub, hiphop and rock. Also very relaxing in a way

Rating: 10/10

Classic.

Someone should be locked up for this not being on the original list. Hard to imagine a stronger start than Last Living Souls and Kids With Guns. Both still sound so fresh. Feel Good Inc. is definitely their most overplayed song and for good reason. Catchy as hell. MF DOOM. DARE might be my most played song by Gorillaz after On Melancholy Hill (Plastic Beach also should’ve been on this list). Most underrated song is def Fire Coming Out of the Monkeys Head. Sick that they got Dennis Hopper to narrate it. I could go into detail on a ton of these songs, but bottom line is this is one of the greatest albums ever. Came out over 20 years ago and still feels unique as hell. Easy 5

Hands up the best LP ever released by the Gorillaz project. Lethargic on the surface, this one yields its many tonal and harmonic flavours through subsequent listens. Those are very "swampy" songs suggesting an outlook that's part despondent, part vital. Not often addressing the sad state of the world as perceived during the noughts ("funny" how everything seems even worse now!), but surely illustrating that state through Damon Albarn's melancholic howling, illustrator Jamie Hewlett's pivotal co-writing credits, and Danger Mouse's kitchen sink arrangements, there isn't a single dud in the album (except maybe "White Light"). Obvious hits like "Feel Good inc." and "Dirty Harry" coexist with deeper cuts such as "Every Planet We Teach Is Dead", which are actually as good and evocative. Way more cohesive and convincing than the debut mentioned in the original list. A d of course, the cherry on the cake here is the list of guest rappers: Roots Manuva isn't that stellar an artist overall but he does a good job here. And then you have guys from The Pharcyde, De La Soul, and -- hell yeah -- MF DOOM himself! The real substance that makes the album what it is however, is that focus on hypnotic tones, evocative lyrics and cinematic arrangements (there was a killer string section involved in the making of those songs). To this day, *Demon Days* still sounds like a hypermodern version of the blues, with a tridimensional affect running through one track to the next. Not so bad for "cartoon characters". So yeah, this one's a keeper. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really get the hype beyond the singles twenty years ago, and being an music fan who was already very familiar with Blur, and also one that was very open-mind when it comes to electronic music and hip hop, it was as if I didn't need this project to broaden my horizons, just like it did for millennial music fans. But I listened to this album again in the right way, and it looks like my younger peers were right and I was wrong to dismiss Gorillaz in the album format (at least for this one entry). Actually, among the many persons who suggested I should reconsider this record, there is one guy I met "online" though this app: shout out to you, Émile! I'm finally replying to your last message down there today! 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 5 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the obvious musicianship and professional production values + 4.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 86 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 109 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 222 ---- Yo, Émile! Bon tout d'abord, désolé de ne pas avoir répondu plus tôt. À chaque fois que je finissais mes chroniques (longues ou courtes), c'était compliqué pour moi de revenir à ton dernier message et de trouver le temps de te répondre (que j'avais copié-collé dans mes notes -- si ça se trouve tu en as récris un depuis?). Il fait dire, en plus de conneries du boulot (à cause de celles-ci, peut-être ?), j'ai été un peu malade ce dernier mois (maux de ventre, dos bloqué, plus d'énergie...). C'était un peu compliqué. J'avais aussi un article qui sortait un peu du commun à faire pour la version papier de Mowno (en gros un article sur les artistes US qui se mobilisent contre cette saloperie de ICE, avec plusieurs intws de certains d'entre elles / eux). Bref occupé, et pas en forme, ça ne m'aidait pas à répondre vite. Là ça va beaucoup mieux. Je suis en vacances. Je viens d'aller voir Godspeed You! Black Emperor à Reims (7e ou 8e fois pour moi, 1ère fois pour ma copine!). Et on a fait d'autres concerts à Paris. Là, he rentré de la capitale dans un bus, et j'ai enfin de temps pour cette réponse ! Il faut dire, vu l'album proposé par le générateur aujourd'hui, je me devais de te répondre, ha ha. C'était un signe. Parce que oui, je le réévalue grandement à la hausse ce Demon Days, et c'est en partie grâce à toi ! Y a une dédicace pour toi à la fin de la chronique, d'ailleurs ! Sinon, je suis en train d'écouter le nouveau Ping Pong Go. Pas mal sur certains titres (Arcadia, par exemple), mais je n'ai pas trouvé de tube de la trempe de Corvette. Non pas que leur album éponyme se résumait à ça, mais je trouve qu'il manque un titre évident de ce genre pour faire passer les bizarreries à côté. Bon ça reste hyper bien foutu, hein. Autre sujet, Angine De Poitrine. Punaise, la hype a totalement EXPLOSÉ avec cette vidéo virale KEXP. Résultat, je devais les interviewer avec une collaboratrice de chez Mowno, mais ils ont annulé toutes les promos tellement ils ont eu de demandes ! Un peu deg', même si je comprends. Le rédac-chef a fait une chronique mi-figue, mi-raisin sur eux, au passage, mais il promet que c'est pas pour se venger. Ce qui me fout un peu la rage, c'est qu'ils passent dans ma ville, au Mans où il y a peu de groupes hypés de ce genre qui passent, mais que le concert a été complet en deux jours (petite salle, places à 5 euros), et je n'étais pas au courant. J'espère que je vais pouvoir m'incruster, mais rien n'est gagné... Sinon, on parlait cinéma... Merci pour tes suggestions de films, j'ai bien noté tout ça. J'y reviendrai cet été, je pense. À propos de Denis Villeneuve... J'ai vu Arrival, c'était un film bien cool, de la SF plutôt intelligente, et j'aime ce genre-là. J'ai vu Blade Runner 2049, et c'est plutôt mitigé pour moi. De supers idées, et des trucs totalement inutiles à côté. Mais je dois être trop fan du film original... J'ai lu les trois premiers romans de DUNE (Dune, Messie De Dune, et Enfant de Dune) deux fois, et les autres suites une fois, je suis très fan de l'univers original. Cela influe donc ma réception de l'adaptation de Villeneuve, qui est la suivante: Dune Part 1: nickel, le mieux de ce que je pouvais espérer d'une adaptation grand public. Dune Part 2: aïe, ça coince ! Les infidélités au livre be sont pas toutes justifiées (par exemple, il passe totalement à côté de ce personnage fascinant qu'est Alia, pour des raisons de "réalisme" qui sont totalement hors-sujet vu l'univers, et c'est impardonnable de rater ce personnage pour moi). Et sinon, je trouve qu'il y a de gros soucis de rythme dans cette seconde partie. Donc pour Dune Part 3, je m'attends à tout. Mais je serai dans la salle de cinéma pour le voir, bien entendu. Même déçu par le scénario ou le rythme, le fan de SF que je suis doit voir cet événement au cinéma... Dans ta suggestion de film en vrac, il y en a aussi 3 que j'ai vus : - Interstellar: j'aime beaucoup les visuels et la musique, mais j'exècre totalement le scénario, et là encore, le rythme de ce film. Il y a d'hallucinantes incohérences dans l'histoire, ce qui est le comble pour un film qui prend *lourdement* son temps à t'expliquer ses concepts physiques sous-jacents. Et franchement, le méchant Robinson Crusoé joué par Matt Damon, c'est un autre film qui n'a rien à voir avec le reste, limite du remplissage. La partie psyché dans le trou noir est cool par contre. J'avais deviné le twist final en noeud de Moebius dès le début du film, mais ça c'est pas grave. - Her : cool, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce film. Je l'ai vu à sa sortie, ça remonte. Faudrait que je le revois. - Birdman : j'ai apprécié le voir, c'est un délire assez dark qui m'a plutôt marqué, mais je sais pas si j'ai tant que ça envie de le revoir... De tout façon, avec le reste de ta liste j'ai de quoi faire... Sur les séries... T'en es où dans les Sopranos, en ce moment ? Bordel, je ne vais pas insister pour Mad Men, je comprends que c'est difficile de percevoir les nuances entre les saisons (il y a d'ailleurs un petit commentaire meta là-dessus dans les dernières), mais PAR CONTRE, J'INSISTE lourdement pour The Wire! Try again! Il faut pas essayer de contrôler de savoir qui est qui au début, faut se laisser porter, et ça paie émotionnellement. Par exemple, quand tu vas apprendre à connaître les quatres ados qui sont au centre de ce monde (de merde) de la drogue dans la saison 4, tu vas pleurer pour eux. Mais avant ça, tu pourrais bien pleurer sur le sort de quelques gangsters, ce qui est plus surprenant. La blague entre fans de The Wire, c'est que c'est du Dickens moderne. L'émotion, mec. Elle d'autant plus viscérale quand tout t'es présenté de manière si froide et clinique au départ... Bon, faut vraiment que je dépasse la saison 1 pour Better Call Saul. J'ai globalement beaucoup aimé Breaking Bad, et certains disent que c'est mieux encore. On fait un deal, si je mate Better Call Saul cet été, tu ré-essaies The Wire? 😀 Et sinon, on a déjà parlé de Mr Robot ensemble ? Ma mémoire me fait défaut parfois .. Mon car arrive au bout de son trajet. A bientôt, j'espère. Cyril

Generally I feel like this band or project is over-hyped, and a little too enamored with the cleverness of its own conceit. This has too many bright moments to dismiss though. Extra point for a feature from Saint MF DOOM.

Demon Days is the second album of the Damon Albarn project Gorillaz. It contains the classics "Feel Good Inc.", "Dare" and "Kids with Guns" and is produced by Danger Mouse. It's an eclectic clash of musical styles and ideas, but it works great. It's full of collaborations with Neneh Cherry, Bootie Brown (The Pharcyde), De La Soul, Ike Turner, MF Doom, Shaun Ryder and even legend Dennis Hopper. The album sounds more mature and consistent compared to the debut album and far less like a gimmick.

Another album that really should have been on the original list. Gorillaz were one of the bands that were shook up alternative music in the 2000s and Demon Days was their best work. Feel Good Inc is a blueprint for the perfect alternative rock rap song. It’s damn near perfect. The remainder of the album is also exquisitely well produced and riddled with features that accentuate the production. All in all this is a fantastic album that everyone should listen to. 8.5/10

So so so so close to being a 5 with this one, but there's just a few rather forgettable tracks--looking at you, Intro and Demon Days :|. Everything else is fire though. 8/10

Gimmicky to the point of annoying me back in the day but when you (I) just listen to it [which, yes I understand is the entire point (is it?)] .... yeah it still sounds gimmicky somehow. I guess I'm not much a fan of mass-collaboration type albums. It's definitely a step up from their debut as the best songs ("Feel Good" "El Mañana") are quite worthy and elevate it overall, but the rest range from ok to boring to kind of shit. Feels way longer than the actual 50 minute runtime - I kept having to check how much longer I had. TL;DR: Give me 4 or 5 songs and then GTFO 5/10 3 stars IMO: Belonged in the book? Yes - in place of the debut which made no sense.

Thirty angry gorillas are rapidly approaching your location. 5/5.

Pretty crazy this wasn’t on the original list! We all know this is great.

This was a really great album. One you can certainly kick back to. Maybe I didn't understand why their hits were so popular, or maybe my music taste has just evolved over the last 3ish years, but I think I need to run through the Gorillaz discog. I feel like Kevin was tired of me saying I was a Gorillaz hater, but I will eat crow here and say this album ruled. I immediately want to listen to it again.

This is one of those albums that I can put on any time, any place, and it works. I did not own this album growing up, but I distinctly remember listening to it getting a ride somewhere from my friend's older brother. I remember him blasting White Light at full volume and thinking it was both some of the weirdest music I had heard and also totally fucking awesome. The whole album is stacked -- as is Gorillaz early discog. This one has a very loose sort of concept feel about it that does unify the experience a bit more than Gorillaz, but less so that Plastic Beach. But it has an effortless feel about it all the way through that I think suits Albarn. Doesn't hurt that he was able to get some solid support on here from De La Soul and MF DOOM. Too much to love here, from the ultra-dancey one two punch of Dirty Harry (a loose continuation of Clint Eastwood thematically) and Feel Good Inc. To the sprawling El Manana, down in the gutter November Has Come, and album rippers White Light and (standout for me) DARE. The last three albums are an interesting come down off of the high of DARE. Whole thing rocks. 5 / 5

This has the one Gorillaz song I can recall (Feel Good Inc.). Catchy song that… the rest of this has a mellow, funky groove that was nice to listen to.

This one was kind of weird for me because I've been listening to Deltron 3030 a lot lately, which is a Dan the Automator album. That album feels so vibrant and fresh, whereas this album left me kind of cold. I think maybe I'm just not that into Damon Albarn. It's not bad in any way, but knowing all the talent that is associated with this group, it has always just felt like they were underpeforming. They certainly have their moments, though, and I can't really see fit to give an album of this quality a 3. 4/5 I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed, despite the fact that I'm clapping

Was very happy to have this as my album. I’d only heard the singles before - didn’t realise how many had come from one album. Very much enjoyed.

Great. Not much more to say about it.

The heavy voice-effect in All Alone has boiled my piss for twenty years now. An otherwise pretty good album ruined by some stupid helium effect.

I wouldn't complain about another Gorillaz album on the OG list. I feel like this one would be a better choice. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes.

I was pretty underwhelmed by the self-titled Gorillaz from the original list. I appreciated its influence, but I was just bored by the album. I don’t know if I’m going to enjoy this entry any more than its predecessor, but I’m hopeful that this will be more up my alley. While I didn’t love Demon Days, I thought it was much better than Gorillaz’s debut album. Like Queens of the Stone Age’s user submission, I find it mind boggling that this album didn’t make the original cut of the list over the self-titled album. But I digress. I think the main thing that I enjoyed about this album is that it was much more purposeful and realized than its predecessor. The melodies here felt like they were able to develop on their own, and nothing felt forced. The vibe on this album is really chill and relaxed, but despite that, it has some really great beats and rhythms, and there are some really great hooks here too. I thought the first half of this album was stronger than the first half, with the highlight of the second half being the dance worthy “Dare.” “Dare” had a wonderful beat, and the keyboards and synthesizers were excellent, giving it a feeling of a disco anthem for the aughts. The album’s first half is heavily boosted by “Last Living Souls,” “Dirty Harry,” and “Feel Good Inc.” While I wouldn’t call myself a convert to Gorillaz after listening to this album, Demon Days definitely made me understand their appeal. I can’t remember if there are any more Gorillaz albums on the user submission list, but I’m looking forward to any that are.

Excited to listen to this because I never have fully. Feel Good Inc is one of the most fun songs to sing along to and bounce around. Didn't realize about the song DARE being Gorillaz I have heard it many many time. Such an incredible solid album all around that had some mixes of everything in it.

Alternative rock, hip hop, trip hop, pop, art rock. Ni fu ni fa.

The correct Gorillaz album is on the real list. This one doesn’t have a ton to offer outside of Feelgood Inc

Demon Days has some real high highs and a pretty decent floor, much of it doesn't really grab me in the way the best singles do, and it goes on a bit too long, but it's inventive and creative and an easy 3/5 that I might get to 4 on.

I was always pretty neutral on Gorillaz. Not bad but not really my thing either. 3 stars.

Obvious omission and should have been included from the start. However I’ve personally never got this album. There a gems, but most of the tracks don’t click with me. I think I would need to give all the songs individual attention to get a full appreciation of this record instead of just overlooking everything except my favourite tracks

I can't stand Dare, but this was good

I always though Gorillaz was good, not great. I'm not a huge fan of dub. But I'm not sure that's it. I just think generally the first two records are overrated.

Ive never actually gone out of my way to listen to this group, so it was definitely interesting and new for me to do so. Personally I don’t really see much of a reason for their fame. It wasn’t horrible but just wasn’t super interesting truthfully. 5/10 but i would say it’s not a 3.