Album of the Day

Released on this day in 2010, PLASTIC BEACH carries Gorillaz a few years further into the dystopian future foreshadowed on DEMON DAYS. Debris on a beach near ringleader Damon Albarn's home helped provide inspiration for the collection's environmental concerns, but the set is also swimming with ideas and storylines that he and partner Jamie Hewlett came up with while exploring film and stage possibilities for their characters. The album's conceptual reach is matched by its musical scope, and producer Albarn enlisted a legion of guest stars including Bobby Womack (“Stylo”), Lou Reed (“Some Kind of Nature”) and De La Soul (“Superfast Jellyfish”). Debuting at No.2 in both the U.S. and the U.K., PLASTIC BEACH proved another critical and commercial success for Gorillaz.