Damon Albarn said he wanted “an incredibly eclectic, surprising cast of people” and he got it for the third and finest Gorillaz album yet. First conceived as a project called Carousel, Plastic Beach is just that: A heady mélange that can spin from a heavenly arrangement by The National Orchestra For Arabic Music into a giddy hip-hop bounce with U.K. rappers Kano and Bashy in the span of one track (White Flag). De La Soul and Gruff Rhys live up to a vivid title like Superfast Jellyfish with a romp that’s cartoonish and amusing, exemplifying everything the Gorillaz concept was supposed to be in only “three microwave minutes.”

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