It is time to give Damon Albarn his due. While his Britpop peers are reduced to blandly rewriting past glories (Oasis) or propping up the bar (everyone else), Albarn is the one who took some unexpected steps.

GORILLAZ
****
Demon Days Parlophone

Both the Mali Music project and Blur's ongoing reinvention have been thrilling to observe, but Albarn's real masterstroke has been Gorillaz. Initially dismissed as a novelty side project until the self-titled debut album racked up a few million sales, the Gorillaz behind the Jamie Hewlett cartoons this time out have intent in their eyes and fire in their bellies. With Grey Album mastermind Danger Mouse at the production controls, Demon Days is a technicolor soundclash which ducks and dives with buck-wild abandon. Besides a heavyweight selection of MCs (De La Soul, Roots Manuva and Pharcyde's Booty Brown), it's the many shades of funk in use that make this such a joy. You won't find many tunes like Dirty Harry out there, the San Fernandez Youth Chorus trilling in childlike glee before a glorious bouncing beat takes over. You'll also travel far before meeting the likes of the menacing Kid with Guns (with a snatch of Neneh Cherry imitating Salt 'n' Pepa) or the lovelorn Last Living Souls (bodypopping electronica over a digi-dub soundbed). Truly the work of a man who doesn't give a damn any more about what anyone else thinks because he knows he's right. www.gorillaz.com

Jim Carroll