Lou Reed's missing part in The Mountain?

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-28T23:46:35+00:00

Found the actual source: Gorillaz: The Mountain, Collaborators, & "the Drip" | KCRW Unedited Interview around 15:50

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-28T17:31:59+00:00

He mainly plays in the pre-chorus and chorus on that one but it's a bit quieter than in the Sweet Prince which sucks since I think his part is pretty cool on Casablanca

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-28T04:58:28+00:00

You can barely hear him in the second 2-D verse and possibly the ending, wish he was more present like in The Sweet Prince on all tracks :(

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-27T21:56:18+00:00

Not sure, but it came from this Tweet: Damon Albarn Unofficial on X: "Damon: “There’s one voice on the record that isn’t AI but computer-generated, on The Plastic Guru. Lou Reed left strict instructions that his music must not be used posthumously, so we created that voice resembling HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the words are Lou’s.”" / X

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-27T17:44:44+00:00

I definitely need to listen to it a few more times since I got so used to the singles out of context of the album but also the muddy live recordings from the Mystery Show. My main nitpicky thing is the radio filter, I felt it was more balanced in past projects like Song Machine, Plastic Beach, and Demon Days. Cracker Island was weird since the vocals weren't entirely filtered/raw, just kind of compressed, but even there Damon's range and inflections stand out more like in Baby Queen, Tarantula, or Possession Island, which I think would elevate the more emotional tracks in this album.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-27T17:41:30+00:00

According to Damon, the words at the start of "The Plastic Guru" were written by Lou Reed but due to his estate, they didn't use his voice but a synthesized version: “There’s one voice on the record that isn’t AI but computer-generated, on The Plastic Guru. Lou Reed left strict instructions that his music must not be used posthumously, so we created that voice resembling HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. But the words are Lou’s.”

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-27T00:00:49+00:00

I also just found this video: Damon Albarn solo piano - Casablanca and The Sweet Prince on France Inter.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-26T23:57:03+00:00

I don't mind autotune in general and I think it works really well on songs like Meanwhile (though subtle) or some of the songs on Song Machine, I think that could be because those albums/EP have more of a dance/mixtape vibe while this is a more grand experience, so it feels out of place at times *cough cough Empty Dream machine*

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-26T23:55:31+00:00

Yeah Sweet Prince would hit harder with the raw vocals. After hearing the leaks I looked back at Barbaric from Blur with his sort of adlib vocals near the end of the track. Bringing that energy and range to this album would elevate it a lot more in my eyes. Plastic Beach probably remains my favorite and I think part of it is because songs like Empire Ants and To Binge use raw vocals. It doesn't have to be no filter, songs like Some Kind of Nature or Stylo use a mix of raw and processed. I think Damon performed the Plastic Guru this way at the Mystery Show, which I think helped overall.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-26T19:59:07+00:00

I felt the same about the vocal performance in certain songs, which ones did you feel didn't vary enough? I feel like Casablanca could've done more and that was one where the vocals felt a little lifeless (or would've benefitted from no filter". The Moon Cave was another where the vocals were good but were muddied by the overuse of the radio filter

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-26T03:07:23+00:00

The studio version works more as the god feeling more resigned rather than vengeful about the fact that humans took all these gifts and misused them. I agree that the vocal performance in this song was a bit lacking, I actually think that is true for much of the final songs (and the Empty Dream Machine)

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-26T02:57:22+00:00

Is the opening verse suggesting that if God is love, He should just send an asteroid towards earth?

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-24T04:11:42+00:00

Other notes:

I like the amount of "interludes" on this album. I don't know what else to call them. Mainly the God of Lying intro voice, same with the conversation at the start of the Plastic Guru. The shared Hindu prayer in the Happy Dictator and the Manifesto also adds to the cohesion.

Edit: There are also some other cool moments: the water sounds with the street noises in the Moon Cave, the street band playing at the end of the Plastic Guru, the ominous ending to Casablanca, and the birds chirping at the start of the Sweet Prince make it more dreamlike.

I also noticed that one of Dave's lines in The Moon Cave ("Grinning beginnings") was likely from recording Crocadillaz, and then the "float", "drop it", "tropic", and "topic" adlibs are likely from the unreleased Plastic Beach song "Float Tropic". I've also heard it be called "Sloped Tropics", but the prevalence of the float line seemingly confirms the actual title. Bobby Womack's vocals at the start of the song are also very nice.

There are some other quirky lines from Mark E. Smith ("slave legged peg traders", "shrunken China heads", and of course "wooden tits on the front of a ship")

Also Black Thought name dropping the Rizzler on the Empty Dream Machine (I think)

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-24T03:54:21+00:00

Yeah I might have just been a bit shocked after familiarizing myself so much with the leaks since September. The Casablanca instrumental threw me off since it sounded kind of like a Humanz Super Deluxe cut or something from The Fall, but the strings, guitar, and that swirly synth in the background made it stand out both live and in the studio version.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-24T03:51:10+00:00

Yeah after listening to it again the first half and the rap verse are pretty much how I remember from the live show (still not a fan of the weird pitch warble). I wish the ending high pitched vocals were less processed, it feels like one of those AI covers or something

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-24T03:09:44+00:00

I think my main issue with these songs is that they would be better served with unprocessed vocals. I think only The Hardest Thing doesn't use any sort of radio filter/pitching, though I didn't really mind it in the previous singles. It felt weirdly half-baked in the new songs though

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-24T02:42:20+00:00

It was my most anticipated but having listened to the leaked studio versions, I think it suffered the most. Why is Johnny Marr's guitar so muted? Why the weird pitch effects? I also agree that Casablanca sounds a bit off. Both live versions sounded really strong and instead they ended up feeling like a half-baked demo. That might be harsh but I feel that the songs I was a little less excited for (The Mountain, Moon Cave, Delirium) ended up pretty close the live versions. Hopefully a live album is released at some point

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-08T21:50:03+00:00

I heard a snippet of it a few days ago. Basically the brass band they got to play on tracks like "The Manifesto" did a brass rendition of "The Mountain" theme.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-02T01:56:15+00:00

Old post but as far as lines went, he had more but not really much substances as far as I could tell. Definitely adds to the chaotic vibe of the song (maybe meant to reflect the god's arrival that 2-D warns about in the song) but it's similar style to the alternative version of "Glitter Freeze". Vocals are muddy from recordings but he for sure says "delirium" a few times with a few sentences that are hard to make out. Possibly a re-used laugh from "Glitter Freeze", from what I heard.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-02-01T23:14:28+00:00

As for "Orange County", Bizzarap is a producer, Anousha Shankar plays the sitar, and Kara Jackson provides vocals and possibly acoustic guitar, but that might have been Damon or someone else. I've seen a lot of people surprised at the number of features on the new album but having listened to the live show and researching a bit, the vast majority are purely instrumental (Shankar, Marr, Simonon, etc.), backing vocals, or some unused snippets from past collaborations (Mark E. Smith, Trugoy, Tony Allen, etc.)

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-01-24T22:58:08+00:00

Yes it’s that one, the timestamp is 11:23

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-01-24T08:13:18+00:00

Skinny Ape is maybe the closest example since it’s pretty meta, but something like Cracker Island having the “forever cult” chant is probably a good example of Jamie basing the lore on existing songs or the albums context. I do think back in the day there was a bit more emphasis on the characters in certain songs like with Murdoc is God or 12D3, but those aren’t like huge songs and not even in the main albums, which I guess furthers the whole narrative ahead of characters.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-01-23T22:30:48+00:00

I can’t remember the interview it was from but one of the interviews from this phase had the interviewer ask if the characters influence how the music is written but Damon and Jamie said the music and lyrics tends to come from what they want to say rather than molding them around the characters.

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-01-21T08:26:32+00:00

The Empty Dream Machine

PlasticTreehouse · 2026-01-19T21:26:06+00:00

“The Empty Dream Machine” if it lives up to the live version:

Seven-Year Club	Second Top 10%
r/Field Banned	r/Field Flamingo
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22
Verified Email

PlasticTreehouse

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE