Gorillaz 'Plastic Beach' (Virgin)

3 1/2 stars = Very good
Ratings explained

"Plastic Beach" was inspired by Gorillaz chief Damon Albarn's visit to a landfill where he encountered the expected wreckage of the wasteful lifestyle of convenience.

His response was a sprawling sort-of environmental concept album in which the virtual Gorillaz are shipwrecked on a beach of waste, visited by guest artists, ranging from Bobby Womack to De La Soul to Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash.

The result is another glorious musical mish-mash, a floating party of hip-hop, electro-pop, chamber-pop, techno, calypso -- you never know where it's gonna go -- buoyed by sinuous basslines, sparkling synths and shape-shifting beats.

The first voice we hear is the familiar sound of Snoop Dogg slyly setting the scene with a "Planet of the Apes" reference on "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach," and from there, it rolls on hypnotically as the disparate artists step up to make the most of their turns.

The National Orchestra for Arabic Music does a lovely set-up for British grime artists Kano and Bashy to riff on island life on "White Flag." De La Soul provides good trashy fun on "Superfast Jellyfish" with Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys. Mos Def, Albarn and Womack blend three delicious flavors on the club-thumping, space-jam single "Stylo." Lou Reed's flat sing-speak is set off nicely against the bouncy beat of "Some Kind of Nature."

Given all these bizarre pieces, there's no way this should have worked, but Gorillaz pull it off again through 16 tracks with little or no waste.

-- Scott Mervis

Broken Bells 'Broken Bells' (Columbia)

2 1/2 stars = Average
Ratings explained

The brilliance of Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton is such that he could probably take some "American Idol" castoff and make him sound like the real deal.

Here, on hiatus from Gnarls Barkley, the multi-instrumentalist/producer teams with golden-voiced singer-guitarist James Mercer, taking leave from indie-pop heroes the Shins.

The results pay off immediately with the opening track, "The High Road," a transcendent pop song with a sturdy hip-hop beat and some Flaming Lips wizardry under a vocal that takes off for other worlds, then rolls back into gospel-ly chorus.

It would be nice to say that it gets even better from there, but that's not the case. Broken Bells never rises to the level of either musician's best work.

Despite the nice, soulful touches -- like the surging organ on "Vaporize" -- and clever pop flourishes, evoking everything from the Beatles to the Cure to spaghetti westerns, the songs kind of sit there, lacking the melodic punch, wit and emotion we expect from Mr. Mercer.

Even with lyrics like "You'll never know how low an angry heart can go," the passion fails to ignite.

-- Mervis

Josh Rouse, "El Turista": The breezy singer-songwriter's new album is saturated by Spanish, Cuban and Brazilian influences and partially sung in Spanish.

The Chieftains with Ry Cooder, "San Patricio": Collaboration tells the story of a group of Irish-Americans who switched sides during the Mexican-American War of 1846. Guests include Liam Neeson and Linda Ronstadt.

Liars, "Sisterworld": Fifth album from the noisy New York indie-rockers is a dark, nearly gothic affair with haunted dirges.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Beat the Devil's Tattoo": San Francisco alt-rock band's fifth album is the first with Raveonettes drummer Leah Shapiro.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, "The Brutalist Bricks": The latest from New Jersey power-pop legend.

Frightened Rabbit, "The Winter of Mixed Drinks": Scottish indie-rockers add a fifth member for "heavily layered" third album.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.