Gorillaz enlist Thundercat for new single “Cracker Island”

Part of what keeps Gorillaz exciting as a pop project is the often surprising roster of collaborators that the animated group bring to play in their world. Funk impresario Thundercat, who plays on the new, hauntingly-titled "Cracker Island," is not exactly a left-turn in the context of Gorillaz team-ups, but it is an exciting one.

Dance-punk a la The Rapture is the name of the game on "Cracker Island." It starts off recalling the more paranoid moments of the third Gorillaz project Plastic Beach with a horror-movie synth line that's balanced out by Thundercat's heavenly vocal presence and groovy bass lines. It's one of the better Gorillaz cuts in recent memory where the song's pure sense of fun gels with and boosts the band's iconoclastic vision. Listen below.

Gorillaz are currently in the midst of a tour. The group shared a three-track EP called Meanwhile last year