Conceived from an unfinished project called Carousel, the album was recorded from June 2008 to November 2009, and was produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn.

It features guest appearances by such artists as Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bashy, Kano, and Little Dragon.

[9] As with previous Gorillaz albums, Plastic Beach features collaborations with several artists; it features Snoop Dogg, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Kano, Bashy, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, sinfonia Viva and the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music.

[16] Mick Jones and Paul Simonon completed their portion of the title track "Plastic Beach" in a day.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Posdnuos of De La Soul said that the group had provided vocals on two songs for the album, "Electric Shock" and "Sloped Tropics".

The latter, described by Rhys as "more of a night-time song, a three o'clock in the morning, speeding down the autobahn evading West German police-type track", does not feature on the album.

[27] Pitchfork's Sean Fennessey wrote that "ornate Village Green Preservation Society-style pop" is the dominant style on Plastic Beach, but that Albarn also "dips into Krautrock, funk, and dubstep, as well as the weary, more melodic music he's been perfecting for much of last decade" on an album that serves as "sort of an electronic take on baroque pop.

"[28] According to Mojo magazine's Danny Eccleston, the album reprises the "combination of stupid-fresh pop melody, 21st-century hip hop substructure and catholic cast of collaborators" featured on Demon Days,[29] while Miles Marshall Lewis of The Village Voice observed "funky electroclash" and hip hop elements in the music.

saw it as a demonstration of the band's "picturesque mishmash of rhymes, pop, disco, orchestration, blues and dark electronic beats.

"[3] He added, "I suppose what I've done with this Gorillaz record is I've tried to connect pop sensibility with ... trying to make people understand the essential melancholy of buying a ready made meal in loads of plastic packaging.

On 14 January 2010, Albarn made an appearance as a guest DJ on BBC Radio 1, premiering demos of three new Gorillaz songs – "Electric Shock", "Broken" and "Stylo".

"Electric Shock" did not make the album, though samples of the song were used in "Rhinestone Eyes", as well as the intro orchestral separated into bonus track "Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons".

Over a period of time, numerous short clips were posted on the site, mainly showing various shots of a large Plastic Beach model backed by segments of new Gorillaz music.

Similar to the previous album, short animated "idents" were released for fictional band members Murdoc, 2-D, Russel, and the Noodle cyborg.

Russel's ident had him stomping off of the edge of a pier and diving into the ocean, presumably headed to Plastic Beach for reasons unknown.

A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn a passenger, who is revealed to be Noodle (wearing the oni mask), that the cruise is under attack by pirates and he was told to escort her to the lifeboats.

Noodle then grabs her briefcase and opens it, revealing a gun, and passes the crew member while heading out, presumably to face the pirates.

"Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Rhinestone Eyes" and "White Flag" were premiered on the Australian radio station Triple J on 28 February 2010, in respective order, at one-hour intervals.

A storyboard version of a possible music video for "Rhinestone Eyes" was released on 4 October 2010 to the band's official YouTube channel.

[60][61] As of 25 March 2010, Plastic Beach sold 8,136 copies in Japan and debuted at number 17 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

[62] Plastic Beach received generally positive reviews from critics; it holds an aggregate score of 77 out of 100 at Metacritic.

"[63] Michael Kabran of PopMatters wrote that "the band's trademark brand of electro-funk-hip-pop is more focused, with tighter production and more sure-fire hooks.

"[64] Kitty Empire wrote for The Guardian that though the album's "electronic pop songs are more sneaky than sure-fire ... it is probably Gorillaz's most engrossing project so far.

"[34] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the album's success depends on Albarn's growth as a composer: "he's a master of subtly shifting moods and intricately threaded allusions, often creating richly detailed collages that are miniature marvels.

[26] In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot was impressed by Albarn's ability to produce exceptional music using "seemingly mismatched elements from different cultures, genres and generations".

"[53] In a negative review, Los Angeles Times writer Mikael Wood said that "too many of these 16 hazy, half-crazy tracks sound like undercooked studio goofs", panning its second half as "one long, jammy drone, with none of Albarn's melodic or lyrical gifts on display".

"[29] Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt viewed its "sonic drift" as "dull, and even dispiriting" in the album's second half, stating "In the end, Beach offers a vision of the future as digitised kitsch: groovy, yes, but lonely too".

[52] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times viewed its music as "thin and inconsequential, car-commercial electronic funk and tension-free hip-hop", while writing "It's an appealing mess, moving at a fever pitch until swelling to something like an enthused climax.

[67] Writing for MSN Music, Robert Christgau singled out "Some Kind of Nature" and "Superfast Jellyfish" as "choice cuts",[68] indicating good songs on an album that he felt was otherwise unworthy of listeners' money or time.

[citation needed] It was also voted the 30th best record of 2010 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.