'Plastic Beach' by Gorillaz is a musical mishmash. It's also ambitious and brilliant: 2010's best CD so far. The record jumbles sounds and styles: seagull squawks, orchestras, hip-hop, Bollywood, disco, reggae, folk, Sergei Prokofiev, space-age lullabies, techno and calypso. On paper, it resembles a disaster. The concept arose after its main creator, Damon Albarn of Blur, visited a Malian landfill. He despaired at the amount of plastic scattered worldwide, the aftermath of billions of microwave-ready meals. Albarn's list of guests is stunning. Lou Reed brings his New York deadpan to an environmental singalong, 'Some Kind of Nature.' The Fall's Mark E. Smith adds a northern English sneer to 'Glitter Freeze,' a slice of 1970s glam rock. Clash stars Paul Simonon and Mick Jones reunite for the title track. Snoop Dogg is followed by British grime rappers Kano and Bashy performing with the National Orchestra for Arabic Music. The best track, 'Stylo,' starts with an unemotional rap from Mos Def and then erupts into an impassioned soul rant by Bobby Womack. Only 'Superfast Jellyfish,' with its fake ad jingle from De La Soul and Gruff Rhys, is a tad irritating. Intriguingly, about 70 songs were mooted for the album, including performances by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. Let's hope we get to hear the outtakes too. The inventiveness revitalizes Gorillaz after more than a decade as a multimedia 'virtual group' drawn by London comic- book artist Jamie Hewlett. This time, the band is shipwrecked far from human life on a beach made of industrial waste where the members happily make shiny new toys from the trash, just like Albarn does with the music. 'Demon Days' five years ago was stunning; 'Monkey: Journey to the West' had its moments. With Gorillaz outselling Blur in the U.S., Albarn has found a new direction for Britpop and rock music in general. I've seen the future, and it works. The Gorillaz album is on Parlophone/Virgin. Download fees vary across services. Mark Beech writes for Bloomberg News. 