It’s been a decidedly long wait for fans of the greatest virtual rock band in history (apologies to Dethklok). Six years to be exact since we last heard from Gorillaz, the pet project of Blur’s Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett that took the world by storm in the early aughts.
We knew there would be new material coming from them soon, they’d announced a brand new album would be coming last year and today we got the first taste of it with their brand new single and accompanying video for Hallelujah Money. Watch it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDUrpPvU1_4
It’s absolutely off-the-wall both sonically and visually. It features the talents of the charismatic British singer-songwriter Benjamin Clementine, a Mercury Prize winner whose baritone delivery here evokes an echoing sermon, the video featuring him singing from Trump Tower, coming the day before the President-elect’s inauguration in a not-so-subtle dig.
It’s a discordant and jarring collection of noise, a tiptoeing bassline here, a rising gospel choir there and heavenly synths swirling all around it. Clementine’s voice wavering beautifully before Albarn takes over at the halfway point. “When the morning comes, we are still human, how will we know, how will we dream” he warbles and it’s oh so good to hear that voice again.
Delightfully strange and wonderful, this first glimpse at the new Gorillaz album bodes well for the future.
Read More: Flashback Friday on “Demon Days”
Image: BGR
For the past few months years, Gorillaz have been hinting that their “really fuckin’ special” new album will be on its way to our ears in 2017. The year is now here, meaning that the pressure’s now on to deliver on their promise. To kick things off for 2017, animated guitarist Noodle has shared an awesome all-female playlist featuring a selection of leading ladies who have inspired her during her search for “new sounds and new inspiration”. Posted to SoundCloud, the playlist includes tracks from Grimes, Empress Of, Kali Uchis, Fatima Al Qadiri and our own Hiatus Kaiyote, showcasing some of the most intriguing and unique voices across a wide range of genres – even ending on the famed theme song from Doctor Who, originally composed by Delia Derbyshire. Along with Evelyn Glennie, Derbyshire also narrates the continuous half hour mix.
In search of new sounds and new inspiration, I found these kick-ass women who in their own individual ways are true pioneers…
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) January 2, 2017
…in the writing, production and creation of MUSIC. They have inspired me, and I hope they inspire you too! あけおめ!!https://t.co/zgpT7CqF3o pic.twitter.com/TlcfwFI1D5
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) January 2, 2017
Feat: #MystereDeVoixBulgares @AnnaHMeredith @ThisLully @Grimezsz @KALIUCHIS @FatimaAlQadiri @EmpressOf @HiatusKaiyote @OnlyAnExpert @abra…
— gorillaz (@gorillaz) January 2, 2017
Listen here and check out the full track list below:
Tracklist:
Narrated by Delia Derbyshire and Evelyn Glennie
Mystere De Voix Bulgares (Bulgarian Women’s Choir), Kaval Sviri
Anna Meredith, Nautilus
Lully, Slow D’s
Grimes, Realiti
Kali Uchis, Ridin Around
Fatima Al Qadiri, Szechuan
Empress Of, Woman is a Word
Haitus Kaiyote, Molasses
Laurie Anderson, O Superman
ABRA, Vegas
Mica Levi & Oliver Coates, Barok Main
Delia Derbyshire, Doctor Who Theme
FEATURE: A Look Back at Gorillaz’s Mighty Debut Album
Read next: Gorillaz Release Next Chapter of Their Animated Chronicles – Phase Four
Image: Wikipedia
Words: Jack Ball
Since the last Gorillaz album The Fall was released in 2010; Bin Laden was killed as a huge area of the Middle East was reduced to rubble, an entire flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared into another realm, Star Wars made a comeback, Australia had a wrinkly lizard elected and rejected as Prime Minister, the motherland England voted to leave the continent in which it resides, we learned how to print in 3D and watch in 4K, Jessie Pinkman lived, David Bowie passed away and we found water on Mars.
But what were Gorillaz doing while all this was happening?
Virtuoso Damon Albarn and illustrator Jamie Hewlett have poured yet another trickle of lighter fluid on the flame that is the wait for the new Gorillaz LP with continuing concept narratives for two of its animated band members titled, The Book of Noodle and The Book of Russel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHNuVaZJ-k
Earlier this week, the half decade long void of fictional lead guitarist Noodle’s life since escaping Plastic Beach was revealed in The Book of Noodle, a series of Tweets and GIF’s posted on Tuesday.
After discovering that the Japanese sass ninja has been on a quest to remove the head of a shapeshifting ancient hell demon, Mazuu. A quest she successfully accomplished in a style akin to O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) in Kill Bill. Noodle once again found herself in a FedEx box on route to West London, much like her first introduction to the group.
As of yesterday we have now been enlightened to the equally tumultuous life events of the heavy hip-hop head of the band, Russel in his own book.
We’re looking forward to whatever else the Gorillaz have coming our way, new music or otherwise.
Image: Dazed Digital
It’s hard to believe, but it has been 15 years since the Gorillaz first captured people’s attention and imagination with their self-titled debut album. They provided a timely antidote to the banal pop factory that was taking over the charts everywhere – the UK Top 20 at the time was dominated by the likes of Five, Westlife, Atomic Kitten, S Club 7 and Hear’Say, to give you an idea. But despite their first success with single Clint Eastwood, no one really knew what to make of Gorillaz upon first seeing and hearing the band. Were they a gimmick? Were they too just another pop idea to generate sales? Or were they actively mocking the audience’s conceptions and obsessions with celebrity and popular culture?
With the recent news that the Gorillaz will return next year, we take a look back at the genesis of the band and examine just how they came to reshape the musical landscape during the beginning of the new millennium, while remaining a constant mystery.
The Gorillaz were formed when friends Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett devised an idea for an animated band. Both had enjoyed successes throughout their respective careers, but these experiences had left them somewhat disillusioned.
“Look at all the manufactured bands in the world. Even those that claim not to be, are, in some way. Gorillaz is about trying to destroy that and take it further. It’s about trying to manufacture something with real integrity. It requires a leap of faith,” Damon Albarn explained in the Metro about their premise.
The former flatmates devised a strategy for a new band that would address the manufacturing of pop, while proving that it could be done well, with actual artistic integrity. Albarn would provide the music, while Hewlett would create the images. All of the extras (musicians, singers, rappers etc.) would be added in wherever necessary.
The devised characters, with their own unique personalities, added extra value and new dimensions to the music. There was Murdoc who was centred on Keith Richards, Noodle the “mysterious one”, Russel the “hip-hop hard man… who hates Murdoc”, and the “fall guy” vocalist 2D. Their inner dynamics immediately offered something different to their contemporaries (Here’s Brian McFadden from Westlife calling a talk show host a “flowery ponce” and then burping).
Albarn presented himself behind 2D, and in doing so made a new musical identity for himself in the process. Known in his native England as the frontman for the phenomenally successful Blur, over in America he was relatively unknown besides being the “woo-hoo” guy.
Whereas Blur seemed somewhat limited to the Britpop tag- the inherent British-ness of the band meant that the American audience often overlooked them, Gorillaz were not locked into any kind of context or geographical boundaries. They were a band that seemed to have no obvious nationality. This was probably due in part to the constant collaborating with a broad range of artists that went on. Gone were the kitchen sink dramas and in their place were references to Hollywood royalty like Clint Eastwood.
The idea of a virtual band wasn’t entirely new to the music industry. The Monkees were one of the first real examples of this during the 1960’s. Don Kirshner, the man behind the band, was the first to realise the possibilities of an animated band. He devised The Archies when the Monkees refused to sing the saccharine chart hit Sugar Sugar. It then subsequently went on to become a number one in both England and America in 1969. Music journalist David Nolan remembers in his piece “Re-animators: Giving Birth to Gorillaz“, “The true voice of Sugar Sugar—session singer Ron Dante — remained hidden. No one needed to see or even know the names. That would have been distracting.”
The Gorillaz took part of the idea behind this but then expanded upon it to allow greater creative freedom for themselves. The project essentially allowing Albarn to escape from the confines of Blur. While it gave Hewlett, the creator of cult comic strip Tank Girl, an opportunity to fully immerse himself in a multi-faceted form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7Ovshz1UI
The band hit the stage when their debut was released to the public in March of 2001. They stood behind the scenes and played while a giant projector displayed the animated band. It wasn’t exactly seamless though, and early on there was understandable scepticism and doubts about it all. The Daily Telegraph wrote that while impressed, “much of the animation was not far removed from the elaborate backdrops seen previously at gigs by the Chemical Brothers or Orbital. Gorillaz raised good questions about what we expect from a concert though. Who wants to look at ugly blokes playing guitars?”
While the concept of the animated band seemed to capture imaginations and draw many admiring glances from the critics, the album didn’t necessarily receive glowing reviews from all media outlets. “It’s what you might expect from a bunch of musos playing with Cubase or Pro Tools,” the Village Voice wrote. The knives were already out for Albarn, with Pitchfork being particularly harsh on the band; yet despite getting many of their facts wrong, it still received a decent score.
“The novelty group finds Albarn assuming the role of 2-D, the animated lead singer of a pack of four misfits. The Dan the Automator-produced ‘act’ is a smarmy, promotional gimmick. It has a short-lasting, faddish appeal. Gorillaz is the definitive side-project. Even at its best, it’s never more than a divergent one-off stint.”
This initial struggle was only heightened when the band were sued by Doppelgangerz, who claimed that they had come up with the idea first. “He claimed he’d ‘invented’ Gorillaz. Then he was demanding rights over my music, brain, image and face, which obviously made my blood boil. It felt like we were under attack from a hail of bullets,” Hewlett stated.
This didn’t make the duo retreat though and they were rewarded later with a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize. They remain the first and only band to ever turn down a nomination. In true Murdoc style, he responded: “Mercury award? Sounds a bit heavy, man! You know sort of like carrying a dead albatross around your neck for eternity. No thanks, man! Why don’t you nominate some other poor muppet?” This stance summed up their approach to the music industry perfectly. They played along with the game just enough to be part of it, but did so while remaining far enough away to take a step back whenever necessary and mock it.
However, they wouldn’t be so quick to have a blasé attitude towards recognition when they were nominated for multiple MTV awards the same year. In fact they went to considerable efforts to make pre-recorded winning speeches, only to lose out in all categories. As Jake Whitely wrote in his piece “Are the Gorillaz a postmodern artistic statement?” “They are a band that branded themselves with the slogan ‘Reject False Idols’. They had a focus on deconstructing image as an identifier with its audience. But yet the Gorillaz have presented multiple contradictions in their ethos.”
Regardless of whether or not you believed they were just another manufactured outfit of the pop industry or were actively seeking to deconstruct those mechanisms, the debut provided a fine example of a band that would go on to redefine the boundaries of what it meant to actually be a band. Named in the Guiness Book of Records as the most successful virtual band ever, they rose to become a preeminent force over the next decade and a half. What was to follow was an even more impressive sophomore album jam packed with features. There were headline festival slots around the world. An album made on an iPad, and the all-encompassing Plastic Beach. But what Gorillaz produced with their first effort was a deeply satirical and fiercely creative response to the music industry that it would go on to dominate for years to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4
You can read our feature on their sophomore album Demon Days here.
Image: Pitchfork
Ever since a few social media snippets surfaced a few months ago of Gorillaz back in the studio, fans have been impatiently waiting for any kind of official word or announcement regarding the new material. While the album was originally slated for a 2016 release, Jamie Hewlett took to the Gorillaz North America fan page to give the good news, saying that album is “really fuckin’ special”, but “can’t be rushed”. The post then continued, “2017, yo. Fuck. So, guys, that Gorilla Fund, we got time. Go shop, take vacation, that shit ain’t happening this year.”
The untitled album will be Gorillaz’s fifth full-length release, ending what now is a six year wait since 2010’s The Fall.
Speaking to Rolling Stone back in 2015, co-creator and Blur frontman Damon Albarn hinted at the project, saying, “I’m in the very early days on a new Gorillaz record. So far, it’s really fast, and it’s got quite a lot of energy. I’ve been stuck on piano, somewhere off Broadway, for years now. I want to go somewhere completely opposite of that.”
Last month, thanks to a picture taken by regular Gorillaz collaborator and producer Remi Kabaka, rising Chicago emcee Vic Mensa was spotted in the studio with Albarn, a fusion which would create an amazing collaboration if it ever came to surface.
We’ll be eagerly awaiting more information or releases, in the meantime if you want to reminisce over the ‘Feel Good’ memories, read our Flashback Friday of Gorillaz’s second album Demon Days.
Image: Your EDM
The threat of terrorism in today’s society is perhaps as imminent as it has ever been.
For Damon Albarn, however, this must come as no surprise. Even in July 2005, in the aftermath of the London Bombings, he was indignant at the suggestion he might be shocked by the attack. “How can we be shocked by that?” he challenged in an interview with Notion magazine. “When there’s just an endless newsreel of stuff twenty times more shocking every day. Why is it any different here than it is there? It’s no different. We’ve just got better emergency services to mop up the mess.”
Rewind two months to the release of Gorillaz’s second album, Demon Days, and you find political statement and prophecy in equal measure. Beneath its creepy aesthetic and volatile sonic terrain, Demon Days is a brooding, darkly-themed album. Lyrically, it’s dense in metaphor, ambiguity and implication, and it provides a grim assessment of the state of the world, coloured by Albarn’s own fears of impending global crises.
Are we the last living souls?
Intro – which hints at some of the themes to come – leads into Last Living Souls, the blipping, metronomic rhythm of which wouldn’t be out of place on a hip-hop track. Its blatant post-apocalyptic tone exists alongside a wealth of musical ideas; the creativity flows freely and rapidly from Albarn (who voices the band’s goofy frontman, 2-D) early in the record.
Much of his inspiration was derived from a train journey he took to Mongolia via Beijing. The intervening wasteland of the Gobi desert, with its crumbling, barren earth and eery satellite towns, took hold of his imagination. The future he envisaged is not a pleasant one. Kids With Guns evokes images of child soldiers and, closer to home, the desensitisation of a generation to violence. Musically, it features one of the several beautiful basslines bestowed upon Demon Days, as well as a magnificent crescendo of looping keys and crashing cymbals. O Green World is a teeming mosaic of concepts, each vying for the most attention. In the opening seconds alone, reverberating bass lies menacingly below overtly taut, simplistic guitar and shrill synth.
O green world,
Don’t desert me now
Bring me back to fallen town
Where someone is still alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMt_YXr90AM
Albarn’s debut Gorillaz release – 2001’s self-titled, genre-bending effort – was quite successful in itself, but, crucially, was also viewed as something of a gimmick. That’s probably inevitable when you create a cartoon band. Nevertheless, it meant that Demon Days had a point to prove: the Gorillaz project is no joke. Dirty Harry – a sequel of sorts to Clint Eastwood – demonstrates this perfectly. Its irresistible rhythm and choral interludes, plus the lyrically poignant feature from rapper Bootie Brown, whose verses focus on war from the perspective of a desert soldier, construct a song with sinister presence and unerring purpose.
The war is over
So said the speaker
With the flight suit on
Maybe to him I’m just a pawn
So he can advance
Remember when I used to dance
Man, all I want to do is dance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLnkQAeMbIM
To my mind, there are few songs that begin more memorably – more arrestingly, even – than Feel Good Inc. New York trio De La Soul feature prominently throughout Gorillaz’s second album but never more strikingly than in the wicked introductory laugh of Maseo. It’s iconic. That roaring, unforgettable laugh is just one of many aspects that made Demon Days such a resounding triumph for Damon Albarn and his animated friends – the ghoulish creations of cartoonist Jamie Hewlett. Feel Good Inc., which also features one of the most recognisable basslines of the 21st century, is representative of hedonism and corporate greed, another mesmerising chapter in ‘Damon Albarn’s Big Book of Pessimistic World Views’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Qp38qT-xI
El Mañana (Spanish for ‘tomorrow’ or ‘the future’) is the album’s most tender moment, and perhaps also its most ambiguous. It yearns and aches, adding a dimension of sorrow to a record of tremendous thematic and emotional potency. The message here appears, again, to be one of war and the devastating permanence of its impact. Taken more literally, though, it could also be about a personal demon, something along the lines of unrequited love. More compelling is the suggestion that Albarn chose the title deliberately for its multiple meanings. The dreaded distant future could, in fact, be tomorrow, while la mañana means ‘morning’, perhaps implying that that bleak future is already happening.
I saw that day
Lost my mind
Lord, I’m fine
Maybe in time
You’ll want to be mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hji4gBuOvIQ
After the strutting twang and ragtime piano (contributed by the late American soul legend Ike Turner) of Every Planet We Reach Is Dead, MF Doom raps with poise about gang violence and death in November Has Come. All Alone reverts to the theme of war (in this case, I reckon George Bush Jr.’s unsupported, foolhardy venture into Iraq), while White Light is a breathless, disconcerting view of alcoholism/addiction/death/all of the above. You choose.
Disarming in its optimism, Dare is the band’s only number one single to date. It deviates from the usual Gorillaz format by being centred around the vocals of Noodle, the band’s female, Japanese guitarist. It also features the thick Manchester brogue of Shaun Ryder, who appears in the music video as a disembodied head hooked up in Noodle’s room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOR6ib95kQ
Next comes the peculiar (mostly) spoken-word track, Fire Coming Out of the Monkey’s Head, which utilises the voice of late American actor and filmmaker Dennis Hopper. Ultimately the track’s meaning is open to conjecture, but there is an unmistakable parallel with American occupancy of the Middle East and the war for oil, a topic apparently at the forefront of Damon Albarn’s mind at the time.
… soon they began to mine the mountain, its rich seam fuelling the chaos of their own world. Meanwhile, down in the town, the Happyfolk slept restlessly, their dreams invaded by shadowy figures digging away at their souls.
The darkness swiftly recedes for the lullaby-like Don’t Get Lost in Heaven, before the title track, a suitably bizarre gospel summary of events, brings proceedings to an end. Demon Days will forever be one of my favourite albums. Sonically, it defies categorisation at every opportunity, flitting expertly between genres and collaborating with masters in each. It captures the complexity of human emotions amid the turmoil of a dark and dangerous world – with cartoons. If that’s not genius, nothing is.
This year will finally see a new record from Gorillaz, six years on from Plastic Beach and The Fall. The world has changed since Demon Days, but not necessarily for the better. The same dark clouds of terror loom, and the future looks bleak from certain perspectives. Whether that still includes the perspective of Damon Albarn, I’m not sure, but this year’s release will be an insight into that, and more, as the twisted virtual narrative of 2-D, Noodle, Murdoc and Russel rolls on.
Image: Pitchfork
It’s been a few months since we’ve had an update on the Gorillaz fifth studio LP.
While co-founder and Blur frontman Damon Albarn shared a smattering of details way back in October, information on the follow-up to 2011’s The Fall has been scarce. In recent months, Jamie Hewlett has been the one serving up new information. Ramping up his Instagram posts in recent weeks, Hewlett has now given fans a glimpse of the album’s studio progress and possibly even the makings of a new track.
As dedicated followers may already be aware, Albarn and Hewlett have been hanging out with pioneering electronic composer Jean Michel-Jarre, producer Twilite Tone and singer Liam Bailey.
Two clips posted yesterday show the group hanging out in the studio. One video, either depicting Twilite and Bailey hard at work or goofing off, contains a potential sketch of a new track in progress. While it could be little more than a joking adlib it sounds suspiciously close to what could be expected from the notorious virtual quartet.
Hewlett has also been sharing images of the fictitious group’s animated members, who look to have been undergoing a few changes since their last public appearances.
A photo posted by hewll (@hewll) on
With production on the latest album in full swing, it looks like Gorillaz will be returning in full force in the coming year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPaWIeULKk&ebc=ANyPxKrIMvVCV6YSMe_iFXe–IzeTZoTAZ-EowknQ8mzvP-7ENg9CgxO84YXxh8lw8E6_uU5xHbB3cN37Nkv0bRPVTrZ1kGHhw&nohtml5=False
Image source: Slashgear.com
Earlier this week, Jamie Hewlett hinted that there was a album in the works from his English virtual band, Gorillaz. The album, slated for release in early 2016 would mark their first release since their fourth album The Fall, in 2011.
The other man behind the project, Damon Albarn, confirmed it’s impending release, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, ‘That’s next year. I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited’.
While the project is still very much in it’s early stages, Albarn shed some light on what we can expect to hear from from the album, stating that ‘So far, it’s really fast, and it’s got quite a lot of energy, I’ve been stuck on piano, somewhere off Broadway, for years now. I want to go somewhere completely opposite of that.’
While he could only give readers a brief insight into the album, as Gorillaz records are always filled with guest collaboraters, Albarn gave his opinion on some of the biggest names in the music industry. He dubbed Kanye West ‘unique’, T-Swift ‘remarkable, but not unique’, and Drake ‘not as consistent as he could be’. His biggest compliments were reserved for Future, with him stating that the Atlanta rapper was, ‘really interesting, and sometimes exhilarating’.
While there is no set date for release, we’ll most likely be able to hear a new, ‘reactivated’ version of the Gorillaz in 2016!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Qp38qT-xI&w=420&h=315]
The world’s most loved virtual band (realistically the world’s only virtual band, I guess) Gorillaz, have finally announced that they have begun working on a new album. HOORAY!
Fans have long been waiting for a follow-up to 2010’s ‘Plastic Beach.’ Now, co-creator of the band, visual artist Jamie Hewlett, has confirmed in an interview that he is “shutting myself away” to start working on some new stuff – their first in more than five years.
“That’s next year,” He told DIY. “I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation. What I try not to do when I’m working in this creative period, the cooking of the mess, is go to other peoples’ exhibitions and look at other peoples’ work. I close my eyes, and don’t want to know what anyone else is doing. Doing that has kind of ruined the creative process for me in the past, and I don’t want to let that happen again.”
The news surfaced in the interview about his upcoming art exhibition, taking place in London at the renowned Saatchi Gallery.
Responsible for the visual aspect of the project, alongside music from Blur’s Damon Albarn, Hewlett took to Instagram to upload a series of images showing off the brand new Gorillaz artwork.
Hell yeah!
#murdoc #green A photo posted by hewll (@hewll) on
A few amazing remixes have come out this week. Here’s my favourites.
1. Future Islands, I’ve Been Waiting On You (Badbadnotgood Remix)
The Canadian hip-hop-jazz trio have remixed the instant classic into a soulful, down-tempo jazz crooner. It’s absolutely stunning. They’re the only group who could make such a great song even better! Listen/watch here, and get excited to see these guys live at Falls Festival:
2. Gorillaz, Feel Good Inc. (James Blake Remix)
Yep, it’s a James Blake remix – but not what you might think. A wompy, beat-mashing remix that flips the original on its head, spins it around until it falls over – in slow motion. This is the latest remix by Blake, under his moniker Harmonimix. He’s also remixed Kendrick, OutKast and Destiny’s Child under the name.
3. Daughter, Winter (Warpaint Remix)
Washed over, subtle, beat-based ambience. This is a gorgeous remix from the LA quartet, who have teamed up with the UK modern folk heroes, turning the beautiful original into something intriguing, heartily electronic, and strangely warm.
4. Snoh Aalegra, Bad Things ft. Killer Mike (Killer Mike Remix)
Snoh is a relatively new artist, Swedish-born, LA-based. The original of this track is soulful and so gorgeous, and features a guest verse from Common. This time around, Run The Jewels’ Killer Mike has given it a spin, and the results are magnificent. Enjoy!