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New Gorillaz single featuring Slowthai and Slaves premieres Thursday
- Thread starter Mary Celeste
- Start date
I'd say D-Sides more than Demon Days if we're going that era. That was the part of those sessions that featured more of the trippy rock cuts. Though I guess Demon Days did have White Light.
He's doing a European Festival run this summer. Since Kendrick is on arena status, most artists of that caliber tend not to tour unless they have something to promote.
This is being presented like a "making-of" for an album that's coming down the line. I wonder if each "Season" of Song Machine results in a studio EP collection & master of these songs/sessions/episodes.
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This rollout allows for infinite gorillaz with complete freedom to experiment without sticking to one style for an album.
I love it
Also who is the vocalist at the beginning? The one with the earring that isn't Slowthai.
I'm just greedy and would prefer all the completed material at once.
Agreed I feel like this is a really natural evolution for a band and brand like Gorillaz
I think the approach makes perfect sense for the "digital age" and with the approach Damon has had for songwriting lately. Humanz had an extremely scrappy production that structurally resembled a Gorillaz-curated "playlist" that was mainly held together by its interludes, and a lot of the fictional band appeal was treated as secondary. You can tell just how much "material" they were pumping out around this time since it didn't even take two months for them to put out Sleeping Powder (which was written in three days) and for Damon to write an entire new album on tour with the sole purpose of having new live material. The last time Gorillaz ever attempted to approach more of a high concept album was with Plastic Beach which was such a moneysink for them and which put a strain on Albarn and Hewlett's partnership which soured them on the whole notion of making more with the band (which is a shame since that album's aged like fine wine). Instead we're back to the more scrappy self-titled days when Gorillaz was a big deal on MTV and when the album was basically a goof which was held up by smart marketing.
That said I agree that there's something much more "immediately gratifying" in getting an album that's structured, finely tailored and conceptually loaded, and it does make for more of a spectacular "event" release. Who knows if the experiment will pan out in the long run; it's possible that planned "second season" could end up just being an album. I know that when Nine Inch Nails worked on the Not The Actual Events series it was meant to be an EP series, but the Add Violence EP was less positively received/more troubling in production, and Trent was really annoyed at how EPs generally got shit for exposure (especially with services like Spotify burying them under albums), hence why they made Bad Witch as an album.
Things could change, but for the time being it seems Gorillaz are just content with putting out more material and having fun with it, which is really all I can ask for. There was a time I was concerned that Damon would rather work on Blur or any of the other bands that didn't require so much pre-planning, conceptualizing and budget. Establishing a "production company" that isn't just Hewlett's Zombie Flesh Eaters shows a seeming commitment to the band as a concept though, and it's not something I expected. Interestingly the Song Machine releases are licensed under "Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett" rather than "Gorillaz Partnership".
That said I agree that there's something much more "immediately gratifying" in getting an album that's structured, finely tailored and conceptually loaded, and it does make for more of a spectacular "event" release. Who knows if the experiment will pan out in the long run; it's possible that planned "second season" could end up just being an album. I know that when Nine Inch Nails worked on the Not The Actual Events series it was meant to be an EP series, but the Add Violence EP was less positively received/more troubling in production, and Trent was really annoyed at how EPs generally got shit for exposure (especially with services like Spotify burying them under albums), hence why they made Bad Witch as an album.
Things could change, but for the time being it seems Gorillaz are just content with putting out more material and having fun with it, which is really all I can ask for. There was a time I was concerned that Damon would rather work on Blur or any of the other bands that didn't require so much pre-planning, conceptualizing and budget. Establishing a "production company" that isn't just Hewlett's Zombie Flesh Eaters shows a seeming commitment to the band as a concept though, and it's not something I expected. Interestingly the Song Machine releases are licensed under "Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett" rather than "Gorillaz Partnership".
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Humanz was very structured, cohesive and gratifying but everyone wrote it off as a "mixtape" just because it has a lot of voices on it. I can't blame Damon for hearing that response and going "ok then" and doing exactly that
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Love Plastic Beach, probably my favourite. Humanz is completely rancid, will never understand the appeal.Well I ended up listening to the song all day, so that happened.
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On relitigating Humanz: still trash garbage
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On Plastic Beach:
I love you Hugh but this is just plain nasty, To Binge is one of Damon's most beautiful songs, I know it's not a perfect record but it has very high highs.
On topic, while I agree infinite Gorillaz is great, waiting a month to get another track I fear will make it stale, I'd rather wait till they have it locked down enough to release one every two weeks at least and then wait a bit for the next season... But I'm always up for more (though Infinite Gorillaz probably means no blur ever which depresses me to no end)
That was a rad video
Not sure how I feel about the song. I guess its cool they are a rock band again lol
Not sure how I feel about the song. I guess its cool they are a rock band again lol
This has a real "self-titled" feel to me, some hints of Demon Days too. I love the energy it picks up as it goes, feels totally off the wall. I'm probably on 20+ listens at the moment. It's an instant hit for me.
Plastic Beach and Humanz are also both 10/10 albums, I have spoken, don't @ me.
Plastic Beach and Humanz are also both 10/10 albums, I have spoken, don't @ me.
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To Binge is solid. It's placed pretty weirdly on the record though, makes no sense at all where it's at.
Really PB's biggest issue is that it's structurally a total fucking mess. Plenty of good-to-great songs on it, but also a LOT of chaff and its all sequenced so haphazardly, it never quite gets into a groove for me. But clearly I'm in the minority on that, which is cool! I like that people enjoy things
oh man just listened to this. I loved everything about it. It sounds like something out of DD and a good sign for things to come.
I didnt like it on release either but after a year or two it ended up growing on me and became something I enjoy and appreciate. I can understand it not being everyone's speed as its a bit more out there than usual but there isn't really anything there I'd say is bad.
Really dig this and am looking forward to the next album. Does seem to lean more Humanz than The Now Now to me if I'm only considering their more recent stuff, but I love Humanz.
The real take is that both albums are really great.
Except for Sweepstakes. I don't really care for Sweepstakes.
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I've never been enchanted by Gorillaz. They always seemed to be just fine.
Here they're again just fine. It's not punk enough to just be raw and in your face like the bands they're emulating. (It's more like The Clash, not that that is even hardcore.) And it's not really captivating.
It's good for a random Spotify playlist kind of thing. It fits in well enough, and then onto the next track.
Here they're again just fine. It's not punk enough to just be raw and in your face like the bands they're emulating. (It's more like The Clash, not that that is even hardcore.) And it's not really captivating.
It's good for a random Spotify playlist kind of thing. It fits in well enough, and then onto the next track.
Plastic Beach is probably my favorite album from them by far. Although I like another album just as much lol. I just wish that Phase 3 had actually been finished.
On this song, first time I was pleasantly surprised but on the second listen on I absolutely love it. Reminds me of THPS for some reason. Like I'm playing the old school Tony Hawk games lol.
On this song, first time I was pleasantly surprised but on the second listen on I absolutely love it. Reminds me of THPS for some reason. Like I'm playing the old school Tony Hawk games lol.
Plastic Beach is definitely lacking in the structure department, and I say that with that album as my favorite Gorillaz album followed by the self titled. I also need "Pirate's Progress" and "Three hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons" added to the end of PB or it just isn't the same. Honestly I know everyone loves Demon Days, and it has some absolutely stellar songs, but I think it's a bit overrated.
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Big tune, but I wish it went really balls to the wall at the end. Didn't even notice the screaming until my third listen.
Random thought: Alex Cameron would be super comfy on a Gorillaz track.
Random thought: Alex Cameron would be super comfy on a Gorillaz track.
Since I'm on a Gorillaz binge rn, I think Humanz might be the best structured album they have. Looking at the lyrics of each song and the interludes as well there's a definite through-line throughout the whole album. Obviously Demon Days has the better ending tracks, and Plastic Beach has a really strong start, but Humanz feels very consistent the whole way through.
Thematically Humanz certainly capitalizes the best. It's no coincidence the album titled "Humanz" has the most features on it. There's something interesting in how 2D interacts with the human features on the track that I feel like is lost in a lot of the discourse around this album. For example in "Ascension" Vince Staples and 2D are seemingly at ends with each other due to 2D's final lines. It's also no coincidence "She's My Collar", 2D's biggest track on the recored, is right before "Hallelujah Money", a completely featured artist track. My biggest gripe with Humanz is that the ending tracks don't really flow well. The transition between "Hallelujah Money" and "We Got The Power" is pretty abrupt. It's weird because the lyrical content of the bonus tracks would fit pretty well between these two ending songs and I wonder if they were originally meant to go there.
Thematically Humanz certainly capitalizes the best. It's no coincidence the album titled "Humanz" has the most features on it. There's something interesting in how 2D interacts with the human features on the track that I feel like is lost in a lot of the discourse around this album. For example in "Ascension" Vince Staples and 2D are seemingly at ends with each other due to 2D's final lines. It's also no coincidence "She's My Collar", 2D's biggest track on the recored, is right before "Hallelujah Money", a completely featured artist track. My biggest gripe with Humanz is that the ending tracks don't really flow well. The transition between "Hallelujah Money" and "We Got The Power" is pretty abrupt. It's weird because the lyrical content of the bonus tracks would fit pretty well between these two ending songs and I wonder if they were originally meant to go there.
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As someone who greatly prefers The Now Now to Humanz I am enjoying that this song is also less...portentous? I enjoy Gorillaz more when there's a bit less thematic heft. My favorite album of theirs remains Plastic Beach, which also seems less hung up on what a Gorillaz album needs to be.
Any guy who does a concert while holding Boris Johnson's severed head is good in my book.
