The new Gorillaz album leaked.

literally can't stop myself from dancing at the bus stop when empire ants goes big

Remember when Damon Albarn hired half of The Clash for his touring band and gave them precisely nothing to do? That was pretty funny.

Lol! he just likes to hang out with people sometimes I think.

when I saw them on snl with that lineup I remember thinking that they were doing exactly nothing. "hired for touring band" is a little disingenuous tho cause they did play/sing/write on the album right?

Well, it's pretty much "let's tour with some interesting people in the band" for Damon's amusement, yeah?

So, has Jaime's involvement dwindled since the days of Noodle etc?

def

.. and they are back ..

here is the basic non-3d, censored version of the new track.
(the 3d version on youtube is a bit naughty)

fact is i hated the recent quick release track a few weeks ago, but i am loving this.

also, looks like the record label (is it still EMI as i have lost track?) have actually invested this time in the visuals.

despite myself, i really like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qJp6xlKEug

BTW : tried to start a new thread re this so many times but ILX errored no matter what i tried !

so did not expect this post to go live ..

but hey.

ooh .. and remember how 'plastic beach' was all about the excess of packaging shyte, well :

"The Super Deluxe Vinyl Box Set of the new Gorillaz album Humanz is presented across 14 individual pieces of different coloured 12”� vinyl, packaged in individually art-worked sleeves. Each piece of vinyl features an album track, backed with an exclusive alternative version.

The box also includes a 54-page, cloth-bound, foil-blocked, hardback book featuring exclusive Gorillaz artwork by Jamie Hewlett plus a download card, all housed in a bespoke 12”� vinyl case.
"

amazing

jfc

destroy all bespokesters

still, i really want the book.

bastards.

at least they're making an effort of trying to pretend it's an ongoing multimedia project with the book? that's kind of the original pitch

no idea re the vinyl excess groove as described as that detail was provided from someone within.

clearly not part of the usual packages available.

also, seriously not happy that the nu-era murdoc = liam

no idea re size :

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8212065/17492331_10155193725362996_8893933597962460000_o.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W44NWYwa1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSivlaSVk1k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBA0PUQCvIA

is this the all-purpose Gorillaz thread? i like all these new ones, although it's a shame Jehnny Beth is buried in the mix on We Got The Power. 'Saturnz..' is tasty.

It's amazing to think that Damon has been doing Gorillaz for nearly 20 years now.

Sadly, it is probably his best non-Blur project. It's been all a bit of a waste really

Actually, the three or four keepers from The Good The Bad And The Queen probably surpass Gorillaz's highlights

Slim pickings though

Yeah, I didn't rate his solo album at all, and I think I've listened to The Good, The Bad & The Queen roughly a handful of times but I keep reaching the same conclusion every time with it, and that's that it's a bit of a drab record.

I fucking love the title track, though! I always wish it could go on for a little longer.

Yeah that and Herculean are lovely

this is... not great

i didn't like Plastic Beach much st the time but listening back i was pleasantly surprised, especially compared to the new stuff i've heard so far.

when was the last classic or even decent Albarn-affiliated album? last Blur sucked, solo album was pretty forgettable.

i liked plastic beach & think tank

i actually think i preferred D-sides to Plastic Beach.
as for this .. too guest heavy for me.
i have never been one for guest heavy albums.

Strobelite's a tuuuune.

Listening to Humanz again now and it's not like its without its highlights or anything, but I can't shake the feeling that Albarn fell off after Demon Days (his last true masterpiece) and never really got it back.

a friend gave me a vinyl copy and it's... ok. sex murder party is really bad though.

Both this and Plastic Beach suffer from too many guests - particularly the former, which seems like an exercise in "look at who I'm working with" from front to back.

wasn't that always the gimmick w gorillaz? (full disclosure I have never actually listened to a gorillaz album before this one)

new track, "sleeping powder", is better than anything on humanz.

the album is just too busy trying to impress with the guest list.

i watched a chunk of the demon dayz festival thing last night,
and the damon fronted tracks were absolutely fantastic,
thus making me realise what it is re humanz that i dont really like.

Yeah, but Albarn was always the boss of the project and it was his identity that was most dominant on Gorillaz and Demon Days, no matter who he was collaborating with - on Humanz, bar a couple of tracks, Albarn sounds like a guest on his own record.

(xpost)

exactly.

x-x-post.

also, the earlier albums had a lovely fat warm live band sound (albeit produced to a high standard).
a lot of the production on humanz = laptop/thin sounding.
yes, there are the modern sonic bass sounds to give it the impression of depth, but it still sounds thin to me.

Yeah, now that you mention it, there does seem to be something "cheap" sounding about portions of not only Humanz, but Plastic Beach too, which is something I could never have said about Demon Days ...

it definitely started with PB,
and then hit hard on the demo album, sorry, the fall.
and now has become the new sound.
damon no longer uses certain studio crew anymore eg cass browne for drums/studio stuff (look at credits - cass was massively involved on the early material), and i think this has massively changed the sound.
watch the gig via red bull concert,
and it becomes a lot more apparent the difference in sound between the first albums/b-sides, and the new stuff.

ps. "early albums" include the G-sides/D-sides stuff as well if you ask me.
some great tracks on those collections.

Turrican OTM - Demon Days is great. That and good, the bad and the queen are the last Albarn projects I rate

The Good, The Bad & The Queen has some good stuff on it - the title track, for example - but I find it a bit of a slog on the whole.

Plastic Beach is his last good album, there's plenty of great stuff on there like Stylo, Empire Ants and On Melancholy Hill, though it's not as good as Demon Days. It was the start of those cheap-sounding synths/drum machines though which were ok there but awful on Humanz.

Yeah, I like Plastic Beach a lot, especially the songs you mention ufo. Empire Ants is the best Damon related song since the good bits on Think Tank.

I'm listening to the debut now for the first time in years and it's really not funny how much more fresh it sounds compared to Humanz, particularly since I considered it a bit of a throwaway album back in 2001 and later merely a warm-up for Demon Days.

new album announced.
not a single ripple on ILM.
me included.
not sure I can be bothered anymore,
though I have heard it could a lot less guest heavy, in which case, I may become slightly more interested.

If Albarn is to move forward with Gorillaz, he's got to stop sounding like a guest on his own records.

exactly.
as was said last time we did this.
also, the whole 'Murdoch not on this album' thing.
who cares now re the whole 'story' re the band now ?

Not me. At this point I'd rather Albarn would knuckle down and make another great record - I think Demon Days was actually his last truly great one, and that was 13 years ago now!