The new Gorillaz album leaked.

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!

Here are the two songs that have been released which I am quite digging:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5yFcdPAGv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68JpPpSc7bs

And here's the Tracklist:

1 “Humility” (Feat. George Benson)
2 “Tranz”
3 “Hollywood” (Feat. Snoop Dogg & Jamie Principle)
4 “Kansas”
5 “Sorcererz”
6 “Idaho”
7 “Lake Zurich”
8 “Magic City”
9 “Fire Flies”
10 “One Percent”
11 “Souk Eye”

Only two of the songs feature guest, and in the case of George Benson that guest is purely instrumental. The album is being produced by James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco and Remi Kabaka Jr.

Of course the reason I like these is that they remind me more of Plastic Beach, which has been my favorite Gorillaz album.

so this is like 'the fall' then.
first track is quite lovely.
the second, is a demo track that does little for me.

also, the whole 'Murdoch not on this album' thing.
who cares now re the whole 'story' re the band now ?

ppl who follow the story will think this is fun, people who don't will have no idea about it. idg the objection?

Turrican otm re demon days

ppl who follow the story will think this is fun, people who don't will have no idea about it. idg the objection?

fair enough.
I was told earlier by one of the bands inner circle I was being overly cynical during a chat re the albums details.
so you are not alone sic in telling me off.

Are the 'band' actually ageing?

No guests on this one or very few, so more like The Fall (the free Christmas Day 2010 Damon-on-his-iPad album, not as in '..plus your granny on bongos').

Humility is nice enough, probably the best thing Albarn has done since Plastic Beach

Are the 'band' actually ageing?

Yes, Noodle is a tall girl now.

I thought Murdoc was showing his age by balding, but apparently, he's still in jail and the balding green dude is his replacement, Ace, a former Powerpuff girls villan. http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/gorillaz-recruit-powerpuff-girls-character-watch-their-new-video-starring-jack-black

I do kind of like the idea of Murdoc being replaced by another pre-existing cartoon character. It's like when John Frusciante was replaced with Dave Navarro.

^^ amazing post

The new LP isn't all that bad. It's nowhere near the level of Demon Days, but at least Albarn's presence is more noticeable on this one! 'Tranz' is my favourite Gorillaz track in ages.

This has the most repeat play value since Demon Days for me by a long shot (admittedly that wouldn't take very much), only a few days in. Loads of top notch Albarn on here

revive inspires me to hear this. demon days was my last fave

Album is incredible. Love the spaghetti western song Idaho

New record rules

rhinestone eyes is the best gorillaz song

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2020/09/09/robert-smith-gorillaz-strange-timez/

Gorillaz - Strange Timez ft. Robert Smith (Episode Six):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbA5p54Rw2M

ILM doesn’t talk much about Gorillaz. They frequently misuse collaborators but I’m very interested in some of the guests in this one. Elton John + 6lack in the same track sounds ridiculous but I love that combo. I think the Goldlink + UMO and JPEG + Chai tracks might be good but cautious as to why they got sent to the Deluxe / bonus tracks version of the album.

Full tracklist:
1.) "Strange Timez" (featuring Robert Smith)
2.) "The Valley of the Pagans" (featuring Beck)
3.) "The Lost Chord" (featuring Leee John)
4.) "PAC-MAN" (featuring ScHoolboy Q)
5.) "Chalk Tablet Towers" (featuring St. Vincent)
6.) "The Pink Phantom" (featuring Elton John & 6LACK)
7.) "Aries" (featuring Peter Hook & Georgia)
8.) "Friday 13th" (featuring Octavian)
9.) "Dead Butterflies" (featuring Kano & Rosani Arias)
10.) "Désolé [Extended Version]" (featuring Fatoumata Diawara)
11.) "Momentary Bliss" (featuring slowthai & SLAVES)

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:
12.) "Opium" (featuring EARTHGANG)
13.) "Simplicity" (featuring Joan As Police Woman)
14.) "Severed Head" (featuring Goldlink & Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
15.) "With Love to An Ex" (featuring Moonchild Sanelly)
16.) "MLS" (featuring JPEGMAFIA & CHAI)
17.) "How Far?" (featuring Tony Allen & Skepta)

honestly I think damon has just kinda lost it as both a producer and melodist

the last damon album that was at all worthwhile was plastic beach and that was still pretty inconsistent

Merrie Land had some good moments

wait hold up what feat who

I was wondering why you hadn't said anything yet!

Have to say I’m most intrigued by the Leee John collaboration.

the what featuring who song, with a million views in 24 hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbA5p54Rw2Me

Hm.

https://youtu.be/bbA5p54Rw2M

you think robert would've sang on the song if he knew the word "times" would be spelled with an irreverent "z" at the end?

2 Late to change his mind now

Four "different" cassette editions?

So this is out now and while I wasn’t a fan of how they handled half of the features in past efforts, I feel they nail it this time around, they manage to adjust to the style of the guests while being consistent as a whole album.

Album*

I thought Plastic Beach did that pretty well, true respect for anyone who can "feat." Lou Reed, MES and De La Soul without losing their footing.

surprised that this seems to be getting a fairly positive response after the last few records were pretty dire