It’s hard to believe 2D, Noodle, Murdoch and Russel Hobbs have turned just ten years old. We’ve laughed with them, cried with them (remember when Noodle was rumoured to be dead?) and danced with them – and to celebrate this memorable occasion and the recent release of The Singles Collection – 2001-2011, we now have an incredible Gorillaz gift pack to give away*:

* girl not included.

For your chance to win a limited edition Singles Collection 2001 – 2011 poster, CD/ DVD, double vinyl LP and 7″ box set, please answer this question in 25 words or less: What is your favourite Gorillaz video and why?

To recap your memory, check out our incredible Gorillaz, Best of playlist here. Send your answers here with “Happy Birthday Gorillaz!” in the subject line.

You can purchase all of the above here.

Ten years ago, a Brit pop legend and a comic book genius joined brains and gave birth to one of the coolest musical collectives to ever set a virtual foot on this planet. Gorillaz are a bunch of toons brought to life by stunning anime style animation, fascinating fictional narratives and pure musical brilliance….  the “first virtual hip-hop group” of our time. Three incredible albums later, and we’re celebrating their 10th birthday.

So does 10 years of great hits call for a greatest hits? Of course it does. To celebrate ten years of the Gorillaz, The Singles Collection: 2001-2011 will be released on November 25th, 2011. A 15-track collection of the band’s singles, videos and remixes, The Singles Collection celebrates 10 years of audio visual innovation and three studio albums from the most successful virtual band in the world ever.  The Singles Collection will be released as a standard CD, CD and DVD and 140 gram vinyl.  A special edition 7” box set will also be made available.

Always open to a mind-blowing collaboration, Gorillaz have worked with Del the Funkee Homosapien, De La Soul, Kano, Mick Jones, Bobby Womack, Ike Turner, Lou Reed, Mark E Smith, Bootie Brown, Tina Weymouth, Bashy, Little Dragon, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Snoop Dogg, Dangermouse, Ibrahim Ferrer, Dan The Automator, Mos Def, D12, Phi Life Cypher, MF Doom, Rosie Wilson, Shaun Ryder and Neneh Cherry.

Big birthday shout outs to Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, 2D and Russel Hobbs.  Stay tuned for pre-order details!

“Gorillaz restored my faith in music – and animation. They are second only to The Archies in my list of all-time favourite bands. They make you want to dance, they make you want to smile, they make you want to drive a monster truck around the desert.” – Jonathan Ross

]]> http://www.theinsoundfromwayout.com/2011/10/gorillaz-turn-the-big-1-0/feed/ http://www.theinsoundfromwayout.com/2011/01/gorillaz-the-fall-download/ http://www.theinsoundfromwayout.com/2011/01/gorillaz-the-fall-download/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:33:20 +0000 Kara http://www.theinsoundfromwayout.com/?p=13084

Still reeling from last year’s magnificent Gorillaz Australian shows? Need some headphone fodder to help rekindle the experience, but you’ve listened to Plastic Beach 293 times already?

Thankfully those pathologically productive Gorillaz boys have recorded an album on the road and it’s ready for you to download in full. As promised by Damon & co, The Fall was recorded and mixed with 20+ various iPad Apps whilst on tour in the USA during October and November 2010.

All I can see are lights and eyes, the colours are tickling my tear ducts. The sounds pull my heart apart and lift it 6 feet above my neck… Holy hell… But lo, be they not men – oh no! – be they G-O-R-I-L-L-A-Z!

November the 14th has become one of those stand-out dates in my mind. There’s Christmas, New Year’s, Mum’s birthday, etc… And now, we have Nov 14th, 2010: “The Best Day Ever”. And this is not just some review full of hollow gushing praise – I absolutely mean it, with every iota, organ and amoeba that makes up my being.

Oh my, November the 14th! The euphoria I experienced on that day was on an indescribable, incendiary, interplanetary level! And as a disclaimer, I can tell you there is no way I’ll be able to cover it all here. Mere words just do not cut the monkey mustard – not for an experience like this…

Yup, it was the 14th November (ha, I’m drilling the date into all y’all heads tooooo!). A Sunday in LDN. It was fookin’ freezing (of course). The O2 sparkled like a big icy dream bubble in the distance… and continued to do so even as we got close. The glitter freeze! We neared it on our jumpy little red bus, our hearts in our mouths innit! Excited as we were though, little did we realise we were about to witness the most inspiring show of creativity possibly ever seen by anyone, ever. Yes, I said it. And I stand by it a million percent! (Shhh, maths dudes, a million is a perfectly legitimate percentage figure in this situation, believe me!)

As we dreamily wandered into that huge ass arena, it felt like we were walking onto a star or planet created purely for this purpose – to put on incredible musical spectacular bonanzas that are out of this earthly world. Quite a venue, tell you what!

Little Dragon

Little Dragon were up first – and they were, quite simply, dreamy, creamy bliss. Yukimi Nagano is just a wonder to behold, I honestly don’t know what else to say. Her heavenly voice floated all around us, breezing through our souls and wrenching at our insides. Twice had my heart doing all sorts of crazy, fluttery things… Single My Step had us shaking our royal tail feathers in time to imagined bouncing Super Mario-esque starscapes. An absolutely gorgeous and ridiculously talented band, a beautiful delight!

De La Soul

The legendary De La Soul followed and really got the crowd jumpin’ bebeees! It would be easy to be blown away by the importance of such an historic group, who are so tremendously important to hip hop, performing right there in front of us – yet these guys had such a fabulously chilled-ass party vibe which made us forget all that and just enjoyyy, oh yessss! Wicked, happy, funky greasebombs of tunes, we boogied particularly hard to The Grind Date, and of course, crowd favourite sing-along Ring Ring Ring, which instantly takes me back to my childhood. Ah-Mah-Zing, genius shit. We were witnessing it!

The Main Act

Then it happened… suddenly Murdoc’s familiar green nose and evil eyes were peering down at the whole of the arena, sniffing at us like a giant mean, green beast. Everyone went nuts – and I think it was at this point that I went into a state of disbelief. Man, I was literally shitting myself (well, not literally, I’m not incontinent) as the musicians made their way onstage – Paul Simonon and Mick Jones sending ridiculously shivery tingles down my spine. These utter legends onstage, in front of us! WHAAAAAT!!!

And then came Damon. Oh Damon, Damon, Damon. Mr Albarn, my absolute hero above all heroes, one of the most innovative, brilliant musical minds of our times! Anyone who witnesses his brilliance in such close proximity is one ridiculously lucky fool. And we felt like the damn luckiest of fools.

And then the rest… Well, I don’t even know where to begin. Seeing Gorillaz live is the absolute definition of a sensory overload, in the most euphoric, exquisite sense possible. Both sonically AND visually (oh Jamie Hewlett, I absolutely adore you!!), everything is the crème de la crème! The levels of artistry, musicianship, well… the overall experience is completely unparalleled! This is a gig that will seriously rock your knockers off, absolutely guaranteed (unless, of course, you are a potato).

On the giant screens behind the band were the much-loved, hilarious, naughty and complex characters: Murdoc, 2-D, Noodle, Russel… And extraordinary visions of absolutely awesome genius-osity courtesy of the Honourable Jamie Hewlett and his incredible team.

Onstage, we had a mind-boggling cast: Bobby Womack, Mark E Smith, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, The Syrian National Orchestra, Kano, Bashy, Neneh Cherry (with, of course, a fucking coooooool rendition of Kids With Guns!!), Bootie Brown, Daley, Rosie Wilson… Not to forget the already-mentioned Little Dragon, De La Soul, half of The Clash… and DAMON ALBARN leaping around like a total nutter! Shiiiiiieeeet, my head threatened to explode!!

Every song was out of this world epic, so it’s incredibly difficult to list highlights – but my special favourites were the stunning Empire Ants, To Binge (both featuring the beautiful Yukimi Nagano – the latter of which was so moving it had us in tears!), El Mañana (tears again! Such a beautiful song, and I love the clip so much, which was playing on the big screen), D.A.R.E. (everyone went mad, sadly no Shaun Ryder but Rosie Wilson rocked!), Kids With Guns (Neneh Cherry, whoooo!!), the beautiful finale of Don’t Get Lost In Heaven / Demon Days… but the best best best moment for me was Plastic Beach, just before the encore. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon (the coolest bloke to ever have walked the earth) taking centre stage, Hypnotic Brass joining in, for an insanely wicked rendition of my favourite track on the album. We were the happiest, silliest-looking Cheshire Cats in the place!

And then it had to end. And now I’m here writing this. And although it’s oh so quiet (shhhh, shhhh), the inspiration and love bursting from my brain hasn’t slackened one teensy little bit. In a world full of musical horsesh*t, I find it positively life-affirming to realise that there IS amazing music, that is still pop but of the highest quality, and not only so much fun but really TAKES you somewhere f*cking COOL. Somewhere real, somewhere uplifting!! And I wish I could do it all again, every day – because rarely does life and experience get THAT unbelievably goooooood!!

And I’m jealous of you, Aussie-land – because very soon you’ll get to experience the exact same thing. Missing it would be an absolute fail – Damon recently confirmed to NME that this will be his last world tour for a while, so make sure you grab this opportunity, SERIOUSLY amigos! And then you too will be gabbling loony happy speak just like me! You knowwww you wanna be on cloud nine too – and Gorillaz are just the visionaries to take you to the clouds… Monkey Magic style, oh yes.

Gorillaz are in Australia NEXT WEEK as part of their first and last ever world tour. Tickets are still available nationally and we can only pity the fool that misses out. LAST CHANCE TO BUY TICKETS HERE!

Hello again from the UK! It’s been an exciting week what with The Beatles practically taking over iTunes and me going to see Gorillaz for the first time. I’m obviously rather late to the table with news of the new Liverpudlian digital presence so I intend to wax lyrical about Tuesday’s audiovisual treat at the O2 Arena in London.

Gorillaz played two nights at the world-renowned arena, one on Sunday night (14 Nov) and again on Tuesday (16 Nov). I’m told however that the wide-reaching grasp of The In Sound From Way Out has conspired to give me some competition – namely in a fellow UK correspondent! *queue dramatic music*

Therefore if this review falls short of my fellow Briton’s then I can only blame our simian friends for playing a better show on Sunday. Surely the only explanation!

The show opened with the sweeping orchestral introduction to the album, and then straight in to Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach with Snoop adorning the huge screen behind the stage.

The vast majority of other album collaborators were available on the night though, Including Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Daley, Mark E Smith and Little Dragon (in Oz for sideshows this December). Highlight for me was Womack’s soaring vocals on Stylo… amazing.

From previous albums all the big hitters were out – Kids With Guns, Feel Good Inc and 19-2000 among others. Overall the live show is impressive – a huge collection of musicians coming together to pull it off, doing so in style and in force. Videos and animations accompanied the entire set, providing a feast of musical delights for the gathered crowd.

Tickets for Gorillaz in Australia this December are on sale now!

This JUST in…

The Plastic Beach saga continues… this time, soulful Mancunian singer songwriter Daley pilots a submarine to the now famed pile of floating rubble in the Indian Ocean.

I guess Daley got left behind when De La Soul, Lou Reed, Gruff Rhys, Snoop Dogg, half of The Clash, & the rest of the Gorillaz crew led their submarine convoy to Plastic Beach in On Melancholy Hill. Speaking of the incredible extended Gorillaz family, don’t forget that most of them are going to be in Oz in December. These shows are going to be a once in a lifetime and the final release of tix are on sale now, people!

The Gorillaz never stop – not only have they been blowing audiences away around the globe following up the release of their #1 album Plastic Beach, but they’re writing and recording new music all the time… click below to listen to Doncamatic which premiered today at 4pm on Triple J. The band have joined forces with hotly tipped UK artist Daley to create this upbeat, fun track with a Plastic Beach / underwater feel

Gorillaz, the brainchild of musical genius Damon Albarn and the artistic brilliance of Jamie Hewlett have sold close to ½ a million albums and DVDs in Australia and this December will embark on their first stadium tour of Australia and NZ which will see them play to more than 60,000 people.

The Gorillaz live band includes Damon Albarn, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (The Clash), Mike Smith, Cass Browne, Jeff Wootton and Gabriel Manuals Wallace, as well as additional backing singers, brass sections and a full string ensemble. Confirmed special guests on their Australasian jaunt include De La Soul, Hypnotic Brass, Bobby Womack, the Syrian National Orchestra of Arabic Music, Bootie Brown, Little Dragon and Rosile Wilson. With more guests to be announced soon…

Tickets are on sale now at www.chuggentertainment.com

Their #1 album Plastic Beach is available at JB Hi Fi & our sister store The In Song.

Given Gorillaz Murdoc Niccal’s affinity for cheesy Australian tunes and cinematic steretypes, he might be shocked when he arrives this December to a land of… frankly, stunning, sophisticated, non-Paul Hogan types. And to be honest, he’s the cartoon character, right?

So the question is: are you more excited for Jamie Hewlett’s Murdoc, 2D, Cyborg Noodle, and Russel… OR for Damon Albarn and his magnificent live crew of Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Shaun Ryder, Gruff  Rhys & co? (let’s see who makes it to Oz).

Having seen the Gorillaz live shows roll out across the UK and US, it looks like we’ll be experiencing the best of both worlds. UK music journo Sasha Perrera described their Camden Roundhouse gig as “a two-hour bonanza of musical entertainment boasting a stacked deck of outstanding collaborators and musicians, overlooked by a giant video screen with interactive, animated visuals.”

So without any further ado, we present Gorillaz first ever Australian shows this December:

• Monday, Dec 6 – Burswood Dome, Perth
• Wednesday, Dec 8 – Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
• Saturday, Dec 11 – Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
• Thursday, Dec 16 Dec – Entertainment Centre, Sydney
• Sunday, Dec 19 – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane

Tickets for all shows on sale August 6 at 9AM.

(When I was a teen, I played Clint Eastwood 100x in a row to commit every single line to memory. Now we get to sing it with 2D. Hells yes.)