Here it is! The first roundup of the new year. All has been quiet on the Gorillaz front… UNTIL THIS WEEK:
- NEW SINGLE Due on 1/30
- Trailbot Teaser
- Visualz
- Fanart Fun
- 5/4/20
- G-U 10th Anniversary Plastic Beach Zine, and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble News
- Oh, Stylo
NEW SINGLE Due on 1/30
IT IS (seemingly) HAPPENING AGAIN! The Version.co.uk gave us advance notice Friday evening (1/24) that Gorillaz are to premiere a new single this upcoming Thursday. It’ll air on BBC Radio 1:
The track will apparently feature British rapper Slowthai along with punk group Slaves. Slowthai and Slaves are. known for being friends and working together previously. In fact, according to this NME article, Slaves say:
We’ve been friends with Slowthai for a few years. I’ve been in the studio with him and we’ve both been keenly following Slowthai’s progress and love everything he does. For us, there isn’t another performer who embodies the punk ‘do what I want’ ethic as much as he does.
Furthermore, it’s apparent that Slaves were in the studio with Damon and co, from their below post in October. This seems to be the same place where Jamie filmed his “Kong” tour:
They’re wearing Damon’s mask from Bananaz, too:
Notably, Slowthai and Slaves were listed on the Maydeup festival poster from August:
How many of these artists are likely to be on this new album? JPEGMAFIA seems like a possibility, given that he met up with Gorillaz in 2019. Guiltybeatz too.
According to the old BBC Radio 1 schedule, as well as @TheVersion on Twitter, the new single is due to premiere on January 30 at 7pm GMT (2pm EST) as Annie Mac’s Hottest New Record. However, the BBC has since deleted this information from their website. It seems like somebody pulled the trigger a little too early, but it’s likely that the release date is still Thursday.
Despite us now doubting the true release date, @TheVersion is running a competition for Gorillaz fans in celebration of the new release. Follow them on Twitter for more information over the course of the week!
Trailbot Teaser
Fanartist and animator Trailbot, known for drawing and animating this beautiful music video for Busted and Blue, has been cooking up something good for a while now. Here’s a sneak peak of an image from Trail’s highly anticipated new video:
It looks like it features the characters in their Phase 2 glory… what song could it be for?? ❤
Visualz
Check out this excellent recreation of the Momentz live visuals by Visuals Go!
Visuals Only also put out a fanmade tour visual for M1A1 this last week!
The next is not a tour visual, but a fanmade visual for DARE by animation student Tekkons. So cool!
Fanart Fun
Sooo much good fan art as of late. These are only some of my favorites!
) #gorillaz5/4/20
Progress is being made on @jacobpolarbearboy’s fan animated video for 5/4. It looks incredibly professional, like it was animated back during Phase 1! See a sneak peak below:
A lot of talented artists are involved in the making of this project – shoutout to @2d.singer, @glowrillazart, @paleimitatorz, @pbsides, @redmondokelly, @ewoudgram, @lofidreams and @mooobulated for their work on this.
Stay tuned for a trailer of the upcoming video soon! The video is scheduled to drop on — what better than — 5/4/2020.
G-U 10th Anniversary Plastic Beach Zine, and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble News
Gorillaz-Unofficial is back with a new fanzine – this time celebrating the 10th anniversary of Plastic Beach! The Zine is due March, but you can view a sneak peek below via Issuu.
In the sneak peek, Jack from G-U interviews Cidjian Graves of @hypnoticbrass, who notably mention that they are again collaborating with Gorillaz on the new album 👀
HBE’s new album ‘The Bad Boys Of Jazz’ is out March 20 🙂
Oh, Stylo
Speaking of the 10-year anniversary of Plastic Beach, it was on January 26th, 2010 that Stylo was first released. 10 years ago! Per Songfacts,
“The song was leaked on the net hours before it was due to premiere on Britain’s NME Radio. On his Twitter account Gorillaz’s Murdoc Niccals attributed its leakage to Russian pirates. He wrote: “A leak! A leak! Plastic Beach has sprung a leak! One of those Russian pirates has put a bullet hole in my island! My single’s leaked! STYLO!”
The video would later come out in March of 2010.
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