Happy October! Lillaz and Hugh coming to you with this week’s news!
This Week:
- The Pink Phantom
- Bitez 14-16
- Sing Along to the Pink Phantom
- New Print/Stickers
- Gorillaz Featuring Joan as Police Woman
- Dazed Interview
- Hit Clipz
- 19/2000 Drawing
- Horsin’ Around
- Pazuzu Interviews
The Pink Phantom
Episode 7 is here! The Pink Phantom (ft. Elton John & 6lack) is a trippy synth-filled piano ballad, and the 8th song officially released from the first season of Song Machine!
The video shows 2D and Elton John engaging in some glammy piano playing and emotional singing, while a holographic 6lack reminisces over a fond summer gone by, all while Murdoc hunts down the elusive phantom in the background. Psychedelic imagery abound as the song erupts in huge layers of vocal harmonizing and synthetic strings, as the three vocalists all come together to emotionally bring the track to a beautiful and haunting climax.
Watch and listen here:
Per Nasty Little Man, Elton John said of the collaboration: “Damon reached out and asked me to do something and the way the song has turned out is just great. I was in the studio in London and he was at the other end in Devon, but even remotely it was such an engaging and creative process. I’ve always loved Damon because he encompasses so many different sorts of music. He has his fingers in so many pies and although he’s achieved so much, he never sits still creatively. He’s constantly pushing forward and embracing the new, which is admirable and rare. He’s always working – he’s always doing something. He’s done so much to promote music from around the world, from Africa, from China, that people hadn’t previously heard and I really admire that. I’ve always been a Gorillaz fan anyway, so when he asked me to do a Gorillaz track – it was a no brainer. I’m so very, very happy that that’s come about.”
Gorillaz frontman 2D added: “Thank you for being so generous to us, Mr Elton Sir John, with your time and genius and also those Danish pastries you brought and for making some of the best tunes of all time.”
The correspondence between EJ and 2D on Twitter after the episode dropped was pretty great:
I bet this is what Seye meant in the G-U interview when he said there was a guest coming up that would blow your nut off!
Bitez 14-16
Episode 7 came out with not one, not two, but three bitez!! Listen to them all below – they’re my favorites so far!
Sing Along to the Pink Phantom!
Songjam released another karaoke track immediately after the Pink Phantom released. Kind of neat how they keep releasing these official instrumentals:
New Print/Stickers
Sweet! New stickers, and a really nice print for the Pink Phantom. Per the Gorillaz store, all proceeds from sales of this print go to the Elton John Charitable Trust. The Elton John Charitable Trust was set up to allow Elton John and David Furnish to make charitable contributions outside the world of HIV/AIDS. Since its formation in 2007, the EJCT has supported over 90 charities across a multitude of causes.
Gorillaz Featuring Joan as Police Woman
Joan As Policewoman was interviewed about her Song Machine collaboration, Simplicity! She describes it as a danceable groove with Remi on drums, Damon on guitar, herself on bass, and her and Damon singing in some sort of made up language!
Dazed Interview
In this behind the scenes interview, the band talks about the making of The Pink Phantom’s video! They used the portal at Kong to bring Elton and 6lack through, but the portal’s mysterious properties turned Elton into a cute cartoon and turned 6lack into a glitchy hologram! They were good sports about it though, and agreed to film the video regardless. The Pink Phantom itself is revealed to be the source of the evil energy surrounding the new Kong Studios, and Murdoc is dead-set on catching it… someday. Murdoc seems to have a plan for the phantom, and the strange contraption he’s been building in Kong’s basement seems designed for it. Perhaps he’s trying to create some of Ghostbusters-esque containment device? Only time will tell.
Hit Clipz
The ever-elusive and rare edit of Clint Eastwood, made specifically for the early 2000’s toy, Hit Clips, has been acquired by Gorillaz fan, RudeasHECK.
You can finally hear the clip here:
19/2000 Drawing
An original drawing for the Gorillaz 19-2000 music video with directors notes surfaced, and is being auctioned at Chiswick Auctions, London, on October 26th. How cool would it be to own this…
Horsin’ Around
Bojack is going to be doing an unboxing of Song Machine for us, sometime soon. Good to know exactly what you’re gonna get before you get it, I guess!
Pazuzu Interviews
The creative team at Gorillaz Raritiez, Pazuzu Pictures, have used their talented voice actors to act out some of the classic written interviews with the characters. You can watch what they have here – there’ll be more added soon!
Gorillazland 