Gorillaz V. Gorillaz in O2 Priority advert

Confident, front-man Damon is back. How amazing is it to see him lead his gang all bad-ass style down that hallway? I feel like I'm twelve again! Forget my insistence that I'm not a child...it's 1994 again, and THIS IS BRILLIANT. Roll on US shows...

Does this mean I have to like the NME again?

If Damon's back to mugging for the NME can we get more of this:
(I'd also like the free Suede flexidisc too)

Ugh, the fact that this was 16 years ago makes me feel sick. I'm old. In my day, the NME was printed on newsprint kiddies...

Do you think 1994 Damon would believe us if we told him he'd be in a cartoon band?

"Oi, 1994 Damon, I've come from the fuuuuture. Don't worry about that Stone Roses single, it was Love Spreads and it sucked, yeah Second Coming also sucked...Britpop's gonna be huge! Um, but, Blur never get that big in America except for one song they play at football games, yeah sorry... Oh, but you will make weird hip-hop influenced albums with a cartoon band. Yeah, um, no we won't need you to wistfully look out to sea with your t-shirt riding up... Nobody sees you in this band. Yes it does become big in America...but you'll have to share NME covers with a caaaartooooon."

Murdoc: Gorillaz will "Raze Coachella to the ground"

The Gorillaz Camaro is at full speed, with the album set to drop in less than a week here in magic America. It's a special treat for us Gorillaz fans in the US, be it pasty British ex-pats like myself, or actual brilliant Americans. We were painfully shunned by Blur last year. This year we get our Damon Albarn fueled comeuppance; we get to see Murdoc, "Noodle", 2D (and Russel?) FIRST! Yeah, firsties. Suck it Europe and Japan.
In an interview with The Independent Murdoc Niccals; erstwhile metalhead, Gorillaz leader, and badass bass player, hints at the mind-blowing Californian show to come...

Actually it's funny because I was just thinking about this big concert I'm planning and all the espionage going on around it.

I'm not really prone to excitement, due to all the medication and everything, but this is really something! Something unbelievable. Something that we may even tour until we're skeletons...

We're doing Coachella, this fantastic festival in Palm Springs, near Los Angeles. Great golfing round there. It's like a big hot car park in the middle of the desert. And we've drafted in a whole slurry of big-name guest-stars, so check check check it out. 19 April. 2010. We're going to raze it to the ground.

(FYI, Gorillaz actually play April 18th.)

[independent]

"Murdoc's" Plastic Beach track-by-track commentary: 2-D breaks the cardinal rule of music snobbery, and Damon slips up.

Murdoc gave the NME the skinny on Plastic Beach in a track-by-track recap. In it we find out that 2-D has questionable TV viewing habits:

"Empire Ants' (feat. Little Dragon)
A moment’s peace amongst the rush. I sampled a lot of this from the theme music to Tomorrow’s World, and the vocalist is Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, an electronic band from Sweden.
It was actually 2D who got me into Little Dragon. He played me this lovely song of theirs called 'Twice', which he first heard on the TV show Grey's Anatomy."

Ugh. The first rule of music snobbery is that when you discover a cool band via a very uncool means (Grey's Anatomy, a Volkswagen commercial, Gossip Girl) you NEVER disclose the source! Just say you've "been into them for a while", or "they just popped up on my radar". Goddamn 2-D.
Tomorrow's World, however, is the shit. A perfectly acceptable, nay awesome, sample.


In the description for the track Plastic Beach Damon slips up, revealing either:
A) Damon is Murdoc
B) Murdoc is Damon
C) Damon's not that great at keeping up the Gorillaz facade.

Murdoc apparently masterminded The Good The Bad And The Queen. Oh did you Murdoc? DID YOU?

"`Plastic Beach' (featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
It’s a special moment for fans of Gorillaz and the Clash. How did this come about? Well, I had commandeered Paul Simonon from the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense."

Alright, so I'm being pedantic. Honestly the description of these tracks is making me excited beyond belief for the album's release.

For a more impartial track-by-track description read Drowned In Sounds brilliantly in-depth recap.

EDIT: I read this line: "I had commandeered Paul Simonon from the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense" as "I had commandeered Paul Simonon FOR the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense"

I take it back, illusion intact. Sorry Damon (although this is obviously you writing these comments). I thought Murdoc was saying he got Paul for The Good The Bad And The Queen, but he got him FROM them. Oops
Whatevs, Grey's Anatomy still sucks, you can't get out of that one.