Gorillaz-Unofficial review of 2008
So it's the end of another year and time to look back on the most notable items of news that appeared on Gorillaz-Unofficial over the last twelve months.
GORILLAZ ALBUM THREE ANNOUNCED
On a short promotional tour of North America in early September to coincide with the release of the Monkey album on that continent, Damon and Jamie told press interviewers (CBC news was the first to hear about it ) that they had decided to release a third album. Just weeks before, Damon had mused to the Spanish press while over there to play with Toumani Diabaté at the Expo Zaragoza festival in August, that he didn't know whether Gorillaz would continue. But during his summer vacation he decided he wanted to go back to Gorillaz and Jamie agreed. While they've said the four Gorillaz characters will return, the pair have given indications that Gorillaz Phase Three may differ in more ways than one. Jamie has stated that he will 'adapt' the characters, that they will be 'a bit older'. On the presentation side of things, Jamie stated "It doesn’t have to be animation and music" and the Phase Three will be "told in a different way.", later mentioning a tour. On the music side of things, Damon stated that "the next record... I am approaching it in a different way" mentioning at the time that he had been working with a couple of orchestras.
As for a timeframe for the start of Phase Three, nothing concrete has been announced. Damon's band Blur have announced comeback shows for the summer and Damon has at different times said that he feels he's half way and a third of the way through the album (confusingly, the former level of progress was announced before the latter!)
It's not clear how Gorillaz' third album will relate to the project Jamie revealed in the Summer, Carousel, which was the pair's main focus for the first half of 2008, "a film and it's a stage thing as well" told in a series of inter-relating stories both live action and animated shorts, for which Jamie claimed Damon had written around '70' songs. However even in the early summer Jamie was only willing to say "at this moment, it's still just a really good idea." suggesting work may be transferred over to Gorillaz album three.
GORILLAZ SOUND SYSTEM
Although Gorillaz Sound System made their debut at an MTV Party last year, 2008 was the year they went global. The party DJ Audio-visual Act headed up by Nelson De Freitas (voice of 2D, who was worked the crowd in an MC role at shows) and joined at various times by DJs Jodo, Guy C and Remi Kabaka and vocalist Rosie Wilson (and others) launched a website for promoters to download tech specs (but which generated much speculation amongst fans) and performed at various dates of the worldwide Creamfields festival, the Australian Global Gathering festival tour as well as other festivals and private parties (for a full list of known dates, see this post). The act used Gorillaz visuals in their projections and their sets were always Gorillaz / Damon Albarn heavy. They also did absolutely no press, not even widely publicising their lineup. Whilst there were isolated reports of punters being disappointed to find out they weren't actually going to see a full Gorillaz show, overall reviews and bloggers' responses tended to range from the lukewarm to the very positive.
BANANAZ
Gorillaz' documentary film Bananaz was first heralded in October of last year but it saw its debut screenings at the Berlin Film Festival in Germany. The World premiere on February 13th was attended by Damon and Jamie themselves. The film went on to screen at 8 further festivals worldwide including the SXSW film festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival (for a full list of dates and festivals, see here). Reviews have been very mixed, from ecstatic hailing of it as a great insight in an innovative format, to those who wrote it off as 'just for the fans' rubbish. At the Edinburgh screenings the director Ceri Levi spoke about how he hoped the film could gain a limited cinematic release but also tentatively announced that a DVD of the film (with around 45 minutes of bonus material) would be released at the end of the year. However, no release was announced and there is no official word on the release at this time.
GORILLAZ MUSIC RELEASES
There were no major releases of Gorillaz music during 2008. Early 2008 did see the leak of a track originally scheduled for D-Sides but held off at the least minute, the TTC remix of El Manana. On her solo single 'Poison' Martina Topley-Bird included the track Soldier Boy which contained parts of an unreleased Gorillaz track 'Snakes and Ladders' as well as additional vocal contributions from Roots Manuva. The only other notable Gorillaz music release of the year was the late release of D-Sides in China, with a censored tracklisting.
COMMENTS FROM THE BAND
Murdoc was the only bandmember we heard from in 2008. He asked Madonna a question in a Q magazine interview, he made a short statement endorsing Gorillaz Sound System and he reviewed the Monkey opera. In the latter piece, he also revealed some new elements of Gorillaz story, commenting that Kong Studios still hasn't been sold (he blames the Credit Crunch) and that his mission to save Noodle from hell was successfully accomplished but the details can't be shared as of yet because "I've got myself all tangled up with some turgid movie dudes who say, “Y'know keep schtum, we'll sell the whole story to Schpeilburg”. Probably all rubbish again but let's see."
MONKEY
Gorillaz' 'other' project Monkey rolled on in 2008 with runs of shows in the USA at the Spoletto festival, the London Royal Opera House in the summer, and a specially-constructed tent next to London's O2 Arena in the winter. Monkey songs were performed on Jools Holland show and for a Radio 2 special. Monkey also got its own official website, and took over Youtube. A studio album was released in the summer comprising studio versions of songs that feature in the opera. Two special vinyl editions of the album followed featuring bonus tracks and artwork. Monkey was also chosen to be the theme for the BBC's Olympic coverage. Finally at the end of the year a Monkey Bee digital EP was released, featuring two exclusive remixes. A video for the song had also been released previously.
Thanks for following the news with us in 2008, and stick with Gorillaz-Unofficial next year for all the latest news from the world of Gorillaz as it happens.
Click here to return to news index
Click here to submit a news story
GORILLAZ ALBUM THREE ANNOUNCED
On a short promotional tour of North America in early September to coincide with the release of the Monkey album on that continent, Damon and Jamie told press interviewers (CBC news was the first to hear about it ) that they had decided to release a third album. Just weeks before, Damon had mused to the Spanish press while over there to play with Toumani Diabaté at the Expo Zaragoza festival in August, that he didn't know whether Gorillaz would continue. But during his summer vacation he decided he wanted to go back to Gorillaz and Jamie agreed. While they've said the four Gorillaz characters will return, the pair have given indications that Gorillaz Phase Three may differ in more ways than one. Jamie has stated that he will 'adapt' the characters, that they will be 'a bit older'. On the presentation side of things, Jamie stated "It doesn’t have to be animation and music" and the Phase Three will be "told in a different way.", later mentioning a tour. On the music side of things, Damon stated that "the next record... I am approaching it in a different way" mentioning at the time that he had been working with a couple of orchestras.
As for a timeframe for the start of Phase Three, nothing concrete has been announced. Damon's band Blur have announced comeback shows for the summer and Damon has at different times said that he feels he's half way and a third of the way through the album (confusingly, the former level of progress was announced before the latter!)
It's not clear how Gorillaz' third album will relate to the project Jamie revealed in the Summer, Carousel, which was the pair's main focus for the first half of 2008, "a film and it's a stage thing as well" told in a series of inter-relating stories both live action and animated shorts, for which Jamie claimed Damon had written around '70' songs. However even in the early summer Jamie was only willing to say "at this moment, it's still just a really good idea." suggesting work may be transferred over to Gorillaz album three.
GORILLAZ SOUND SYSTEM
Although Gorillaz Sound System made their debut at an MTV Party last year, 2008 was the year they went global. The party DJ Audio-visual Act headed up by Nelson De Freitas (voice of 2D, who was worked the crowd in an MC role at shows) and joined at various times by DJs Jodo, Guy C and Remi Kabaka and vocalist Rosie Wilson (and others) launched a website for promoters to download tech specs (but which generated much speculation amongst fans) and performed at various dates of the worldwide Creamfields festival, the Australian Global Gathering festival tour as well as other festivals and private parties (for a full list of known dates, see this post). The act used Gorillaz visuals in their projections and their sets were always Gorillaz / Damon Albarn heavy. They also did absolutely no press, not even widely publicising their lineup. Whilst there were isolated reports of punters being disappointed to find out they weren't actually going to see a full Gorillaz show, overall reviews and bloggers' responses tended to range from the lukewarm to the very positive.
BANANAZ
Gorillaz' documentary film Bananaz was first heralded in October of last year but it saw its debut screenings at the Berlin Film Festival in Germany. The World premiere on February 13th was attended by Damon and Jamie themselves. The film went on to screen at 8 further festivals worldwide including the SXSW film festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival (for a full list of dates and festivals, see here). Reviews have been very mixed, from ecstatic hailing of it as a great insight in an innovative format, to those who wrote it off as 'just for the fans' rubbish. At the Edinburgh screenings the director Ceri Levi spoke about how he hoped the film could gain a limited cinematic release but also tentatively announced that a DVD of the film (with around 45 minutes of bonus material) would be released at the end of the year. However, no release was announced and there is no official word on the release at this time.
GORILLAZ MUSIC RELEASES
There were no major releases of Gorillaz music during 2008. Early 2008 did see the leak of a track originally scheduled for D-Sides but held off at the least minute, the TTC remix of El Manana. On her solo single 'Poison' Martina Topley-Bird included the track Soldier Boy which contained parts of an unreleased Gorillaz track 'Snakes and Ladders' as well as additional vocal contributions from Roots Manuva. The only other notable Gorillaz music release of the year was the late release of D-Sides in China, with a censored tracklisting.
COMMENTS FROM THE BAND
Murdoc was the only bandmember we heard from in 2008. He asked Madonna a question in a Q magazine interview, he made a short statement endorsing Gorillaz Sound System and he reviewed the Monkey opera. In the latter piece, he also revealed some new elements of Gorillaz story, commenting that Kong Studios still hasn't been sold (he blames the Credit Crunch) and that his mission to save Noodle from hell was successfully accomplished but the details can't be shared as of yet because "I've got myself all tangled up with some turgid movie dudes who say, “Y'know keep schtum, we'll sell the whole story to Schpeilburg”. Probably all rubbish again but let's see."
MONKEY
Gorillaz' 'other' project Monkey rolled on in 2008 with runs of shows in the USA at the Spoletto festival, the London Royal Opera House in the summer, and a specially-constructed tent next to London's O2 Arena in the winter. Monkey songs were performed on Jools Holland show and for a Radio 2 special. Monkey also got its own official website, and took over Youtube. A studio album was released in the summer comprising studio versions of songs that feature in the opera. Two special vinyl editions of the album followed featuring bonus tracks and artwork. Monkey was also chosen to be the theme for the BBC's Olympic coverage. Finally at the end of the year a Monkey Bee digital EP was released, featuring two exclusive remixes. A video for the song had also been released previously.
Thanks for following the news with us in 2008, and stick with Gorillaz-Unofficial next year for all the latest news from the world of Gorillaz as it happens.
Click here to return to news index
Click here to submit a news story