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Gorillaz make an appearance in Uncut magazine (cover dated February 2010) this month as part of Uncut's preview of 2010 feature. There is an all-new piece of Phase 3 artwork and Murdoc make some comments about Plastic Beach although he doesn't name the guest stars, rather he describes them. The magazine says Plastic Beach's release date is 'Spring 2010'. Click the thumbnails below to enlarge the scans, or click 'Read More' below to see them full size.
 
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It’s that time again - a chance to review the biggest Gorillaz stories of 2009. You can click the links in the review to take you to the Gorillaz-Unofficial coverage of the time. Gorillaz-Unofficial wishes all its visitors a very Happy New Year! Join us in 2010 for more fanatical Gorillaz coverage.
Overall it’s been a year of preparation. Damon and Jamie agreed they would make another Gorillaz record in early September 2008. However work on a now cancelled project Carousel (begun in late 2007), including many songs, were carried forward for the Gorillaz album. After they let slip that work on a Gorillaz album had begun, the pair let slip a few of their ideas to journalists, with Jamie saying “They'll be the same characters, but a little bit older and told in a different way." And adding that they wanted to have Gorillaz tour in Phase 3, and Damon spoke of his desire to have the album be more experimental. However it was in 2009 that the album and its accompanying visuals came together and was completed for a release expected in the first half of 2010. Also in 2009, the Gorillaz documentary movie Bananaz was finally released, and Gorillaz Sound System continued to play select shows. Read a month-by-month review below and you can check out an archive of all the year's stories (including much more not included here) here.
January
In a suprise move Damon 'takes over' BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe's show on January 14th whilst Zane is on holiday, part of 2 weeks of takeovers by artists while Zane is away. Jamie was also present in the studio and could be heard briefly here and there, and Murdoc called in to pay a visit. Damon says some of the songs he plays on the night feature people he was worked with / will work with on Gorillaz third album tracks, but he does not reveal specifics. Damon also played three Gorillaz third album demoes on the night ‘Electric Shock’, ‘Broken’ and a song which Murdoc introduced as ‘Stylo’ but which BBC Radio 1 appeared to list on their site as ‘Binge’. A new picture of Murdoc, in front of an old BBC test card, was held up to the webcam on the night and was also uploaded to the BBC website.
February
Parts of ‘Electric Shock’ (the strings parts) were performed live at an event at The Curve venue in Leicester, UK, by the Sinfonia Viva orchestra. Damon was present and another of his compositions was also played on the night. The compositions were listed on the official event programme as Commission 1 and 2. The ‘That’s Electric Shock!’ part of the song had already been performed at least two Africa Express events.
March
It was announced that the Gorillaz documentary movie Bananaz which was completed and announced in 2007 and which played at various film festivals in 2008 would have its premiere on video streaming site Babelgum and that a dvd release would follow afterwards. Director Ceri Levy had always wanted the film to have a limited cinematic release but apart from some one-off dates this unfortunately did not happen. To build up to the premiere and dvd release much content was added to the Bananazfilm website over time, leading up the release of the dvd, including two new Zombie-developed web games. The first highlight was A message Murdoc left for director Ceri Levy on his answerphone. An official Anti-Bananaz Facebook group was also set up. Gorillaz Sound System played a show on 13th March in Moscow. Around this time, Damon and Jamie went to Syria and Lebanon to get artistic and musical inspiration for Plastic Beach, and to record with the Syrian National Orchestra, amongst others.
April
On 20 April Bananaz received its online release on Babelgum. Murdoc posted on the Bananaz blog that he had burned down Kong Studios for the insurance after he couldn't sell it. An (audio only) Murdoc sex tape was also posted on the Bananaz film site. In April it was also revealed that Bobby Womack had contributed to a track for the forthcoming album.
May
At their 2009 AGM, EMI said that they expected the third Gorillaz album to be released before the end of the financial year. Damon's manager commented that he expected the Gorillaz album to be out in about a year's time. At the end of May, US magazine Entertainment Weekly published an interview with De La Soul's Pos. Pos revealed that De La Soul had contributed to two tracks ('Sloped Tropics' and 'Electric Shock') that were in contention for the album, and that the album's working title was 'Plastic Beach'. Murdoc also gave an interview to the NME to promote Bananaz.
June
Bananaz received a general release on DVD on June 1st (everywhere except Japan, where it was released with a bonus booklet on September 2nd) including an hour of bonus footage.
July
On 6th July it was first revealed that The Horrors had worked on a track. 2D gave a shoutout to Gorillaz-Unofficial.com. Damon also performed Feel Good Inc with De La Soul during a De La gig at the Manchester Ritz.
August
Gorillaz songs made several appearances in video games in 2009. Amongst those were downloadable tracks for rock band, released in August and a mashup of Feel Good Inc and I Heard It Through The Grapevine featured in DJ Hero. Bananaz had its last public screening to date, at Japan's Summer Sonic Festival.
September
Einar Örn Benediktsson speaks to an Icelandic newspaper and reveals that he, Mark E Smith, Barry Gibb and Lou Reed have contributed to the third album sessions. He also says the album is more accessible than the first two.
October
The gorillaz.com front page was updated but only with a temporary holding page showing past Gorillaz releases to buy. Watchmen and V For Vendetta writer Alan Moore revealed in an interview that he was writing the libretto for a future 'Gorillaz' (i.e. Damon & Jamie) opera but in an interview in November (see below) Damon clarified that this opera was a project separate from the Gorillaz album.
November
Gorillaz appeared on the front cover of the UK edition of Wired Magazine. As well as the cover which featured new art of all four Gorillaz bandmembers, a further picture of each member appeared in an article about ideas for the future. Murdoc also contributed several ideas of his own. Towards the end of the month another magazine appearance followed, this time in the monthly music magazine Q. Murdoc appeared on a fold-out Q awards cover and in a 2 page interview spread, featuring another new picture of him. At the end of the month, the website of the UK newspaper The Guardian published an interview with Damon in which he revealed much about the new album. An extensive interview with Damon by journalist Paul Morley is published, which includes many revelations about the third album: he confirmed its title as 'Plastic Beach', revealed some inspiration behind the title and also confirmed that Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Barry Gibb and Bobby Womack would appear on the record. On the 6th November, Gorillaz Sound System played a show in Romania.
December
On the 10th, an image of Noodle with a plastic beach logo was released via the EMI Australia official blog. Gorillaz songs and albums featured in the Rolling Stone and Billboard decade end lists. There were unofficial reports of Damon making a record company visit to the USA and of Gorillaz being booked to headline Coachella Music Festival in 2010. A listening party for Plastic Beach (for music executives only) reportedly took place on the weekend of the 12th/13th. At the end of the month there were reports of a Gorillaz video shoot in Calico, California, and of top DJs remixing Gorillaz tracks. Gorillaz Sound System played two shows in Turkey on the 12th and 13th of December and a show on New Year's Eve in Macedonia.
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The latest issue of Q Magazine (Cheryl Cole Cover, cover dated February 2010) has an article previewing some albums expected in 2010. Plastic Beach is featured as one of the albums and the release date is stated to be 8 March. Online retailer CDwow.com is also listing 8 March as the release date ( here. Thanks to Sam Zeid for pointing this out ). This release date may not be accurate, in particular other retailers like Amazon are not yet listing a release date for Plastic Beach. More information as we get it.
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( Beware: Decade of Angst ) I truly hope 2010 brings nothing but happiness to you faithful readers. Be happy, healthy, and safe. Cheers, Token Current Mood:  nothing left Current Music: Fourth Time Around-Bob Dylan |
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Dec. 30th, 2009 @ 02:45 pm
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I cannot think of what I want to make icons of! Help me outttttttttt.
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The Macedonian International News Agency reports here that Gorillaz Sound System will play a show on New Year's Eve (December 31st) in Skopje, Macedonia at Skopje Fair. Macedonian composer and DJ Kiril Dzajkovski will be the other main act on the night. The New Year's party is organised by the City of Skopje and ONE telecommunications operator.
Lots of info on Gorillaz Sound System, as ever, can be found here.
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Merry Christmas One and All
From All of us at the Life Preposterous ^_O |
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jp917 sends the news that two top DJs / remixers have tweeted about remixing a Gorillaz track in the last few days.
On December 21st Yuksek ( more information on Wikipedia here ) tweeted "just finished GORILLAZ remix". Link to the tweet here and Yuksek's Twitter is here.
On December 22nd Steve Angello ( more information on Wikipedia here ) tweeted "Gorillaz remix in the works !!", adding slightly later "btw .. Gorillaz remix is nasty !!!". Link to the tweets here and here and Steve Angello's Twitter is here.
With Gorillaz promotion about to swing into full effect in 2010, it's likely these DJs are amongst those officially commissioned to remix tracks, or a particular track, from Gorillaz' forthcoming third album 'Plastic Beach'.
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