Virtual British band, Gorillaz, has been silent as far as new music is concerned since it released its 2011 studio album, The Fall. Based on a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone as well as recent social media posts it seems that the group is working on new material which will hopefully be released this year. The reason for the silence is partly because of the group’s publicized falling out. To be honest that was kind of expected since very few groups do manage to stay together till retirement. With that in mind it’s extremely exciting to know that they’ve patched up whatever issues they had and are once again cooking up something delicious in the lab.
Earlier this week Remi Kabaka, a collaborator of the group, posted an in-studio photo of a rapper who’s believed to be Chicago’s own Vic Mensa. Reddit user JordanPowers95 said that Mensa was originally tagged in the photo but later the tag was removed, which lead to the speculation that Gorillaz were working on a track with the Chicago rapper. Whether it was indeed Mensa or not I’m personally pleased to see hints that Gorillaz are spending time in the studio. They have a very unique lane and their presence has been missed. That’s not to say that the band has been sitting idle all along. They’ve been touring, doing shows, and one half of the group, Damon Albarn, worked on a musical called Wonder.land.
As for the sound we should expect on the new record Albarn told Rolling Stone that “I'm in the very early days on a new Gorillaz record. So far, it's really fast, and it's got quite a lot of energy. I've been stuck on piano, somewhere off Broadway, for years now. I want to go somewhere completely opposite of that.” He also stated in an earlier interview with the The Sidney Morning Herald that the music is going to be set at a minimum tempo of 125BPM, which is quite fast and signals a departure from a lot of the group’s earlier material. The group has released high-tempo music before including their most successful hit single Feel Good Inc.
The addition of Vic Mensa to the upcoming project (if that is indeed one of the people they’re working with) doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Gorillaz have collaborated with various rappers since their first record Clint Eastwood which featured Del The Funky Homosapien. The group has also recorded with Bootie Brown and De La Soul as well as performed various live renditions of their debut single Clint Eastwood with various rappers including Snoop Dogg, Kano, Tinnie Tempah, Bashy and Eslam Jawaad.
Last year Albarn hinted that new music will come out in 2016. Well Damon, 2016 is here so we’re anxiously waiting to hear what you have in store for us. I’m sure the new record will be bananas (pun intended)!
