Gorillaz-Unofficial News - full site at http://gorillaz-unofficial.com

Bananaz on ThisisLondon website, Ceri quotes - reminder of showing tomorrow (and new Saturday date)

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:10:20 GMT

To tie in with the London screening of Bananaz today (Friday) ( at Kensington Odeon, London 6pm) website thisislondon has a short article with a few quotes from director Ceri Levy. There is also the sad confirmation that the film won't get a wider release, with an Odeon spokeswoman saying: "The film had an online premiere and that went towards the decision as to why it wouldn't be screened. It was already out there."

Ceri says: ""It's kind of weird but in this day and age cinemas don't want to spend money on anything if it doesn't have explosions and battles and isn't a sure fire hit. People should be able to see films that are slightly obscure or left of centre. It's a tragic shame - and Bananaz looks fantastic on a cinema screen. It's nice to do the Notting Hill festival. I filmed all the tours around the world by jumping on the tour bus so it became part of the tour expenses,". Check out the full piece on the thisislondon website here

UPDATE: The Odeon Kensington has listed another showing, Saturday 11th July at 14:30. Get tickets for any of the three dates here.

The Horrors work on a track for Gorillaz third album

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:21:04 GMT

theres.a.bomb.in.the.lasagna sends the news that the UK band The Horrors have worked on a track that may appear on Gorillaz' third album, (working title: Plastic Beach, scheduled for release in the first half of 2010).

A member of the band comments in this video on youtube: "Funnily enough we actually recorded a track with Damon recently which is possibly going to be used on the next Gorillaz record. And we met Jamie... so yeah, maybe there is a possibility of that happening." (this comment is made at around 0:50 on the video).

Damon played a track by The Horrors on his Radio 1 takeover show earlier this year, a show which he hinted would give many clues as to some of the artists which would feature on Gorillaz album 3. Read more about The Horrors on Wikipedia here. Check out their latest videos on Youtube:- Who Can Say | Sea Within A Sea .

Bananaz showing at Kensington Odeon London - 10th July (UPDATE 05/07/09 - NEW SCREEN TIMES)

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:37:21 GMT

Gorillaz documentary film Bananaz will get a screening to open the Notting Hill Film Festival on 10th July at the Kensington Odeon in London. ~~(UPDATE: Ceri Levy informs us that the screening will begin at 7pm on the day)~~UPDATE #2:- We have received updated information about the screening. It will take place at 6pm on 10 July and there will be an additonal screening on 15 July at 10:30pm.

You can now buy tickets by following this link.

And on a related noted, the magazine Loaded has a short review of Bananaz on their website here.

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Gorillaz track to feature in next Dance Dance Revolution game

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:20:02 GMT

mrpane911 sends the news that a Gorillaz track will feature in the latest (and forthcoming - due out November 2009) game in the popular Dance Dance Revolution franchise. The game will be released on Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii and XBox 360. News item on Joystiq.com here, Wikipedia entry here

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Happy Birthday Murdoc!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:40:19 GMT

Murdoc Niccals, Gorillaz bass player, turns 43 today! Happy birthday Murdoc!

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Happy (belated) birthday Russel!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:33:33 GMT

Russel Hobbs, world-famous Gorillaz drummer, turned 34 on June 3rd. Happy Birthday Russel!

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Ceri Levy Bananaz interview on BBC World Service - listen again online / third album mention

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:04:15 GMT

Ceri Levy, Bananaz director, was interviewed on the BBC World Service on its daily arts show Strand on Thursday (June 4th). You can listen to the interview online on the BBC site here - well worth a listen.

As part of the interview, the presenter refers to an interview with Eslam Jawaad broadcast on a previous edition of Strand the week before. According to the presenter, Eslam spoke about how some of the Gorillaz' third album had been recorded in Syria, already (fans may remember Damon saying that he was going to Syria in April to record material for the third album, during his Radio 1 appearance in January).

Finally - as previously reported on Gorillaz-Unofficial, Ceri has a Twitter account twitter.com/bananazceri and has been answering questions posed by fans on Twitter, so if there's something you'd like to ask him sign up and pose your question.

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Review of Bananaz in The Sun

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:50:33 GMT

The UK national paper The Sun reviewed Bananaz in its 5th June edition. Bananaz was awarded 4 stars out of 5, and given a positive review. Check out the review on The Sun's website here.

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Bananaz general release on DVD

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:45:13 GMT

Bananaz, Gorillaz' documentary movie is generally released on DVD this week and is already available from many retailers worldwide. ( If your local store doesn't have it you could grab it from Amazon, who ship worldwide: Amazon UK | Amazon USA. All the DVDs are region free and there are PAL and NTSC DVDs available - the PAL/NTSC thing isn't an issue if you just want to watch the DVD on your PC)

With the official release the DVD extra content is finally revealed in full.
There is around 62 minutes of extra footage on the DVD not featured in the main 92-minute film.
The first 50 minutes of bonus footage is comprised of 8 short pieces linked with interview material from Damon and Jamie (and a few other random clips as well). These are:-
CLINT EASTWOOD: The full 2001 Radio 1 session version, with footage of the band performing intercut with shots from the Clint Eastwood video and Gorillaz pictures.
LIVE IN JAPAN: A collection of footage from Gorillaz' 2001 trip to Japan, including clips of Damon and Jamie being interviewed by Japanese journalists, clips from the concerts behind the screen, and various band members shopping and eating in Japan.
LET'S GET DIRTY REMIX: Footage of Dan The Automator and Damon in the studio, recording the Gorillaz remix of Redman's 'Let's Get Dirty' including Damon playing guitar.
THE SNEEZE: clips of Jamie recording the Moose's sneeze for the 19/2000 video, but at the end of the sequence Jamie reveals Damon has insisted on doing the sneeze himself so their work will have to be scrapped.
D12: A long sequence of members of D12 arguing in the studio during the recording of the track 911, followed by parts of the 2002 performance of 911 live in New York (as seen from behind the curtain), which included Terry Hall as well.
HELLO AMERICA: footage of Phil Cornwell recording the audio for the Phase One Gorillaz thanks speech, followed by Damon and Jamie interviewed before and after failing to win the MTV Award they were up for (which went to Mudvayne).
BILL MURRAY FEATURING THE BEES: lots of footage of the recording of the track Bill Murray, including all the members of the band The Bees. Nelson De Freitas is also seen in the studio.
FOOD CHAIN: Footage of the recording of the unreleased Gorillaz song 'Snakes And Ladders' a contender for the Demon Days album, which featured Roots Manuva. The basic music track (without Damon's vocals) and Roots Manuva rap from Snakes and Ladders was used on the Martina Topley-Bird B-Side 'Soldier Boy'.
After the 50 minutes is up there is then a further bonus extra, a 12 minute sequence of Jamie and members of the 2002 North American tour band (including Cass, Haruka and Jamal Grey) visiting Teotihuacan (an Aztec ruin) in Mexico. Mostly it's the tour guides talking.

There are no other extras or commentaries on the disc.

Gorillaz-Unofficial reviewed the film in July 2008 (you can read the review and interview with Ceri Levy the director here) and with the lovingly-compiled extra footage included we rate this DVD a 9/10! (one mark off for no commentary with Damon and Jamie!!).

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Gorillaz track to feature in Guitar Hero 5

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:45:30 GMT

Jag was the first to send this in:- a Gorillaz track is set to feature in Guitar Hero 5, according to the official Guitar Hero 5 site here. A track by Damon Albarn's band Blur is also set to feature.

More information on Guitar Hero 5 on Wikipedia here. The game will be released on XBox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii and is set to be released on September 1, 2009. Gorillaz-Unofficial will post the Gorillaz track information as soon as it's released.

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Gorillaz third album working title 'Plastic Beach' according to De La Soul; more album info

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:07:31 GMT

The current issue of Entertainment Weekly has an interview with Pos from De La Soul. You can check it outline here. Pos talks about De La Soul's new Nike mix tape album and also chats about the third Gorillaz album.

Pos says that the working title of Gorillaz' third album is 'Plastic Beach'. He says that De La Soul have contributed to two tracks which are in contention for the album's final tracklisting, the working titles for these are "Sloped Tropics" and "Electric Shock" (the latter of which, fans will remember, was premiered in demo form earlier this year on BBC Radio 1). Pos also adds: "From what we've heard, it sounds amazing. To me, quite honestly, it sounds better than the last album."

http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/05/de-la-nike.html

De La Soul's Posdnuos on their Nike mix, their next album, and working again with Gorillaz
May 28, 2009, 04:30 PM | by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: De La Soul, Downloads and Streams, Gorillaz

Two decades after upending rap's status quo with their debut 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul recently took a stab at an unfamiliar genre: music to run to. Are You In?, a 10-track mix of brand-new material commissioned by Nike, went on sale last month, following in the, er, footsteps of mixes by artists like LCD Soundsystem. "We're not the biggest of runners," the trio's Posdnuos (pictured at right) confesses to the Music Mix. "But all of us in the group have equipment in the house and occasionally get on the elliptical or go outside...I love listening to It Takes a Nation of Millions [To Hold Us Back] from Public Enemy when I'm out running. Hearing Flavor [Flav] wildin' out and Chuck [D] in my head just pushes me to go further and further."

Keeping that level of energy in mind, De La crafted a tight set of pulse-racing jams with help from Chicago-based DJs Flosstradamus. As far as they're concerned, Are You In? is as much a full-fledged De La album as any other. "We've always had themes for our albums, from 3 Feet High and Rising on up," says Pos. "So knowing that the theme of this record was making sure you inspire running was just another way of us having an entire album where we had to connect everything."

Give Are You In? standout "Big Mouf" a free listen below, then click through to the jump for more news on De La Soul's upcoming projects -- including their work on the next Gorillaz album.

Before being contacted by Nike, De La Soul had already begun work on their next proper album, You're Welcome, which is now likely headed for an indie release early next year. "We have several tracks that are coming together incredibly," says Pos. Among them are "We Are (For the People)," which will feature vocals from Chuck D and Flavor Flav (get out those running shoes!), and a reflective tune titled "We Are God." De La Soul also hope to secure a guest appearance from Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, whom they got to know after rapping on Gorillaz' 2005 hit "Feel Good Inc."

Speaking of which, De La Soul's members have contributed vocals to two songs so far for the next Gorillaz album, which Pos says is tentatively titled Plastic Beach. Pos says the working titles he was given for those tracks were "Sloped Tropics" and "Electric Shock" -- the latter of which lines up with the name of one of the Gorillaz demos that Albarn debuted on BBC Radio 1 in January. Gorillaz' reps couldn't confirm any of this info to me yet, but I'm already pretty excited based on Pos' descriptions of the new Gorillaz material: "From what we've heard, it sounds amazing. To me, quite honestly, it sounds better than the last album." Woo-hoo! Anyone else looking forward to and/or already enjoying any of De La Soul's many new projects?

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New Murdoc interview in this week's NME

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:05:56 GMT

This week's NME (Kasabian cover) has an interview with Murdoc to coincide with the release of Bananaz on DVD (available from June 1st).

Murdoc mentions that he's "been scooting all around the world again, grabbing bits and pieces of the big, dirty sonic jigsaw to make a third 'Rillaz-style bad-boy soundtrack." He's "commandeered the talents of some very, VERY special cats this time. Not just like N-Dubz or something... real old school talents". "It's even got a donk on it!" he adds, finishing by saying "It's still in the oven, but as soon as this baby's cooked I'm sure you'll smell it a mile off... yeah, baby!"

To read the full thing, including Murdoc's thoughts on the Blur reunion, check out the scan by clicking 'Read More' below.

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Q magazine reviews Bananaz (4 stars)

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:01:07 GMT

The UK music magazine Q has a positive review of Gorillaz' documentary movie Bananaz in this month's issue. Check out the scan by clicking 'Read More' below.

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Mention of Damon continuing to record Gorillaz 3rd album

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:59:08 GMT

The UK's Daily Star newspaper has an (indirect) mention of Gorillaz' 3rd album in today's edition. The small article mentions that Damon has let the band Magistrates use his studio but, as Magistrates singer Paul Usher is quoted as saying "While recording, Damon came in and was like: 'I need the studio back for half an hour to record a Gorillaz track.". Check out the news on the Daily Star website here.

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2D's 31st birthday

Sat, 23 May 2009 23:06:19 GMT

2D, Gorillaz singer and keyboard player, is 31 today (May 23rd). Happy birthday 2-D!

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Gorillaz to feature in two more forthcoming video games - DJ Hero and Drum King

Sat, 23 May 2009 23:01:34 GMT

Gorillaz are reported to be featuring in two more forthcoming video games based around music.

A Gorillaz track will feature on 'Drum King', released May 26 for the Nintendo Wii. The object of the game is to drum along to tracks using the Wii controller. More information on Variety.com here.

DJ Hero, a game where you virtually scratch and mix records, will feature mashup of Feel Good Inc and Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" . More information here on Wikipedia. No further details on release date or platforms are available at the moment.

Gorillaz-Unofficial regulars will remember the previous G-U report that Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc would be appearing in a game called 'Scratch: The Ultimate DJ' (report here) this is still set to happen, but there is an ongoing legal dispute regarding both games at the moment. On April 15, 2009, the publishers of Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, Genius Products and Numark, sued against Scratch's developer, 7 Studios and Activision. The lawsuit contends that Activision purchased 7 Studios to both gain access to proprietary technology and to delay publication of the game so DJ Hero could come out first. More information on the Wikipedia article linked above.

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Bananaz showing in Sydney, Australia with Ceri Levy Q&A

Sat, 23 May 2009 22:39:24 GMT

orion70 sends the news that there will be a showing of Bananaz at Greater Union, Bondi Junction in Sydney on 1st June at 7:00pm local time.

Director Ceri Levy will be on the phone from London live to answer audience questions. The event is presented by company Popcorn Taxi. More information on the event here.

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Damon's manager comments on progress of Gorillaz album 3 - possibly out in a year's time

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:25:23 GMT

Damon Albarn's manager Chris Morrison recently commented on the progress of Gorillaz' third album to a reporter from BBC 6Music (Check out the original story on the 6Music site here). Morrison said:- "[Damon]'s got a plethora of tracks at the moment. Whether they all make the light of day or get refined and come down to a normal amount you get on a record of 10 to 15 tracks, I cant tell at this point in time. It's far too early in the stage of what we are doing. It’ll come round when it’s ready and when it’s been finished and when he’s happy with what he’s done. There is no point putting art round schedules, you put schedules round art and what you need first of all is Damon’s music. The plan for the new Gorillaz album is we’ll wait until Damon’s finished recording it. The thing is, it’s formulating at the moment and it’s going to be out in about a year’s time. I hope. I’m probably pre-empting something I’ll get shouted at for."

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Clip from Bananaz DVD extras available to view now

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:13:45 GMT

A clip from the 'extras' on the forthcoming Bananaz DVD has been added to the Gorillaz myspace. It features Jamie doing some recording for the Moose's sneeze in the 19/2000 video. Check the clip out on the Gorillaz Myspace here.

Bananaz is released on DVD on 1st June, and will feature 62 minutes of bonus material not included in the main feature.

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Del The Funky Homosapien tells fan he is involved in Gorillaz album 3

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:02:03 GMT

Gorillaz fan DiscoverCatch23 writes in:-

" I PERSONALLY spoke to Del the Funky Homosapien at his concert in Ann Arbor, Mi on tuesday [5th May]. He said he IS working with damon, or more specifically when I asked why he stopped for the second album he said 'But who said I stopped altogether? Yeah, the new album is more than half way done, but it's hard to get the final touches because Damon and I are two separate entities and it's hard to synch up sometimes, we are both doing several projects right now'." (a picture of DiscoverCatch23 and Del after the show here).

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DARE (DFA Remix) appears slightly mixed on a Fatboy Slim mix album

Sat, 16 May 2009 19:49:21 GMT

Fatboy Slim has released a mix album called 'Dance Bitch', apparently only in Australia. (for full tracklisting and cover etc, see this listing on recordstore.co.uk here.

Any commercial release of a DARE remix would have to be cleared / approved by Gorillaz. Making it an official remix. The track is however just an edit of the previously-released DFA remix, cut down from about 12 minutes to around five and a half. There is also some very slight mixing in places, as you might expect on a mix-type album - just a few effects.

As a side note, Fatboy Slim has long been a fan of the DARE DFA remix. In 2005 he played it in many of his DJ sets.

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Gorillaz third album expected before the end of this financial year, according to EMI

Thu, 07 May 2009 23:49:18 GMT

The UK Music Industry magazine Music Week reports here that EMI (Gorillaz' record label) expect Gorillaz to release a new album within the next financial year, i.e. before the end of March 2010. ("The company’s release schedule for the year includes new albums from Air, Gorillaz, Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kylie Minogue, KT Tunstall and Robbie Williams.")

However this is only a projection at this stage - and the same thing happened for Phase 2 - at the 2004 EMI AGM (held in August 2004) the EMI chairman said he expected the second Gorillaz album before the end of the current financial year, but Demon Days ended up coming out in May 2005, during the following financial year. (as reported by Gorillaz-Unofficial at the time here).

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More Bananaz coverage on IGN

Tue, 05 May 2009 23:28:57 GMT

Check out a short new interview with the director of Bananaz, Ceri Levy, here.

Also check out IGN's review of the movie here

De La Soul mention Feel Good Inc in LA Weekly article

Tue, 05 May 2009 23:00:33 GMT

In a recent interview with LA Weekly, Pos from De La Soul spoke about the recording of Feel Good Inc:-

"Interviewer: You guys have a pretty massive hit with the Gorillaz's "Feel Good." Did you see that coming, or was it a huge surprise?
Pos: I definitely didn't see "Feel Good" coming. We knew a little bit about the Gorillaz and shared mutual friends, so when the opportunity to do "Feel Good" came about, we were like, "why not?" They sent us tracks, we heard them, thought they were crazy, etc. The song we ended up picking was "Kids With Guns." We went out to London and recorded it with Damon and thought it was an incredible song. Our third day of recording, Damon played us "Feel Good," and everyone thought it was so cool. There were so many clouds of weed smoke around, and Dave just started writing to it, and we had no idea what would come of it, but it turned out wonderfully. Now, the relationship between us and Gorillaz is like family, when we go to London they show us love, when they come to NYC, it's the same."

Pos also mentioned that De La Soul are currently working on a new album 'You're Welcome' and have recorded a track with Damon for it called "Some Kind Of Nature".

Check out the full article here

4 new Bannanaz media pieces - Ceri interviews (UPDATE: video interview added)

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:58:03 GMT

Check out 4 new Bananaz articles:-

UPDATE: Check this video interview with Ceri about Bananaz (and football) with tv presenter Tim Lovejoy on ChannelBee here

An article from The Independent (National UK paper) including interview with Ceri here.

Supgmag interview with Ceri here (thanks orion!)

Digital Arts Online article mostly about the post-production of the film, (with some Ceri quotes as well) here

Prime Focus London details work on Gorillaz film
Tuesday 21 Apr 2009 - 12:28

Bananaz, a 91-minute behind the scenes documentary on Gorillaz features post-production work by Prime Focus London. Filmmaker Ceri Levy began following Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the creative minds behind Gorillaz in 2000, trying to document the initial ideas behind the band.

Ceri carried on filming as the band became more successful, eventually wrapping things up in 2006. It took Ceri and editor Seb Monk two years to work through and cut down all the footage that had been gathered. The resulting film is an intimate, honest and often hilarious account of the working relationship between Albarn and Hewlett, which premiered online at Babelgum on Monday 20 April. This will be followed by a theatrical release, with the DVD released on Monday 1 June.

“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in on the ground floor of a project with a view to recording the whole building being built” says Ceri, who previously worked with Albarn in his Blur days. “So often filmmaker’s only have two weeks access at not very close quarters, and the film becomes diluted. I think Bananaz really engages the audience and because Damon and Jamie are friends of mine, it became up close and personal."

The whole film was shot on Mini DV and Ceri wanted to play around with the overall look of the film.

“Working with Mini DV was interesting because I think it's the video equivalent of Super 8 and we had many ideas for playing and experimenting with the style and feel of the picture,” said Ceri. “Duncan Russell was brilliant in TK as he got into our ridiculous ideas of colouring and experimentation. It was a case of anything goes and we worked on taking the noise out of the picture and then spent ages in Smoke dirtying it up again, but in a different way.

"Not the normal process but Cynthia (Lee), Truss (Jon Trussler) and Ian (Baker) got into the whole guerilla approach to post production. I think what we did was avant garde and totally radical in approach and application.”

PFL’s Duncan Russell who graded the project said: “On Bananaz we decided to use all the foibles and eccentricities of the tape as positives to be embraced rather than try to eliminate or hide them. One of the advantages of mini DV is that its grain structure looks a bit like film, so when it’s under exposed or blown up very large (or both) it takes on a naturally filmic look.

"On top of adopting a policy of using the doco style to our advantage, we subtly re-lit scenes and gave the odd colour cast to add a little spice to a scene but never so much as to override the raw footage. The content of the film is artful, rambunctious, anarchic and creative and I think that helps the grade along.”