Gorillaz

Gorillaz is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Damon Albarn (Blur) and designer Jamie Hewlett. Giving Gorillaz a dual visual and sonic identity, the two friends know how to surround themselves with talented musicians and producers. With their two studio albums, Gorillaz (2000) and Demon Days (2005), Gorillaz broke down the boundaries between hip-hop, pop and rock, opening up playful and exciting new perspectives. In 2010, the ecologically sound Plastic Beach, with its prestigious guests, was hailed as the animated band's most accomplished album. Damon Albarn breaks new ground with The Fall in 2011, an album recorded on tour on his laptop. After this album, Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn seemed no longer on the same wavelength, leaving some doubt as to whether the adventure would continue. But against all odds, after a solo album and the reactivation of Blur, the singer announced the return of the virtual band, materialized by the release of Humanz (2017), with a display of outside contributors: Grace Jones, De La Soul, Benjamin Clementine, Vince Staples, Mavis Staples, Jehnny Beth (Savages) and Noel Gallagher. A new world tour allows Gorillaz to record their sixth album in various studios. Entitled The Now Now, this one released in 2018 includes contributions from guitarist George Benson ("Humility") and Snoop Dogg and Jamie Principle ("Hollywood"). After a short break, Gorillaz are back in the news in 2020 with a monthly series of seven EPs, until the release of the conceptual album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez and its cohort of guests including Robert Smith, Beck, Schoolboy Q, St. Vincent, Elton John, Peter Hook, Fatoumata Diawara, Slaves, Slowthai and the late Tony Allen. In 2023, the band unveils its eighth album Cracker Island, produced by Greg Kurstin with contributions from Thundercat, Bad Bunny, Tame Impala, Stevie Nicks and Beck. In 2026, a ninth studio album is released, The Mountain, with numerous contributors including Anoushka Shankar, Bizarrap, Mos Def, Sparks, Johnny Marr, Gruff Rhys, Omar Souleyman and Black Thought.

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