Spring 2006

And behind door number 1 is...

DJ Andy Smith Reccomends:

I appologize for advertising on my own blog, but this time it is a good reason. The Gorillaz 2005 album, "Demon Days" completely blew me away. It is really good. It's the type of album that continues to grow on me each time that I listen to it. Demon Days has hypnotizing melodies, progressive beats, poignant lyrics, amazing mixing, and a giant list of collaborators including De La Soul and Dennis Hopper. The kicker, which puts me over the top for the Gorrilaz, is that they are a virtual band.


Image courtesy of Yahoo Music

The four members are a creation of Jamie Hewlett, the animator of "Tank Girl." When they perform live, animations of the characters are projected onto transparent screens. See the MTV Music Awards. I particularly enjoyed their duo with Madonna at the Grammys. Indeed, their videos, such as "Dare," "El Manana," and "Dirty Harry" rely on Jaime Hewlett's animations, and could stand as works of art themselves. The musical mastermind behind the Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, claims that the virtual members of the band are true pop musicians because they were born completely by the industry. Other pop musicians have real lives behind their pop personalities. See an interview with Damon Albarn here. UK's flow of Trip Hop/Rock has pulled itself together in the Gorillaz.