Latest news with #Gorillaz
The Sun
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I killed Damon the pop star years ago… Africa Express is an amazing chance to be one of many', says Blur's Albarn
THE last time I saw Damon Albarn – until now that is – was at Wembley Stadium in July 2023. He and his Blur bandmates, arms around each other, took a final bow before disappearing into the balmy summer night. 6 6 Two years to the week later, he's talking to me about his latest exploits with Africa Express and Gorillaz. But first he provides a moment of reflection on the Blur reunion which has paved the way for this year's all-conquering return of Britpop in the shape of Oasis and Pulp. 'There were certain reasons why the decision was made to play Wembley. . . blah, blah, blah,' he says without going into detail. 'We did it. I made an album around it. I gave my heart and soul to it. 'But there was no agenda of world domination. It was something I felt was necessary to do — briefly.' 'Oasis won the battle, the war' After an ensuing radio silence, I've been given the chance to find out what Damon 's been up to since. 'I'm back,' he affirms when our video call flickers into life. 'I'm ACTUALLY back. 'I've been incredibly busy making music — it's what I love to do — so I suppose I'm going to have to share some of it soon. 'Inevitably there will always be a dustbin bag full of stuff that needs dropping off at the recycling!' Damon's looking relaxed and happy as he continues: 'Right off the back of it [Blur], there was so much going on. Watch the awkward moment a furious Damon Albarn slams Coachella crowd in sweary rant 'I was doing an opera in Paris and starting on the new Gorillaz record. 'It's been crazy, it really has. But the world's gone crazy so it doesn't seem in any way strange.' One thing for certain about this restless soul is that he's never been the type to kick back and rest on his laurels. It should come as no surprise that BEFORE Blur's last gigs (in the States), Damon headed to the Mexican jungle with Africa Express to make music with a dizzying array of 70-plus artists from four continents. He's long been the consummate collaborator and the movement he co-founded 20 years ago is the perfect vehicle for him. 'I've got a huge musical family between Africa Express and Gorillaz,' he says. 'I guess there are producers who have worked with as many people but for physically being on stage with people, I'd be up there.' The latest Africa Express album, Bahidora, named after the festival they attended, is a thrilling, intoxicating mash-up of styles. I think we can officially say that Oasis won the battle, the war, the campaign, everything It is described by Malian singer and contributor Fatoumata Diawara as 'African rhythms, electronic textures, Latin soul, rock, hip hop — everything'. Damon puts it like this: 'What we always are is a mad, chaotic exchange of ideas, sounds and motifs.' In other words, exactly the type of diverse, egalitarian sonic playground he loves. 'I killed Damon the pop star many years ago,' he insists. 'It was a gentle death. I'm just not that interested in being the centre of attention. 'Don't get me wrong, I embrace it when it's necessary but it's only a bit of me. 'And Africa Express is always an amazing opportunity just to become one of many.' To prove his point, take a look at the joyful group photo taken in Mexico in which you can just spot Damon among a sea of smiling faces. His observations inevitably bring us back to the subject of Oasis, very much 'the centre of attention' since reforming in a blaze of publicity. I remember Damon predicting that the Gallagher brothers would reunite and telling me: 'The funny thing is that our two nights at Wembley will be dwarfed by their seven.' Turns out they're only doing five but he is magnanimous, effusive even, about his old, so-called rivals 'Well, it was obvious, wasn't it? he says. 'I think we can officially say that Oasis won the battle, the war, the campaign, everything. 'They are the winners. They take first place. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, I am happy to accept and concede defeat. 'It's their summer and God bless them. I hope everyone has a wonderful time but I'm going to be in a very, very different place.' I point out that Oasis, unlike Blur, haven't released an album to go with their tour — but that Pulp have. 'God bless them as well,' laughs Damon about Jarvis Cocker and Co. 'God bless everybody!' This prompts him to reflect on the Nineties in the context of our uncertain world of 2025. He says: 'I'm not being funny but it does feel like a more innocent, joyous age than now.' That said, he adds: 'Nostalgia's OK but I try and stay away from it as much as possible. Sometimes you can't help but be lost in it.' He admits that he felt very emotional at the Blur shows and that Oasis might find it tougher than they think. 'I couldn't do as many gigs as they're doing,' he says. 'That's a lot of the same emotion. I believe in everybody having the right to give their opinions — sit down with each other, look each other in the eye and talk 'They're very brave and I hope it's worth it. You know, money isn't everything.' We move on — and I can't help thinking that money certainly isn't everything when it comes to Africa Express. It is a passion project rooted in Damon's discovery of Mali as a source of sublime music and his burning desire to interact with it. 6 6 'It totally began there,' he says of the landlocked country in West Africa with northern borders stretching deep into the Sahara. 'I was touched so profoundly by the culture of Mali. It was akin to a true revelation. 'I felt it was really important to tell as many people as possible that we need to learn about other cultures and embrace them.' Damon expresses his sadness at 'where we are now' with people using 'their differences as an excuse to become enthralled by populism'. He says our world is becoming increasingly polarised, and adds: 'I refuse to be on either side. However strongly I feel sometimes, I just can't go there. 'I've always gravitated to Latin America' 'I believe in everybody having the right to give their opinions — sit down with each other, look each other in the eye and talk. 'Africa Express is one of those forums where all this can be discussed. That's the nature of it.' If the movement began as a collaboration between African and Western musicians, today its scope knows no borders, hence its work with Syrian refugees and now this Mexican adventure. The latest enterprise came about when Africa Express was invited to the Bahidora Festival in February 2024, set in a beautiful nature park — a two-hour drive south of Mexico City. As well as appearing on stage, the collective took the opportunity to spend inspiring days with local musicians and record an album which bursts with energy and ideas. Of the experience, Damon says: 'Firstly, I love Mexico. I've always gravitated to Latin America. 'Their enjoyment of music is unparalleled. They're so open about it.' He adds: 'So we attended this wonderful festival on the site of an Aztec lake used by the emperors long before the conquistadors 'It was a beautiful experience. You sleep in tents. You wake up in a jungle. You swim in a lake and you play music. What's not to like? 'We had to do a concert so we decided, 'Let's make a record as well'. It's probably the most coherent of all our records.' One of its revelations is Hacernos Asi, a bittersweet song by Mexican artist Luisa Almaguer. As a trans singer, she has encountered intolerance but says being with Africa Express has been 'life-changing'. I'm looking forward to sitting at the piano and just letting the madness unfold in front of me The song features backing from Damon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Joan As Policewoman, bassist Seye Adelekan and the Mexican Institute Of Sound. Damon says: 'Luisa's a magical spirit who has come into all our lives and I just hope her voice can be heard by as many people as possible. 'It is a voice that has travelled through great adversity and is unique.' The same group of musicians appear on the wistful Soledad (meaning solitude), which finds Damon singing in Spanish. 'Yeah, my daughter would say badly,' he confesses. 'Because she can speak fluent Spanish, she's highly critical but I love singing in Spanish. I think it is becoming more and more the language of music.' Another artist who made the trip to Mexico is effervescent South African Moonchild Sanelly, noted for her incredible 'moon mop' which she makes from teal-coloured wool. 'She was perfect, fitted in like a treat,' reports Damon. 'She's a great improviser and very confident. Everybody loves Moonchild.' And what about the fabulous Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, who has been working with Africa Express for more than ten years and appears on the tracks Kuduro and Seya? He says: 'Fatou's like my sister, I'm very close to Fatou. I think I met her when she was 18 (she's 43 now). I've just been around for so bloody long! I'm 58 next year — that's just an insane thought.' Letting the madness unfold My chat with Damon is taking place as he prepares to join Africa Express, enhanced by many Mexican musicians including Luisa Almaguer, for a series of festival dates across Europe culminating in tonight's show in Barcelona. 'I'm looking forward to sitting at the piano and just letting the madness unfold in front of me,' he says. Next up after that is the state-of-the-art Gorillaz House Of Kong exhibition which opens on August 8 at the Copper Box in London's Olympic Park. It is described as a 'peek behind the curtain into the unseen world' of the virtual band Damon formed in collaboration with artist Jamie Hewlett. 'It's a big, big thing,' he says. 'We're all contributing and we've been working with SWEAR, who do a lot of stuff at Glastonbury.' The exhibition culminates in four special Gorillaz shows at the venue. The first (Aug 29) focuses on the self-titled debut album, the second (Aug 30) on Demon Days and the third (Sep 2) on Plastic Beach. I've been sworn to secrecy about the 'Mystery Show' on September 3 but I can say it promises to be a generation-hopping thrill. For the first two shows, the musicians will be behind screens, letting the cartoon players provide all the visuals, just like back in the day. 'When we went to Japan, we got in a lot of trouble for that,' recalls Damon. 'Everybody wanted their money back. "The first time I appeared on stage was after Glastonbury with Plastic Beach. I had still been taking a back seat in front of 150,000 people. 'We realised that Gorillaz required a frontman. I had to unretire myself!' Before he goes, Damon discusses the healing power of music in more general terms. He is aware that his creative outlets, Gorillaz and Africa Express, can do an enormous amount of good in bringing people together, not only from different backgrounds but also across generations. 'There's not enough empathy between the generations,' he says. 'They all feel like they're against each other and that's crazy. If you're young, you will be old and if you're old, you were once young. 6 'Unfortunately, getting on social media and gushing incoherence and anger is not the way. 'Personally, I'd rather sit at the piano and make a song with somebody I disagree with.' Damon leaves me with an astonishing admission but maybe it explains how he navigates our divided world with a song in his heart. 'I don't have a telephone, Simon. And I have no engagement with social media.' 6 ★★★★★
Global News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Global News
There will never be a hot AI-generated band. Or will there? Many say there already is
We've been acquainted with fake bands for years, animated proxies for real-life human meat bags who compose and perform the songs: The Archies, Prozzak, and Gorillaz are just a few examples. If we want to get a little more complicated, there's Japan's Hatsune Miku, a holographic creation capable of performing live concerts using something called Vocoloid singing synthesis technologies developed by Yamaha. But she wouldn't be able to perform without human-created music. What do they all have in common? We know that they're fake. Today… well, it's getting difficult to determine what we're being fed. When we started talking about artificial intelligence a few years back, some openly wondered how long it would take before we had an AI music star. Technically, it seemed possible, if not for the fact that AI is not very intelligent. It's a very powerful form of mimicry, but incapable of the emotion required to write music convincing to the human soul. Any music an AI program generates is based on analyzing millions of datapoints fed to it in the form of music written by flesh-and-blood musicians. Story continues below advertisement I read somewhere — and I'm paraphrasing — 'Until an AI program falls in love and goes through a painful breakup, it will be incapable of writing an original song like Tammy Wynette's D-I-V-O-R-C-E.' There have been attempts, of course. In 2019, there was a brouhaha over FN Meka, a virtual rapper who amassed over 10 million followers on TikTok and picked up deals and partnerships with Xbox and Amazon. FN Meka was even 'signed' to Universal Music before people began attacking the creation for its appropriation of Black culture, the use of stereotypes, and how this thing like to drop the N-word. Universal dropped FN Meka and had to issue an apology. But this thing wasn't autonomous. FN Meka was built through a collaboration between artists, singers, producers, coders, and programmers. But that was then. Now we're living in an era where generative AI is much better at faking things in a convincing manner. Programs like Mubert, AIVA, Soundful, Anthropic, and a dozen others can not only spit out full songs based on simple text prompts but also create a music video to go along with it. And it takes just seconds. Story continues below advertisement Musicians are rightfully concerned about this. Their labour is being used to train their robot replacements without their permission and any compensation. But still, it's just AI, right? And we can tell — feel — when we're presented with an AI song. We humans will never accept full AI artists. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Well… There's been much talk over the last month about Velvet Sundown, a rock band with four grungy-looking members. The group racked up close to 750,000 monthly listeners on Spotify in less than a month, an impressive accomplishment for any act, let alone a brand-new one. They've already released two albums with a third set to drop on July 14. That'll be a total of 39 songs in five weeks. Speculation is that this is a fake creation. Someone (or something) has posted on X blasting critics for assuming that Velvet Sundown was AI. In a taunt to music journalists, the post says, 'Unbelievable the number of journalists who simply don't check in with the **real people** their coverage affects. Guessing most of these 'journalists' are actually just AI!' Another post reads, 'They said we're not real. Maybe you aren't either.' And another: 'Many news outlets are falsely reporting that we are an AI-generated band,' another message states, 'and nothing could be further from the truth! #VelvetSundown #NeverAI' Yet anyone who has attempted to reach the band has been unsuccessful. The domain leads to a very dodgy-looking squatting site promoting plastic surgery. Story continues below advertisement Deezer, the French streaming site, has slapped an AI label on Velvet Sundown, saying their new AI-detection tech has found 'some tracks on this album may have been created using artificial intelligence.' Whoever (whatever?) is behind the group was miffed. 'We have reached out to Deezer to get them to remove the AI-generated label which they wrongly applied to our music. They said they will do it.' So far, though, nothing. Music Ally, a music industry site that's been investigating the situation, asked French AI detection company Ircam Amplity to run Velvet Sundown tracks through its BS detector. When the analysis came back, 10 of the 13 songs were declared AI-generated with a confidence score of 100 out of 100. Two scored 98. One hit a semi-convincing 73. Analysis of the artwork and band photos of the group point to them being AI-generated. For example, one group picture features anomalies like an incorrectly stringed guitar and a Stratocaster with no apparently pickups. What's powering this? The best guess from Ircam Amplify is V4.5 of a model called Suno. This points to someone who has mastered the finer points of Suno in a very impressive way. And with three-quarters of a million listeners on Spotify, this could turn out to be rather profitable. But it could also be just a proof of concept for the powers of AI and songwriting, an artsy prank, or just someone with too much time on their hands. Some have even suggested that this could be a clever marketing scheme launched by a real band. Story continues below advertisement The truth? It's a hoax. A band 'spokesperson' has said as much. An 'art hoax,' they said. All this would have been more impressive if Velvet Sundown had music that was in line with today's musical zeitgeist. Instead, it's passable, inoffensive stuff that wouldn't have sounded out of place in the '70s or '80s. It's unoriginal and, if I have to say it, bordering on boring. (Try Interlude on Spotify.) Then again, so is a lot of today's contemporary pop. It would be one thing if Velvet Sundown was an outlier. It is not. Check out Aventhis, an outlaw country artist with no apparent corporeal form. Yet he — it — has over a million Spotify listeners each month to his/its 57 tracks with one song racking up two million plays. (There is some kind of real-life lyricist behind this named David Viera, but he says, '(The) voice and image is created with the help of AI. The lyrics are written by me.' Story continues below advertisement Then there's The Devil Inside, another outlaw country…thing with 700,000 Spotify listeners. A track entitled Bones in the River has nearly two million streams. Everything about The Devil Inside is clearly fake, including the images on the official Instagram page. Want merch? It's available, too. And once you start listening to entities like these on Spotify, don't be surprised if the algorithm throws a few more your way: Nick Hustles, The Smoothies, Velvet Funk, King Willonius, Hyperdrive Sound. So what do we make of this? Is this more AI slop? Will the streaming music platforms step in further? What sort of copyright infringements might be involved? Is this the tip of the iceberg when it comes to music fans embracing music made by robots who have stolen the souls of real-life musicians? Perhaps, though, others will see this as just another music-making tool. We've reached the point with AI where we can no longer trust our eyes or ears. What's real anymore?
Geek Tyrant
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
198 Movies, One Song: Gorillaz's ‘Feel Good Inc' Gets a Wild Movie Mashup Remix — GeekTyrant
Ross John Fearnley, aka The Unusual Suspect, is back at it again with another absurdly ambitious video project… this time stitching together Gorillaz's 2005 hit 'Feel Good Inc' using dialogue from 198 different movies . Each lyric delivered by a different character from across cinematic history, forming a Frankenstein'd version of the song that's weirdly mesmerizing. Does it hit the same as the original? Not really, but that's not the point. It's a creative flex, a chaotic collage of pop culture, and it's hard not to smile at the sheer amount of editing pain this must've involved.
Scotsman
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Musical CDs: the 15 most wanted releases on compact disc in June, according to Discogs
Another month, another chance to rifle through your old CD collection to see what the most wanted items in the format are on Discogs for June 2025. With the UK summer festival season truly underway – Download Festival and Parklife taking place this week, and the mighty Glastonbury Festival at the end of the month – has that led to a change in what items users of the online marketplace are after? Or, is it much the same as last month? We've taken a look once again at the most wanted items on compact disc, and compact disc only (no LPs featuring CDs this time), to bring to you this month's essential items for collectors. And as always, if you're in the market to sell or buy one, a word of caution. Prices regarding musical releases can and do fluctuate, so keep an eye on both the highest price an item has sold for when looking through your catalogue you've uploaded to Discogs, and more importantly, take a look at the median (average) sales prices. Just because someone wants a certain release, doesn't mean that it might be worth the fortune you think. Maybe keep it in that instance? 1 . Deftones – Around The Fur ( Maverick – 9 46810-2, Warner Bros. Records – 9 46810-2) Around The Fur is a landmark album for nu-metal and alternative metal, showcasing Deftones' unique blend of crushing aggression and ethereal beauty. It's highly influential and has a dedicated cult following in the UK. Its atmospheric soundscapes and Chino Moreno's distinctive vocals make it a key album for fans of heavier alternative music, remaining a consistently sought-after CD. 🔎 1992 wants | Getty Images/Canva Photo Sales 2 . Gorillaz - Demon Days (Parlophone 0946 311688 2 6) Gorillaz, Damon Albarn's virtual band, became a global phenomenon with Demon Days, which reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and went multi-platinum. Its genre-hopping blend of hip-hop, indie, electronica, and rock, featuring an array of guest artists, produced massive hits like Feel Good Inc. and Dare. It was also one of the releases that caused the controversy surrounding copy protection on CDs at the time. 🔎 2023 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales 3 . Twenty One Pilots – Regional At Best (Self Released) This self-released album is a unique case. While it predates their major label breakthrough, Regional At Best holds significant cult status among Twenty One Pilots' dedicated fanbase in the UK. Many of its songs were re-recorded for later albums, but this original version is highly sought after by collectors for its raw, unfiltered sound and as a piece of the band's early history. Its scarcity as a physical CD makes it genuinely "most wanted" by fans. 🔎 2025 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales 4 . Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (Creation Records CRE CD 189) Arguably one of (if not) the defining British album of the mid-90s. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? was a monumental commercial success in the UK, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time here. It spawned anthems like "Wonderwall," Don't Look Back In Anger, and Champagne Supernova that are still sung in pubs and stadiums across the country - and soon to be at Oasis' 2025 reunion shows. 🔎 2029 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales Related topics: BoostMusicArtistsAlbums
Scotsman
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Musical CDs: the 15 most wanted releases on compact disc in June, according to Discogs
Another month, another chance to rifle through your old CD collection to see what the most wanted items in the format are on Discogs for June 2025. With the UK summer festival season truly underway – Download Festival and Parklife taking place this week, and the mighty Glastonbury Festival at the end of the month – has that led to a change in what items users of the online marketplace are after? Or, is it much the same as last month? We've taken a look once again at the most wanted items on compact disc, and compact disc only (no LPs featuring CDs this time), to bring to you this month's essential items for collectors. And as always, if you're in the market to sell or buy one, a word of caution. Prices regarding musical releases can and do fluctuate, so keep an eye on both the highest price an item has sold for when looking through your catalogue you've uploaded to Discogs, and more importantly, take a look at the median (average) sales prices. Just because someone wants a certain release, doesn't mean that it might be worth the fortune you think. Maybe keep it in that instance? 1 . Deftones – Around The Fur ( Maverick – 9 46810-2, Warner Bros. Records – 9 46810-2) Around The Fur is a landmark album for nu-metal and alternative metal, showcasing Deftones' unique blend of crushing aggression and ethereal beauty. It's highly influential and has a dedicated cult following in the UK. Its atmospheric soundscapes and Chino Moreno's distinctive vocals make it a key album for fans of heavier alternative music, remaining a consistently sought-after CD. 🔎 1992 wants | Getty Images/Canva Photo Sales 2 . Gorillaz - Demon Days (Parlophone 0946 311688 2 6) Gorillaz, Damon Albarn's virtual band, became a global phenomenon with Demon Days, which reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and went multi-platinum. Its genre-hopping blend of hip-hop, indie, electronica, and rock, featuring an array of guest artists, produced massive hits like Feel Good Inc. and Dare. It was also one of the releases that caused the controversy surrounding copy protection on CDs at the time. 🔎 2023 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales 3 . Twenty One Pilots – Regional At Best (Self Released) This self-released album is a unique case. While it predates their major label breakthrough, Regional At Best holds significant cult status among Twenty One Pilots' dedicated fanbase in the UK. Many of its songs were re-recorded for later albums, but this original version is highly sought after by collectors for its raw, unfiltered sound and as a piece of the band's early history. Its scarcity as a physical CD makes it genuinely "most wanted" by fans. 🔎 2025 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales 4 . Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (Creation Records CRE CD 189) Arguably one of (if not) the defining British album of the mid-90s. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? was a monumental commercial success in the UK, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time here. It spawned anthems like "Wonderwall," Don't Look Back In Anger, and Champagne Supernova that are still sung in pubs and stadiums across the country - and soon to be at Oasis' 2025 reunion shows. 🔎 2029 wants | Getty Images/Discogs Photo Sales Related topics: BoostMusicArtistsAlbums
