Live: Gorillaz at the O2

Damon Albarn and his band of merry men (Blur) headlined Oxegen last year, but his new thieves (you'd know Robin Hood is out this weekend with all my merry men references?), Gorillaz are set to appear at Dublin's O2 on Wednesday, 22nd of September as part of their Escape to Plastic Beach tour. It'll be their first ever Irish gig, and is sure to sell out pretty damn fast.

Tickets will cost €59.80, and go on sale Friday, 21st of May at 9 a.m. Good luck trying to get one before they sell out!

Watch Gorillaz 'Superfast Jellyfish' live:

Album News: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach Tracklist

By now you've already heard or downloaded 'Stylo' from the upcoming Gorrilaz album Plastic Beach. In addition to that first single, there's now a cover and a tracklist to go with the album's release date (9th of March). There's a huge amount of guests on this one, and at sixteen tracks, it's sure to be a lengthy album. You'll hear no complaints from me about that one!

Tracklist:
01 Orchestral Intro (ft. Sinfonia ViVA)
02 Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (ft. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
03 White Flag (ft. Kano, Bashy, and the National Orchestra for Arabic Music)
04 Rhinestone Eyes
05 Stylo (ft. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
06 Superfast Jellyfish (ft. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
07 Empire Ants (ft. Little Dragon)
08 Glitter Freeze (ft. Mark E Smith)
09 Some Kind Of Nature (ft. Lou Reed)
10 On Melancholy Hill
11 Broken
12 Sweepstakes (ft. Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13 Plastic Beach (ft. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
14 To Binge (ft. Little Dragon)
15 Cloud of Unknowing (ft. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16 Pirate Jet

Album News: Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

"Urrp!! Just finished mixing new Gorillaz track with er….‘My ARSE’!. Sounds pretty good…Can’t wait to play it," Gorillaz bassist Murdoc posted on his brand new twitter account.

The album is called Plastic Beach and is due out in March. Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, and Barry Gibb are all set to guest on the album.

Possible tracks:
Stylo
Sweep Stakes
Sun Moon Stars

More news when I have it!

List: Best Albums of the Decade 110-101

I had planned a top 100 albums of the naughties/noughties/00s, but that got a little out of hand, so it's now a 110 albums list. The more the merrier though, right?

110. Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)

With his second album as Gorillaz, Damon Albarn really stepped out of Blur's shadow. He showed that while Oasis might have won the battle of the 90s, the 00s definitely belonged to Albarn. Gorillaz' second album featured a whole host of guest stars, but none who worked better than Shaun Ryder on the fantastic 'DARE'. And who can forget the opening of 'Feel Good Inc'?

109. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004)

Named after the man responsible for beginning World War I, this Scottish band brought the rock of the Strokes to the far side of the Atlantic. The songs themselves had marvellous videos, and the album contained an untold amount of treasures. There's even a hidden backwards message in 'Michael'. Go on, try it.

108. The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (2003)

While The Shins didn't actually change my life (or yours for that matter), their second album improved many. While many prefer the debut, Oh, Inverted World, with the stand-out 'New Slang', Chutes Too Narrow is definitely a more cohesive and consistent album. There's no stand-out songs, because they're all great.

107. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)

Proving that Parachutes wasn't just a fluke, Chris Martin and his band of merry men went back to the studio to make a more polished record, which was bigger and better in every way. It also moved them out of small venues and into arenas, marking them out as the decade's new U2.

106. N*E*R*D - In Search of... (2001)

Pharell Williams is not just a fantastic producer, he is a wonderful musician in his own right. Instead of having everything "featuring the Neptunes" or the like, the debut album from N*E*R*D was a brilliant fusion of pop, rock, hip-hop, and R&B. Their second may have had 'The Way She Moves', but this one had many more great singles: 'Lapdance', 'Provider' and 'Rockstar'. Just don't watch the NSFW 'Lapdance' video at work!

105. Damien Rice - 9 (2006)

It took Damien Rice a long time to record a follow-up to O, and many people thought that it may never happen. When it did, it was somewhat anticlimatic. It was not as good as his debut. But after you got over that initial reaction, and let the album settle, it revealed itself to be a gorgeous album. Lead single '9 Crimes' remains the best thing on the album, and showed the last glimpse of the beautiful Rice-Hannigan interplay.

104. Feeder - Echo Park (2001)

Pop-rock is frowned upon by a lot of my peers, and by a lot of critics. They dismiss it as having no content other than being friendly enough to play on the radio. While Feeder may have been more edgy, and thus more unknown, in their earlier records, what self-respectable artist wouldn't actually want to have a song like 'Buck Rogers' under their belts? The rest of the album was great too, aside from the singles, there was plenty here to savour. Just have a listen to 'tell All Your Friends' if you don't believe me.

103. Nickel Creek - This Side (2002)

All three Nickel Creek albums could definitely have made this list, but the title track on their second proper (adult) album guarantees its place. Produced by legendary bluegrass star Allison Krauss, and containing a magnificent cover of Pavement's 'Spit on a Stranger', This Side was a fantastic album combining instrumental tunes with the beautiful melodies of Chris Thile and the siblings Watkins.

102. Jesse Malin - The Fine Art of Self Destruction (2002)

When I heard Ryan Adams was producing an album for his protege (and fellow musician in the faux-punk band The Finger), my interest was captured. The album itself almost lived up to Adams' own early output, and showcased Malin's excellent gruff New York voice. There may not be a better song this decade than 'Wendy'.

101. The Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers (2005)

Sadly one of the greatest fatalities of the decade was the end of the Silver Jews. (None of the members died, by the way, David Berman just gave up making Silver Jews records.) Tanglewood Numbers was their fifth and penultimate album, and features some of Berman's best ever lyrics. 'Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed' is just as good as the name suggests. Hilariously brilliant

The Countdown continues tomorrow...

Album Review: Monkey – Journey to the West

First let me get this out of the way: Monkey is no Gorilla(z). It’s from the same species, but far from the same animal. Gorillaz is strong and powerful, obvious, yet vastly interesting. Monkey is more complex, long and stringy in comparison, and takes careful observation as well as a meticulous attention span.

The soundtrack for Monkey: Journey to the West from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett is probably exactly what I expected, while at the same time being nothing like I imagined. Everyone knows Albarn can sometimes have a love for the more obscure aspects of music (look at his ninety million ongoing projects), and seeks to bring this stuff to the mainstream. Luckily for this album, he’s a well known figure, because without his celebrity, this vanity project would sell few.

The album is not without its moments (I base this review solely on the music, not the theatre show or the excellent BBC Olympics intro), but like you’d expect from Monkey, it’s all over the place. Where it works is when the songs are left as instrumentals, such as ‘Into the Eastern Sea’, ‘Out of the Eastern Sea’, and ‘I Love Buddha’.
Some of the songs with vocals are a bit above so-so (‘Monkey Bee’), but songs like ‘Confessions of a Pig’ would have been so much better without the vocals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not impartial to a bit of oriental singing (I even have some Final Fantasy soundtracks), but in some places, ‘Confessions of a Pig’ especially, the vocals here sound more like barks than music.

In the context, this music probably works so much better. You would need to see the stage show to truly appreciate it. However, us in Ireland are unlikely to see Monkey appearing at the Gaiety anytime soon. A DVD version will probably be released from the show. But as of now, I can only base my review on the soundtrack, and unfortunately this time, Albarn has missed the mark. Some soundtracks still work excellently as stand-alone products (like the Atonement and Jurassic Park OSTs), but sadly without Monkey See, there’s not too much to Monkey Do.