Gorillaz — Song Machine, Season One, Strange Timez
At different points in my life, I’ve obsessively spun records by the Cure, Beck, New Order, St. Vincent, ScHoolboy Q, and of course Gorillaz themselves. So obviously, this year’s set of Gorillaz releases piqued my interest, with a slow trickle of songs featuring the Cure’s Robert Smith, ScHoolboy Q, etc. Those releases culminated in a record, named for the video series that spawned it, Song Machine, Season One, Strange Timez, which was released late October. Musically, it’s the sort of album that perfectly soundtracks the world in which it was made, 2020, the year of a pandemic whose worst is hopefully behind us.
As I first listened to the album, I was reminded of the story of my seeking out the first Gorillaz record soon after it was released, in a tiny cassette store (remember those?) while on vacation in Dubai. It’s the sort of experience that belongs firmly in its year: I went in wanting two cassettes and got them both: Gorillaz, and turn-of-the-century angsty-radio-rock band Staind’s Break the Cycle. I had been watching the Gorillaz’ music videos on MTV for months, thinking, this is the future, you know? Blur’s erstwhile frontman creates a band of cartoon characters with elaborate backstories, who release an album detailing their surreal lives. How cutting-edge! With the release of that first record, Gorillaz cemented a permanent place in my heart and mind.
Gorillaz promotional shot used during the release of Gorillaz (2001) by Jamie Hewlett, courtesy Parlophone Records. Members from left-to-right: Noodle, Russel, 2D and Murdoc.
In the second decade of their existence, though, I, like many others, lost interest in the band. Their edge was no longer cutting; in a sense, they were losing it altogether. They were breaking very little new ground both with their music and with the audio/visual medium, their trademark. That’s until Jan this year, when they launched the Song Machine project. For the first time since the first time, I thought, this is new ground they’re breaking: using a combined audio-visual experience to trickle an album out. And it helps that this is the best music they’ve made in a decade.
In 2020, an eight-episode TV-show type release just makes so much sense. It makes so much sense to release albums either wholly or partially as AV bundles like the Gorillaz have done. Or like the Microphones with their latest album, Microphones in 2020. What’s better is, Gorillaz seem perfectly poised to make the most of this melding of media, what with their very basis in being a combined audiovisual project all those many years ago. For the first time since the first time, I feel like they’re actually making the most of their incredibly unique place in the world.
