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On Christmas morning 2010, Gorillaz posted their fourth full-length album The Fall online as a free download for registered fan club members. In stark contrast with the lavish studio arrangements and sprawling guest roster of that year's Plastic Beach, this new album was recorded exclusively on frontman Damon Albarn's iPad in October during the American leg of their Escape To Plastic Beach world tour. More experimental than the group's previous records, The Fall was met with generally positive reactions, eventually dropping on CD the following spring.
Ology Album Review: 'The Fall' by Gorillaz
Albarn's decision to record on an iPad came as little surprise to long-time fans; his ongoing multimedia project with Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett ("the world's first virtual band") was no stranger to subtle innovations with astounding results. Produced with hip-hop go-to-man Dan The Automator, the Gorillaz's self-titled 2001 debut was (at least on paper) a fairly average, cut and dry hip-pop record that made huge waves with its unique, innovative music videos. Albarn, a world-famous rock star from his time with Britpop titans Blur, opted to remove himself and the other "real" musicians from the visual equations, allowing Hewlett's cartoon band members—2D (vocals), Murdoc (bass), Noodle (guitar) and Russel (drums)—to take center stage.
The album/videos' ground-breaking visual approach certainly caught the public's imagination—2005's Danger Mouse produced Demon Days was an even bigger hit. Without compromising the group's visual sensibilities, Albarn and Danger Mouse tweaked the musical formula, allowing an even bigger cast of guest musicians and vocalists to contribute. Plastic Beach went even further, with Albarn even traveling to Syria to record with the National Orchestra for Arabic Music. For a band of cartoon characters, Gorillaz certainly had plenty of physical musicianship behind them—it came as little surprise, then, when Albarn announced the next Gorillaz offering would be a return to the project's roots: a small but powerful fusion of music, visuals, and technology.
(For the tech curious, here are the iPad apps Damon Albarn used to record The Fall: Speak It!, SoundyThingie, Mugician, Solo Synth, Synth, Funk Box, Gliss, AmpliTube, Xenon, iElectribe, BS-16i, M3000 HD, Cleartune, iOrgel HD, Olsynth, StudioMiniXI, BassLine, Harmonizer, Dub Siren Pro, and Moog Filtatron. All the apps used to create The Fall are available to purchase or download for free on the iTunes app store.)
Where previous Gorillaz records would utilize live drumming and lavish orchestrations, The Fall was a startlingly intimate affair—many of the songs were instrumental, while others consisted simply of Albarn's vocals/lyrics, a simple synth arrangement, and maybe a stray guitar part. The fact that it, more or less, holds up alongside the group's previous albums is a testament to Albarn's aesthetic sensibilities and his ability to expertly utilize the tools at his disposal, be they an iPad or a Syrian orchestra.
It's anyone's guess when Gorillaz (who just released the career-spanning Singles Collection 2001-2011) will return with their next record or what it'll sound like, but you can be sure that beneath the beats, the synths, the guest vocals, and all of the other sonic trimmings, there'll be Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett... two like-minded artists making big things out of simple ideas.
Using Spotify? Listen to The Fall (2010) by Gorillaz right here.
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Danielle - Gorillaz is awesome. The end.
Commented on 03 16, 2012