Gorillaz pictures from Rolling Stone

New Reviews: Broken Bells, Jimi Hendrix and BRMC

Last week RS talked up Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach in New Reviews, so today we’re spotlighting Breaking band Broken Bells, a collaboration between the Shins’ James Mercer and Demon Days producer Danger Mouse. The pairing might seem like a strange match, but as Will Hermes writes in his four-star review of Broken Bells, “It turns out the two pop-science geeks are a perfect match. Danger Mouse pushes Mercer’s gorgeous, existential tunecraft outward with Day-Glo dynamics.” Mercer’s lyrics are at their

Published: 2010-03-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Readers’ Rock List: Animal Bands

Rock Daily is amped to be hitting the SXSW festival later this week, where we’ll surely be encountering dozens of bands named after animals. So we dedicated the Weekend Rock List to all the Animal Bands that looked to wildlife for inspiration. To avoid a landslide, bugs — and thus the Beatles — were banned. With the Fab Four out, our readers voted Animal Collective as the king of the rock jungle, thanks to their new Merriweather Post Pavilion. The Collective edged out Eagles, Animals and many more furry and feathered bands. To see if your favorite Animal Band made it, check the Readers’ List below: 1. Animal Collective 2. Eagles 3. The Animals 4. Fleet Foxes 5. Grizzly Bear 6. Modest Mouse 7. Super Furry Animals 8. Cat Power 9. Panda Bear 10. Wolfmother 11. The Monkees 12. Def Leppard 13. Steppenwolf 14. Wolf Parade 15. Phish 16. The Byrds 17. Gorillaz 18. The Turtles 19. The Yardbirds 20. Dr. Dog

Published: 2009-03-16 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock Lists

Exclusive: Watch Gorillaz’s Latest “Plastic Beach” Teaser

Short clips of Gorillaz’s upcoming Plastic Beach have been popping up on the animated band’s official Website, and now Rolling Stone has the latest tease of what the Sunday night Coachella headliners have in store on their third album. It looks like Damon Albarn’s cartoon crew has constructed an island made entirely of consumer goods in the middle of the ocean. The video up top is a short little trip to Plastic Beach, including a little taste of the beats that might appear when the album is rele

Published: 2010-01-28 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News, Videos

Mix Up Kanye West, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC Tracks on “Scratch: The Ultimate DJ”

Hip-hop-loving gamers who have looked on enviously as their rocker peers enjoyed Rock Band and Guitar Hero will soon get a game that fulfills their own music-making fantasies. This summer, Genius Products and Genco Interactive will release Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, a music-based video game made with hip-hop fans and wanna-be disc jockeys in mind. To add credibility to their product, the companies recruited rap industry vet Quincy Jones III to help develop it. “Having been in music for 25 years and produced for like LL Cool J and Tupac and Ice Cube and all those guys, I thought there was a huge void in the gaming market place for something in the urban space,” Quincy Jones III, or QD3, told Rock Daily just days after debuting his company’s Lil Wayne documentary at Sundance. The gameplay will be similar to other major music titles, but players will be working on a turntable controller and drum pad. Just like in real life, the DJ in Scratch has one job: Get people on the dance floor. The more feet on the floor, the more points you score and the more gigs you unlock. “You might start doing a block party. You have other venues and they’re all really unique venues that have amazing graphics,” QD3 says. Of course a music-based game is only as good as its soundtrack, so Jones and his team at Genius grabbed tracks from Run-DMC, Eric B & Rakim, Kanye West and Gorillaz for the game’s playlist. They even managed to get some new music from the Beastie Boys’ in-house DJ Mix Master Mike. “We wanted to try to represent all the categories — as many as possible — and have a game that’s super credible to the core audience. But also appealing all the way up to the parents,” Jones said. “We licensed the multi-track. You can take any element you want — the bass line, the scratch, in some cases vocals — even different parts of the harmony of the vocals and the drums… whatever you want. They are all on the beat pad or the turntable and you can manipulate them on your own.” Whereas countles

Published: 2009-02-10 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Blur Reuniting For London Concert, Possible Glastonbury Slot

Photo: Getty After months of rumors, informal lunches and supposed practices, Blur finally revealed today that the Damon Albarn-led band will reunite for a concert at London’s Hyde Park on July 3rd, 2009. Guitarist Graham Coxon, who left the band during the recording of 2002’s Think Tank, will join his bandmates Albarn, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. “It just felt it was right again,” Albarn said of Blur’s reunion, “It somehow feels like there’s something for us to do again, we’re not completely useless or pointless, we’ve got a reason to exist.” One rumored reason to exist: Glastonbury 2009, which the band hinted it might headline. “We’ll do something in London because that seems sensible,” Albarn added, “but we’re also playing in other parts of the country working up to [Glastonbury].” While no new album plans were revealed, Albarn has made it known he was eager to begin work on the third Gorillaz album in early ‘09. Related Stories: • Blur “Certainly Going To Rehearse” In 2009, Says Damon Albarn • Gorillaz Duo Use “Monkey” to Promote BBC Olympics Coverage • Album Review: Blur, Think Tank

Published: 2008-12-09 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News

Blur “Certainly Going To Rehearse” In 2009, Says Damon Albarn

Photo: Cattermole/Getty This is probably the umpteenth time we’re reporting news like this, but according to Damon Albarn, he and his Blur mates will all enter the studio in 2009. “Blur are certainly going to rehearse and see if we’re into it,” Albarn told the BBC this afternoon. Guitarist Graham Coxon, who left the band while they were worked on 2003’s Think Tank, also factors into the reunion equation. The band reconnected numerous times this year in non-musical situations this year, first meeting for lunch and then attending Albarn’s performance of his Monkey: Journey to the West at London’s O2 Arena. If Blur were to reunite for albums and the lucrative festival season, they’d have to compete for Albarn’s time with his other project Gorillaz, as Albarn stated in September he hopes to begin work on the follow-up to 2005’s Demon Days in January. Related Stories: • Album Review: Blur, Think Tank • Album Review: Gorillaz, Demon Days • Albarn Goes Ape Over Gorillaz

Published: 2008-11-25 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News