Gorillaz heading for retirement?

Nov. 7, 2007

Gorillaz are busily buying that shuffleboard wardrobe and working on their bingo skills in preparation for the release of their last album - and their entry into band retirement - on November 20. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have decided it’s time for Gorillaz to be no longer, so V Records’ D-Sides will be Gorillaz’ last album offering (unless something changes, of course, which frequently happens in the land of rock n’ roll). D-Sides will include two discs, the first being a set of B-sides, rarities, and previously unreleased tracks, and the second being a nifty bonus disc of remixes, running Gorillaz’ songs through the ears of such mixmasters as Soulwax, DFA, and Hot Chip. “New” songs will include “We Are Happy Landfill,” “68 State,” “Highway,” and “Spitting Out the Demons.” On another note, Albarn fans won’t have to despair for too long, as the Gorillaz retirement is happening in part so that Albarn can put all of his focus on the upcoming new album with his “old” band, Blur...

In the “Weird Collaborations” department, Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes are working with... no, not any fellow musicians, but the Lomography camera company. The Stripes worked with the company to market two distinctly different cameras that are on sale at the band’s gift shop site (http://www.whitestripes.com/lomography/lomography.html) - the “Meg” camera has a custom filter and a ringflash accessory that produces 3D shadows on images, while the “Jack” camera comes complete with filters and lenses. Both cameras follow the band’s red and white color scheme, right down to the peppermint swirl on the film advance dials. At $180 each, these camerad aren’t cheap, but they’re definitely a unique and functional White Stripes souvenir...

Brooklyn trio Nada Surf, who just completed a tour run throughout the Eastern half of the U.S., have been hard at work on their next album, which will be their first since their 2005 set, The Weight is a Gift. The new disc, which they’ve dubbed Lucky, will be preceded by the album’s first single, “See These Bones,” and will also include tracks “Beautiful Beat,” “Here Goes Something,” “Whose Authority,” and “Weightless.” If you’re going to be on the West Coast, you can catch Nada Surf there early in 2008, including stops in Seattle (1/30) or Portland, Oregon (1/31); otherwise, you’ll have to wait until Lucky hits stores on February 5, 2008...

And a plethora of bands will contribute rare and exclusive tracks to Causes, a charity album set to support three non-profit organizations (Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America) who are working in the Sudan’s battle-ravaged Darfur region. The album will include tracks from Bloc Party (“Rhododendrons”), The Shins (an exclusive remix of “Turn On Me”), Thievery Corporation (“Passing the Stars”), and Spoon (“Rhythm and Soul”), among others, and will be made available digitally on iTunes for three months as of November 27; a limited-edition CD can be pre-ordered from www.waxploitation.com/2007/causes.html...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: Lido Beach have posted two snazzy new Chris-Fudurich-produced demo songs, “It’s Not That Simple” and “ICU,” on their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/lidobeach...
MINI BUZZ:
The Alliance for Climate Protection and WB Records are set to release a CD/DVD package with footage from the global Live Earth concert that took place this past summer (on July 7). - The set, due out on November 20th, will be available early as a digital version on iTunes on November 6...
Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is putting together a compilation of personal demos - many of them done acoustically - that will be titled Alone - The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo and will be released as a regular album by Geffen Records... N.E.R.D. are working on a new album, which will serve as the follow-up to their last set, Fly or Die, and which is slated to hit stores next spring... Sheryl Crow will bring her greatest hits-status up to date (her “official” Greatest Hits album was released in 2003, but she’s dropped a couple of additional albums since then) with Sheryl Crow: Hits and Rarities, set to hit stores in November; the album will include her “Tomorrow Never Knows” theme for the James Bond movie of the same name, and her “Always on Your Side” duet with Sting... L.A. band Great Northern are in the middle of yet another tour, with NYC band Robbers on High Street in tow; tour stops will include Seattle (11/12), Denver, CO (11/15), Minneapolis (11/17), and Chicago (11/18)... Silverchair’s Young Modern has taken the award for Best Rock Album at the 2007 Australian ARIA Awards...

And taking the money right outta your wallet this week are these new releases... ON CD: Two Gallants’ Two Gallants... DJ Tiesto’s In Search of
Sunrise 6... The Fray’s Reason EP... Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Revisited...Buried at Sea’s Ghost... and DJ Spooky’s Creation Rebel... ON DVD: Stax/Volt Revue Live in Norway 1967... Sigur Ros’ Heima... Elvis #1 Hit Performances... and Oasis’ Lord Don’t Slow Me Down... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musician? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com*