Since January, Gorillaz has been episodically releasing music as part of their Song Machine series. The 10-episode project is a means to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary — and has seen them drop eclectic collaborations with slowthai, Slaves, Fatoumata Diawara, Peter Hook, Octavian and Georgia.
The band have now unveiled their next collaborator — none other than The Cure’s Robert Smith. The collaboration was announced earlier today on Twitter.
“Coming up on Song Machine… It’s @RobertSmith,” the band wrote. “Follow your nearest Song Machine NOW!”
Very few details about the forthcoming collaboration have been released, so we’re not quite sure when we can expect the beast to drop.
The only morsels of information that have been shared are in the form of promotional artwork which features the cartoon band dressed as astronauts, whilst Robert Smith looms in the background like a black hole portal attached to the earth.
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In addition to the Song Machine series, Gorillaz are celebrating their 20-year history with a new comic book, Gorillaz Almanac, released in partnership with Z2 Comics.
Gorillaz Almanac features 120 full-colour pages, embellished with original artwork from over the years by Jamie Hewlett. The hardcover book will also feature new artwork, the first-ever comic strip starring members 2D, Noodle, Murdoc Niccals and Russel Hobbs, and “puzzles, games and a raft of special guest appearances from Gorillaz collaborators past and present.”
Gorillaz Almanac will arrive on October 16th and will be available in standard, Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions.
“An almanac is an annual book that is a treasure house of useful information like weather forecasts, trivia and puzzles and games,” Z2 Comics’ Sridhar Reddy shared via Rolling Stone.
“They used to sell almanacs at school book fairs, but I’m pretty sure the internet killed the concept of collecting information into a single published volume. It’s what I love about doing a Gorillaz almanac, in that it brings together so much of the ephemera of the band into a physical book that you can kick back with, take a fun deep dive and listen to great music while you’re doing it. It’s consistent with the band’s ethos of immersion.”
