By Hans Fink
GORILLAZ have a new album set to release March 9 titled Plastic Beach. The album’s new single, “Stylo,” has been spreading across the Internet like a H1N1 outbreak and features accompaniment from rapper MOS DEF and long time R&B, soul and blues veteran BOBBY WOMACK. It’s rumored that the new album will boast guest appearances from artists as disparate as SNOOP DOGG to LOU REED.
Since March 9 seems like a generally good day for new releases, keep your eyes open for Broken Bells, a collaboration between THE SHINS guitarist James Mercer, and renowned producer DANGER MOUSE (billed by his real name, Brian Burton). This particular project will lean more towards indie rock than hip-hop.
While we’re on the topic of new releases, apparently nobody makes music quite like the deceased, as both JIMI HENDRIX and JOHNNY CASH will have posthumous releases come out in the first quarter of this year. See what happens when modern record label A&R fails? Not that I am complaining, ’cause it will be interesting to hear previously unreleased material from these great artists.
The new Hendrix album, entitled Valleys of Neptune and produced by his sister Janie Hendrix with aid from John McDermott and Eddie Kramer, will feature unreleased studio material including covers of CREAM and ELMORE JAMES. And because even in death he likes being different, the Hendrix album will be released March 8, instead of on March 9 like the above-mentioned albums. Johnny Cash’s American VI, produced by RICK RUBIN, of course, will be released on Feb. 26—which would have been the Man in Black’s 78th birthday were he still alive.
The unlikely success of the Canadian heavy-metal band ANVIL comes in the form of a documentary. Having released 13 studio albums (not to mention various EPs and compilations) over the past two decades, the cadre of Canucks is not a household name, but has been at it long enough to have influenced bands such as METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX. The documentary, titled Anvil! The Story of Anvil, has launched the band unexpectedly into the limelight, garnering high praise from critics (Rolling Stone calls it “the year’s most praised rock doc”). Although the film debuted in 2008, the band is now forced to change tour dates to accommodate a recent nomination from the Critics’ Choice Awards.
MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN (TOOL, PUSCIFER, A PERFECT CIRCLE) will appear in two documentaries. The first is titled Blood Into Wine. It depicts his and partner Eric Glomski’s mission to bring credibility to northern Arizona’s fledgling wine industry. The documentary features BOB ODENKIRK, PATTON OSWALT, and MILLA JOVOVICH, among others. The second is an in-depth look at musicians and their compulsion to make music, and is titled The Heart is a Drum Machine. In addition to Keenan, it features KURT LODER, NIC HARCOURT, JULIETTE LEWIS, MICKEY AVALON, GEORGE CLINTON, NORWOOD FISHER, JOHN FRUSCIANTE and many other artists.
