Gorillaz was one of the 90's early 2000's bands that I was into mainly because my sister and father were into them as with any other band I would gravitate towards. At that young age I was always excited whenever MTV would play 19-2000 or Clint Eastwood, one of their top songs at that time. Probably a big reason I was into them other than the music was the cartoon characters that represented the band, 2D tall and skimpy who had all black or all white eyes, Murdoc Niccals also tall and skimpy yet more rock aesthetic vibes but plays the bass, Noodle a cute Japanese girl that does about everything, and lastly Russel Hobbs big scary physique who plays the drums.

   Plastic Beach dropped and all the nostalgia came running down my spine. I hadn't heard of them in a well. I must admit, I am not a die hard fan but it brings back so many memories of my younger years when I didn't know responsibility when it was all so "simple". Other than just playing music, Gorillaz even managed to get a spot in MTV Cribs where Murdoc showed around Kong Studios. Love how they're not just a band but have their own unique characters and personalities and even backstories.

   Example, so much information can be brought up from the cartoon characters that they kind of have their whole life unravelling like a movie while we observe their silly antics. They used to always release skits of them doing weird things like karate chopping each other, Murdoc cutting an eel in front of 2D but the thing we all knew was 2D and Noodle. For some reason, they both had a connection. Well, I knew rather after the fact that Noodle was a girl. For a long time I thought Noodle was a boy probably because of her short hair and boyish style, maybe he was just a Japanese boy who joined the band at an early age. Owh and this is 2D btw. Apparently he lost his vision due to accidents and other mishaps so they became white? Well it does look cool and eerily cute so I give it a logic pass.

   I'm not sure if Gorillaz is well-known in my country, Malaysia but whenever I bring up the band with whoever I'm with, a big question mark pops up off their heads. I guess it is a British based band maybe a bit underground but by now I had hoped some would know.


   Also forgot to credit of course is the creators of the band Damon Albarn who manages the musical part of the band, vocals keyboard the works. Partnering him is Jamie Hewlett who works on the characters of the band. One's a musician and the other is an illustrator. How art can bring such joy. I don't think Jamie appears in a lot of the performances but that doesn't exclude Damon who even though sings on stage sits behind a screen, giving way to the animated band to come to life. Also on your left here, meet Murdoc the crazy one of the group. What he do with that tongue though.

   The mysterious vibe that the creators give are really cool and the concept of giving the "band" the spotlight on stage is quite smart and shows you don't have to give an overblown performance to please the crowd.

 Noodle looks so sophisticated here though haha she's usually really fun and hyper dancing around a room accompanied by a big singing head. Everyone has their phases. Their is however an ongoing story where Noodle dies but doesn't and gets replaced with a robot clone called Cyborg Noodle which does about everything "dead" Noodle can but without any emotion. It's another instance where the story stretches to evoke more meaning into these lovable characters, makes them more than just a band.


and lastly, the silent but deadly member, Russel


Even though he emits a badboy figure, he's actually a really soft hearted guy. He does have a soft spot for Noodle, like a brother sister love. Russel has a weird thing about him. He has a ghost inside of him. Literally a ghost will come out of his head and start rapping dope bars whilst he plays away on his drums. Real quick, we aren't all Kendrick, so wouldn't you want to have a rapgod ghost step out of your body and rap like nobodies business? Also, it's name is Del :)



   If i had the money, you bet I would buy their vinyl toys. Yup even figures were made for these character. They are so perfect I just wanna throw money at the resellers, if I had any. I found that the original vinyl toys back in 2008 were sold for around $5 a piece. But now they resell on Ebay for at least $100 each, WHATTTT?!?!

$400 2D figure

   The one I get most excited over is the 2-tone complete set by Kidrobot x Gorillaz (below) that goes now for around $500 - $600. Seriously though, you know how older people buy things that they never had but wanted as a kid, may it be toys or shoes. This is probably one of the toys I would get myself to fill that empty void.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

   A new album is presumably releasing somewhere this year (2016) or next year (2017), it's in the works. Jamie Hewlett has been teasing us with some artwork that I just enliven over. You can check them out Here .Keep doing you guys, this is just art.