Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez

by Gorillaz

Overview

Damon Albarn launched Gorillaz's Song Machine at the dawn of 2020, planning to release one new song a month, then rounding up the results as an almanac at the end of the year. Despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Albarn managed to more or less stick to his schedule, issuing a new song a month until the October release of Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. As the project was started prior to the pandemic, Strange Timez isn't strictly a reflection of life in the time of the coronavirus; parts of it even feature musicians who passed not long after their contribution, such as Tony Allen, whose "How Far?" concludes the deluxe edition of the album. Nevertheless, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez does pulse to the strange, ominous rhythms propelling a world beset by political strife and illness, often finding solace in retro stylings that conjure the gleaming 1980s and pan-global optimism of Y2K in equal measure. In other words, Strange Timez may have followed a different template than previous Gorillaz albums, but it is unmistakably a Gorillaz album, a record that hides its melancholy among a series of sunny, genre-bending fusions. By its very nature, the album is dotted with cameos -- there are more here than there were on 2018's The Now Now, which was largely fronted by Albarn himself -- and the likes of Robert Smith, Beck, St. Vincent, Elton John, 6lack, Fatoumata Diawara, and Peter Hook help pull the album away from the realm of solipsism, suggesting that even when the world is largely isolated from itself, there is still the common language of music that binds us all. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2020
Label:	Parlophone / Warner Music
UPC:	0190295209407

Tracks

1. Strange Timez
2. The Valley of the Pagans
3. The Lost Chord
4. Pac-Man
5. Chalk Tablet Towers
6. The Pink Phantom
7. Aries
8. Friday 13th
9. Dead Butterflies
10. D¿¿sol¿¿ [Extended Version]
11. Momentary Bliss

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Gorillaz   Primary Artist,Bass,Drums,Piano,Guitar,Vocals,Melodica,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background)
Davide Rossi   Strings
Izzi Dunn   Cello,Strings
Beck   Vocals,Featured Artist
Stella Page   Viola,Strings
Peter Hook   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Featured Artist
Prince Paul   Vocals (Background)
Alice Pratley   Violin
Skepta   Vocals,Featured Artist
St. Vincent   Vocals,Keyboards,Featured Artist
Joan as Police Woman   Erhu,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Double Bass,Bass (Upright),Featured Artist
Tony Allen   Drums,Vocals,Featured Artist
Elton John   Piano,Vocals,Featured Artist
Roberto Fonseca   Piano
Leee John   Vocals,Featured Artist
Isabelle Dunn   Cello
Remi Kabaka   Drums,Percussion
Robert Smith   Featured Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards,Music Box,Guitar (Bass),Featured Artist
Fatoumata Diawara   Vocals,Featured Artist
Sebastien Blanchon   Horn
James Ford   Drums,Guitar,Balafon,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer
Kano   Vocals,Featured Artist
Kotono Sato   Violin,Strings
Unknown Mortal Orchestra   Bells,Vocals,Featured Artist
ScHoolboy Q   Vocals,Featured Artist
Jon Smythe   Guitar
Slaves   Drums,Guitar,Vocals,Featured Artist
Georgia   Drums,Percussion,Featured Artist
EarthGang   Vocals,Featured Artist
GoldLink   Vocals,Featured Artist
6LACK   Vocals,Featured Artist
Moonchild Sanelly   Vocals,Featured Artist
JPEGMAFIA   Vocals,Featured Artist
slowthai   Vocals,Featured Artist
Ciara Ismail   Violin,Strings
Weathrman   Bass,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Guitar (Bass)
Octavian Oliver Godji   Vocals,Featured Artist
CHAI   Drums,Vocals,Keyboards,Featured Artist
Octavian   Featured Artist
Augustin Ledieu   Vocals (Background)
Vanina De Franco   Vocals (Background)
Sylvain Bellegarde   Vocals (Background)
Neima Naouri   Vocals (Background)
Nicola Hicks   Viola
Nora Fedrigo   Electronics
Emmanuel Laniece   Vocals (Background)
Etta Albarn Teulon   Vocals,Trumpet
Roxani Arias   Vocals,Featured Artist
Rudy Albarn   Drums

Technical Credits

Davide Rossi   Arranger,String Arrangements
Joan Wasser   Composer
Peter Hook   Composer
Prince Paul   Engineer,Producer
Mike Dean   Composer,Producer,Drum Programming,Additional Production
Gorillaz   Producer,Programming,Drum Programming
Damon Albarn   Composer
Joan as Police Woman   Producer
Tony Allen   Composer
Leee John   Composer
Remi Kabaka   Composer,Producer,Drum Programming
Jamie Hewlett   Design,Artwork
Stephen Sedgwick   Mixing,Engineer
Robert Smith   Composer,Producer,Producer
Clark   Composer
Fatoumata Diawara   Composer
Raul Chirinos   Engineer
Paul Huston   Composer
Bunny Lake   Engineer
John Davis   Mastering
Annie Clark   Engineer
David Greenbaum   Engineer
Sylvain Mercier   Engineer
Yuuki Mizutani   Composer
Shu Imamoto   Engineer
James Ford   Composer,Producer,Drum Programming,Composer,Producer
John McNeill   Composer
Joseph Adenuga   Composer
Elvin Shahbazian   Composer,Engineer
Kane Robinson   Composer
Richard Isong   Composer
Michael Williams   Composer
Jon Smythe   Composer
Davide Lasala   Engineer
Mike WiLL Made-It   Producer,Drum Programming
Ruban Nielson   Composer,Engineer
Stuart Lowbridge   Track Sequencing Advisor
Quincy Hanley   Composer
Matt Doughty   Engineer
Laurie Vincent   Composer
Isaac Holman   Composer
Matt Daughty   Engineer
Sanelisiwe Twisha   Composer
B Hansen   Composer
GoldLink   Producer
D'Anthony Carlos   Composer
Darryle Gayle   Composer,Engineer
Joel McNeil   Composer
John McNeil   Composer
Sam Egglenton   Engineer
Dylan Herman   Engineer
Ricardo Valentine   Composer,Engineer
Olu Fann   Composer
P2J   Producer,Drum Programming,Additional Production
JPEGMAFIA   Composer
Adrien Libmann   Engineer
Tyron Frampton   Composer
Octavian Oliver Godji   Composer
Eian Parker   Composer
Andrea Fognini   Engineer
Nora Fedrigo   Engineer
Marzeratti   Producer
Yuna Matsui   Composer
Kana Obata   Composer
Matthew Middlebrooks   Composer
Roxani Arias   Composer
Mana Obata   Composer