We’ve been awaiting the release of Gorillaz’s new track featuring LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy and Andre 3000 since @MurdocGorillaz announced its existence late last month. The track, entitled DoYaThing was set to be unveiled tomorrow on Converse’s website as part of a promotion for the shoe line, but the folks at Listen Before You Buy have posted a radio rip that aired this afternoon…

We’re digging the track more with each listen, especially Damon Albarn’s smooth and potent delivery. You’ll be able to download the track at Converse’s website tomorrow.

What do you think about this new Gorillaz’s track?

As reported yesterday, today Gorillaz announced OutKast’s Andre 3000 and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy as guest collaborators as part of Converse’s 3 Artists – 1 Song series. The song, DoYaThing, will be released for free on the Converse website on February 23.

Oh is that?….YES! It is..It’s… Andre ‘Outkast’ 3000 and James Murphy. Mr. LCD Soundsystem. Alongside Gorillaz! Wow! What a line-up!

Thursday, February 9, 2012 6:01 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MurdocGorillaz

Murdoc Niccals

So I’ve just been given the all clear! Free to announce “DoYaThing” – The brand new Gorillaz track – 23rd Feb. On http://www.Converse.com

Thursday, February 9, 2012 6:04 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MurdocGorillaz

Murdoc Niccals

Mmmm…what I need is a nice long bath, a chilled Brompton Cocktail and a playback of my new Gorillaz track. “3 Artists – 1 Song”? Could work

Monday, January 30, 2012 12:12 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MurdocGorillaz

Murdoc Niccals

With that tweet, Gorillaz member Murdoc made it known a new Gorillaz track was forthcoming. Damon Albarn, the human behind the band, hinted after their 2010 tour he may be putting the band to rest for good. However, as the recent tweets from Murdoc imply, there is at least one more track on the way, with at least two guests set to be revealed tomorrow.

Hand on my big black heart, this is the best tune I think Gorillaz have done. It rocks, it rolls, it’s got a motor of it’s own!

Monday, January 30, 2012 12:43 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MurdocGorillaz

Murdoc Niccals

Actually, this is the best collaboration I think we’ve done really. And the other artists don’t even know they did it! Is that wrong?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 12:04 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MurdocGorillaz

Murdoc Niccals

READ ON

While the future of Gorillaz may be unclear, the band is still putting out product. On Monday the animated act put an iPad app up for sale through iTunes called the Korg iELECTRIBE Gorillaz Edition, a virtual analong beatbox that allows you to remix songs from the group’s latest LP, The Fall. The program includes 128 new sounds created by the band and 64 ready-to-use pre-programmed patterns by Gorillaz, Stephen Sedgwick and Korg.

Korg iELECTRIBE Gorillaz Edition currently costs $9.99.

Let’s take a quick tour of the web for six more stories…

• The B.O.M.B. Festival is moving to a bigger venue
• Sample another new track from Death Cab’s new LP
• Kimmel helps Sammy Hagar reenact alien abduction
• Music sales enjoyed a huge spike on Record Store Day
• The Monkees reunion tour “doomed” before it starts?
• Seattle’s Experience Music Project opens Nirvana exhibit

Finally, Bon Iver has announced the details of the group’s sophomore album, which is self-titled and due to drop on June 21st. The album features 10 tracks written by Kanye West’s BFF Justin Vernon. Here’s a 50 second teaser clip to give you a taste of the new LP…

February has been a month of heartache for music fans as breakups and rumors of breakups abound. First, the White Stripes amicably quit their courtship, then LCD Soundsystem announced they’d play their last show in April and there was even a rumor about the Gorillaz calling it quits at the top of their game. All of the tragedy aside, 3GM found it strange that these breakups, whether rumored or true, were uncharacteristically harmonious.

Conor Kelley on LCD Soundsystem:

It’s better to burn out than to fade away.

What could be more rock and roll than following through with that line? Although Neil Young is way past the age where he can burn out, and his new work shows absolutely no signs of fading into insignificance, his lyric is still a tried and true adage of the musician lifestyle. Going out while on top almost ensures a legendary reputation in the rock and roll record books.  It’s the George Costanza theory about leaving on a high note, and it works like a charm.

In the ’60s and 70s people would rarely leave the game by choice. It was mostly at the hand of drug overdoses (Hendrix), alcoholism (Joplin),  french hookers and baguettes (Morrison) or the occasional peach truck (Allman). These days people are hanging up their guitars for a different reason entirely: they see a project’s creative end in sight and walk away before it becomes stale. READ ON for more of this week’s Three Grown Men column…

For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’ve come to the end of our week long countdown, let’s check out our Top Five…

5) LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

Sounds Like: Dance Yrself Clean, I Can Change

Key Tracks: Modern spacefunk, Talking Heads with an indie twist

The Skinny: James Murphy and company’s third full-length finds the eccentric front man exploring the benefits and trappings of stardom accompanied by the funky dance-pop we’ve come to know and love. Not at all a departure from the first two records, This Is Happening takes the LCD sound in a slightly more laid-back, introspective direction. Gone are some of the dancehall sounds in favor of a more organic, live band-sounding approach which brings the seemingly more personal material to life beautifully. Murphy’s impassioned vocals are direct and honest, particularly on the monstrously catchy single I Can Change. This record has all of the things we love about LCD – the Talking Heads-esque bounce, Murphy’s staccato delivery, thick, ever shifting soundscapes – but with a maturity and comfort that shows Murphy growing as an artist and a person.

READ ON for the final four albums in our countdown…

As we previously reported, the Gorillaz have been celebrating the holidays with an advent calendar on their website, which each day revealing exclusive band-related content. With just ten days to go on the calendar, the fictional cartoon band had revealed the details of what’s in store for Christmas day, as they will release a free downloadable album called The Fall – which Damon Albarn reportedly recorded with the assistance of his iPad.

• List Time: Top 5 Weird Band Names Of 2010
• George Clinton is suing the Black Eyed Peas over song sample
• Cover Alert: Neon Indian tackles T. Rex
• Folk singer Phil Ochs is the subject of a new doc out next month
• Download This: Fuel/Friends Mix For A Wintry December
• Grateful Dead, Moby Grape & Cream pics from Cafe Au Go Go

Finally, back in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono created a poster that read “War Is Over! If You Want It. Happy Christmas From John and Yoko” and placed the message on billboards in 11 cities around the world in an effort to promote world peace. Now, some 40 years later, Ono is urging people to display the message this holiday season, which has been translated into 100 languages and can be downloaded via her website.

Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz are celebrating the holiday season in a way that brings out the kid in us, by offering an online advent calendar. So far, the band has offered up soundcheck footage, masks and desktop wallpaper with the promise of more goodies to come over the next few weeks.

Here’s a quick look at six other stories of note…

• Vulture has a guide for hating The Beatles
• Chili Pepper drummer Chad Smith rambled
• Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – the candy
• Umphrey’s Joel Cummins recaps Bear Creek
• Rush to film Cleveland performance for DVD
• The Who’s cautionary tale still resonates

Finally, Big Head Todd and The Monsters are set to release a tribute album called 100 Years of Robert Johnson on February 1st via Ryko/Big Records. Joining the Colorado-based quintet will be special guests, blues legends B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Honeyboy Edwards and Charlie Musselwhite, as well as keepers of the blues flame Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. The band, who are calling themselves and their guests Big Head Blues Club, will also head out on tour with a few of the bluesmen who contributed to the LP. Read Glide’s news story for a full list of dates.

Kevin Smallwood, Jonathan Kosakow and Conor Kelly – aka Three Grown Men – will be contributing a number of articles on different topics over the coming months. One of the columns Kevin, Kos and Conor will write looks at stream-able live shows that may not have been detected by your radar called Irregular Streams. Check out the first installment…

It’s hard to imagine how a virtual band existing in a fictional universe might perform live here on Earth, but this exact scenario is currently on a world tour. Damon Albarn and Gorillaz have utilized the incredible power of the studio and a large Rolodex to break new ground on album after album, after album over the past decade. Unfortunately, studio-centric, album-oriented genius has historically made for a muddled live performance. That said, there are always exceptions to the rule and even though Gorillaz don’t technically exist, they are most certainly one of those exceptions.

In 2010, Gorillaz put together a lengthy tour of Earth that included a stop in little place called Damascus, Syria. This week’s Irregular Stream provides a jaw dropping performance that captures a modern day Pinocchio – a miracle rendering of a studio virtual-band into a real live-band.

• CLICK HERE TO STREAM GORILLAZ IN DAMASCUS

Since then, Gorillaz have torn through the continental US, playing venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York, the 5,000-capacity Wells Fargo Theater in Denver and Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheater. Lou Reed took the stage at both the MSG show and LA shows, and in Denver they were joined not only by a Syrian six-piece instrumental band, but an eight-piece horn section, full string section, Bobby Womack and De La Soul as well as guitarist Mick Jones and bassist Paul Simonon of the Clash.

It seems to me like no matter where Albarn takes this project, he leaves it in ruins. Give them a listen.

THE SKINNY

• The Band: Gorillaz
• The Place: Citadel of Damascus – Damascus, Syria
• The Date: July 29, 2010
• The Source: NPR’s Live In Concert soundboard recording
• The Length: 86 Minutes
• The Highlights: White Flag (w/ Bashy & Kano), Clint Eastword (w/ Eslam Jawaad) and Rhinestone Eyes

The Live on Letterman webcast series rolled on last night with a not quite an hour set from Gorillaz. Gorillaz’s front man Damon Albarn clearly enjoyed the setting as he hammed it up throughout and expressed his excitement for tonight’s Madison Square Garden gig multiple times.

Guests on the webcast included Miho Hatori, Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of The Clash, De La Soul, a string quartet and Bootie Brown as the band played a total of nine songs including the suave Superfast Jellyfish, a gorgeous On Melancholy Hill and a Clint Eastwood closer that turned into a party when Albarn invited half the crowd on stage with him.

If you missed last night’s webcast, you can still watch the entire set…

Gorillaz – Live On Letterman

Gorillaz’s first-ever world tour kicked off this past Sunday night in Montreal at the Bell Centre and crosses into America in time for tomorrow’s show at the Agganis Arena in Boston. To get a taste of the band’s impressive live show – featuring specially designed graphics by Jamie Hewitt – here’s the best quality clip of Rhinestone Eyes from Montreal we could find…

Gorillaz – Rhinestone Eyes (Live in Montreal)

The Live on Letterman series of webcasts continues this month with performances from Gorillaz on October 7th and My Morning Jacket on October 12th. You can watch both acts live on those evenings at 8PM ET through the Live on Letterman website. A lottery for pairs of tickets to catch the MMJ set is currently underway with all entries due by October 6th. We’ll have more on this exciting series in the next few weeks.

Let’s take a look around the web for six links of interest…

• Lou Reed and Mos Def will join Gorillaz at MSG on Oct. 8
• David Bowie preps massive archival book called Object
• A full-length video of Neil Young’s Le Noise is on YouTube
• Merch Madness: Animal Collective debut a line of shoes
• IckMusic lists ten reasons you can’t help but like Franti
• Aggro-jammers RAQ unveil dates for a brief fall tour

Finally, on October 25th one-man-band Keller Williams will release Kids, his first children’s album. A presale for the CD is currently underway at the Kids’ website and the prizes are beyond unique including the Grand Prize…

A live goat will be purchased in the winner’s name for a family in need through Heifer International, a global nonprofit with a proven solution to ending hunger and poverty in a sustainable way.  Heifer helps empower millions of families to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger to self-reliance through gifts of livestock, seeds, trees and extensive training, which provide a multiplying source of food and income.

Friday Mix Tape is supposed to be in general a shorter piece that doesn’t require too much “thinking”, but we’re going to see if we can rhythmically stretch your mind a little bit today. Rather than get into the history of odd time signatures and writing tunes in 5, I am going to point you in the direction of this NPR piece titled Playing Five Beats To The Measure. A very well-written brief explanation of the history and many examples.

Now count with me: One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

I think it’s safe to say that the most famous song written in 5/4 is Dave Brubeck’s appropriately titled Take Five, except that song was not written by Dave Brubeck! While it appears on the 1959 album Time Out, Take Five was actually written by Paul Desmond – the saxophonist that plays on that track. Moving on to another tune that references the meter in the title we have the Gorillaz song simply titled 5/4. And then Radiohead, who are no strangers to odd time signatures, give us 15 Step which is in 5/4, a song that Thom Yorke once said in an interview that he thought Radiohead might not be able to pull off live. Want more guitars in your 5/4 jams? Well Steve Kimock has got that in his tune titled Five B4 Funk [source 1-26-2002]. OK Go has a pop song to contribute and it is titled WTF? Sufjan Stevens wrote a song in 5 for his 2004 album Seven Swans titled A Good Man Is Hard To Find. And to close us out, let’s have a listen to Blind Faith and their tune Do What You Like.

There are many others, what are you favorite songs in 5?

Back on Thursday we spread the word that Gorillaz’s Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour 2010 would hit North America in October. While we’re still awaiting confirmation of exactly which venues the tour will stop at, Murdoc Niccals, self-proclaimed “King of Gorillaz,” has been tweeting up a storm lately and sharing clues about the cities his band will play.

Our pal and HT contributor Andy Kahn has been keeping track of Niccals’ tweets and shares his guesses about which city the tweet refers to…

Guess the City USA Clue: I’m the real Green Monster, what is this imposter in Boston? We may have to pay him a visit.

Boston

Guess the City USA Clue: Headed to the Big Apple to make the most famous venue on earth way, way more famous.

New York City – MSG

Guess the City USA Clue: Murdoc is dead-set on streaking across Michele’s lawn. We should try to make his dream come true

DC

UPDATE [07/27 9:45AM]: The full list of North American Tour Dates has been confirmed…

10/03 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
10/05 – Wallingford, CT @ Oakdale Theatre
10/06 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
10/08 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/10 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
10/11 – Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center
10/13 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
10/14 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
10/16 – Chicago, IL @ UIC Pavilion
10/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
10/19 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
10/20 – Dallas, TX @ Verizon Theatre
10/22 – Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
10/24 – Denver, CO @ Wells Fargo Theatre
10/26 – Phoenix, AZ @ Dodge Theatre
10/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
10/30 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena
11/02 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
11/03 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena

READ ON for the rest of Murdoc’s tweets our guesses…

Gorillaz’s latest album, Plastic Beach, has been getting plenty of spins at HT headquarters, so we’ve been waiting to see how the disc translates live. We’ll finally get our chance in October, when Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett bring the animated project Stateside as part of a lengthy tour.

While we’re still awaiting specific dates and venues for the North American shows, the band has confirmed that they will play 20 gigs on this side of the Atlantic starting at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QE on October 3 and including the group’s first-ever show at Madison Square Garden on October 8.

Here are details for those wanting to participate in a pre-sale…

Gorillaz fanclub, the Sub-Division, will benefit from a 48 hour pre-sale ahead of tickets going on general sale. To join Sub-Division go to www.gorillaz.com/subdivision

The U.S. and Canada dates, full details of which will be announced shortly, will be followed by a series of 10 shows across Europe and the UK, including a two-night stand at London’s O2 arena, as well as seven shows across Australia and Asia. [Press Release via Brooklyn Vegan]

We’ll update this post when Gorillaz reveal the full list of dates.