Gorillaz and Beck performed inside the in-game Animal Crossing talk show last night (October 23) – watch the performance below.
The virtual band and indie icon performed their new collaboration ‘The Valley Of The Pagans’, which appears on Gorillaz’s new album ‘Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez’.
As part of the performance on Animal Talking, the real-life talk show within the popular Nintendo Switch game, avatar versions of Gorillaz creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett sat down for an interview.
Then, Gorillaz vocalist 2D emerged with Beck, and they ran through ‘The Valley Of The Pagans’. Watch the interview back below at 48 minutes, while the performance follows at 1hr 27.
Reviewing Gorillaz’ collaborative new album ‘Strange Timez’, which features link-ups with the likes of slowthai and The Cure’s Robert Smith as well as Beck, NME wrote: “‘Strange Timez’ is a varied affair that pulls from Albarn and the band’s perchance for exploration: punk rock sits effortlessly next to glitzy piano ballads, while playful hip-hop and melancholic post-rave ambience soothe our pounding heads.
“It’s a further reminder that while the post-genre mindset is now crucial to mainstream success, Gorillaz have always been ken to encourage emerging artists to embrace their diverse inspirations.”
As the album was released this week, Gorillaz also announced a huge London gig as part of a summer 2021 European tour.
Prior to the 2021 gigs, the band are also set to celebrate the release of their new album with a special livestreamed show in December.
The band will debut the songs written for the first season of the ‘Song Machine’ collaborative online composition series in three different time zone broadcasts from December 12-13.