It's Coming Up

My daughters, aged 2 and 6, are BIG fans of Gorillaz. Demon Days was the big hit all last summer, and their interest has been renewed due to the release of the Demon Days Live DVD. I'm not normally a big fan of the live-in-concert on DVD, but this show is stellar. Recorded in Manchester last year, it features live appearances from most of the special guests - De La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Roots Manuva et al... The band are tight and only ever seen in silouhette against a brightly colored backdrop. There are Jamie Hewlett's visuals on the big screen - you can watch the DVD with the band and the visuals, or just watch it with the visuals alone. Damon sounds great, and seems to be enjoying the show too. The kids have been watching bits of it almost every day, with their favorites being Feel Good Inc, Dirty Harry with it's chorus of about 30 kids, and Dare with it's memorable guest vocal courtesy of Happy Mondays lead singer Shaun Ryder. My 6 year old, upon seeing Shaun Ryder for the first time, turned to me and said - "Dad, that guy looks really weird." Hahahaha. I lost it. The honesty of children, eh? Anyway, it's a big thumbs up from me and the kids on the live DVD.

Last week Astralwerks released DFA Remixes Chapter One. It's a selection of some of the remixes they've done for acts that aren't part of the DFA Records stable. There are remixes of Hot Chip, Fischerspooner, Le Tigre, Soulwax, Metro Area, Blues Explosion, Radio 4, and the Chemical Brothers. There is also this cool, stripped down version of Gorillaz' Dare (DFA Remix) - loose disco beats, killer cow bell, lots of fuzzy buzzin' and a "just the vocals left from the original" approach. It's great and gets seriously droned out. The kids dig this too - "play the remix, Dad!".