Gorillaz are releasing new music tonight

The follow-up to their collaboration with Benjamin Clementine

Drawing of 2D from the cartoon supergroup Gorillz (Jamie Hewlett Instagram)

Earlier this year, Gorillaz - the musical collaborative project from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - released their first new music in six years; a collaboration with Benjamin Clementine.

BBC Radio 1 has now announced they will be debuting new music from the band tonight (Thursday, 23 March) on Mistajam’s show at 7.30pm.

While it remains to be seen whether the DJ will spin one or multiple tracks, the station clarified they will “premiere brand new music from Gorillaz”.

Already this month a purported tracklist for the upcoming album leaked online, teasing collaborations with De La Soul, Grace Jones, Vince Staples, Pusha T, and Ray BLK.

The band also announced their first live dates in five years; their very own festival - Demon Dayz - that will take place in Margate’s very own Dreamland amusement park, with admission also covering “Free use of Dreamland's amusement park”. So far, only Gorillaz are on the line-up but expect additions in the near future.


 The poster for Demon Dayz

The band last performed together in 2011 - not including a performance of Clint Eastwood in 2014 featuring both Albarn and Del the Funky Homosapien at Bonnaroo festival or the Gorillaz Sound System gigs.

Last year, the first footage of Damon Albarn back in the studio emerged online via Jamie Hewlett’s Instagram account, with snippets of new info hitting the internet ever since.

Speaking about album number five previously, Albarn said the new record would be “really fast”, adding “it's got quite a lot of energy.”

In his last update on the upcoming record, Hewlett described how he was 'shutting himself away' to work on the band's next steps. “I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I’m at that phase of experimentation.”

According to Hewlett, the record will be out later this year, with the collaborators not wanting to rush the recording process because it’s sound “really f*cking special”.