Gorillaz

Gorillaz is a musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn of Britpop band Blur and British cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl. In the mainstream and commercial outlets it is known as a "virtual band" because for their image and promotion, instead of displaying the musicians of the band, it has used a group of comic book characters. The "virtual band" is composed of four animated members: 2D (lead vocalist, keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar and occasional vocals) and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). The music is a collaboration between various musicians, Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. Their style is a composition of multiple musical genres, with a large number of their influences including: dub, hip hop, alternative rock, electronic and pop music.

The band's 2001 debut album Gorillaz sold over seven million copies and earned them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. It was nominated for the Mercury Prize 2001, but the nomination was later withdrawn at the band's request. Their second studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the singles "Feel Good Inc.", "Dare", "Dirty Harry" and "Kids with Guns"/"El Mañana". Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States and earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. Gorillaz have also released two B-sides compilations and a remix album. The combined sales of Gorillaz and Demon Days had, by 2010, exceeded 20 million albums. The band's third studio album, titled Plastic Beach, was released in 2010. On 26th May 2010, it was announced that the band would replace U2 as Glastonbury Festival headliners. and won one of them in the

Gorillaz is a character

The story of Gorillaz is a characteristally messy one. Saturday Boy Stu-Pot, a keyboard obsessive and nice kid dullard, is the star employee at Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium, on course to make regional manager. But then comes a Saturday to end all weeks (just like a Sunday, but with shopping).

Murdoc, with his nasty bad boy crew, ramraids the shop in a tatty Vauxhall Astra. His plan: to seize the synths and form a chart topping band with the booty. He drives... SMASH!... through the shop window and... SMASH!... into Stu-Pot's head, fracturing his eyeball. Result: 30,000 hours of community service for Murdoc, plus 10 hours every week of caring for the vegetabilised Stu-Pot.

Soon, Murdoc's rotten driving skills again force life to take a different turn. While attempting a 360 doughnut spin in Nottingham's Tesco carpark, he catapults Stu-Pot through the windscreen and into a kerb. Stu-Pot's other eye is fractured, his mind is revived and he stands a young, black eyed god, with hedgehog hair and a vacant stare. Not only that, but his synth playing takes a serious turn for the weird.

Perfect pop material. Stu-Pot is renamed 2D (because he's got two dents in his head). Now Murdoc needs a drummer.

Rewind a few years. In New York State, Russel, a middle-class kid, is forced out of his posh private school due to his being possessed by a demon. He lies in a coma for four years, until an elaborate exorcism sets him free. Russel joins Brooklyn High, where he falls in with a group of talented street musicians, rappers and DJs. Hip-Hop saves his soul. For a time. A random drive-by shooting kills all of his friends and as Russel, the lone survivor, lies in a state of shock, the spirits of his chums invade his body, turning Russel's eyes a spooky white and giving him amazing drumming, rapping and general hip-hop skills.

His parents move him to England, where they hope he'll have the chance of a quieter life. They hadn't reckoned on Murdoc, who tracks Russel down in a Soho Rap Record Store. Now, all the fledgling group need is a guitarist. They place an ad in the NME. The day the ad is published, a Fed-Ex'd freight container is delivered to their door. Out jumps a small Japanese person carrying a Les Paul. She jabbers at them incomprehensibly, before launching into a riff to end all riffs, rounding it off with a hi-karate jump. The boys are speechless. Noodle has one word for them. It is Noodle.

Gorillaz are born, and signed amidst the mayhem of their very first gig. Such is the way legends are created

About Woodstock Logo

The original Woodstock poster is undeniably one of the most famous pieces of music art. The legendary image of the dove perched on the neck of a guitar has become one of the works of art that defined the entire Woodstock Nation. A recent article in the Woodstock Times raised some interesting points and a question involving the work of art. Woodstock Story got the privilege to speak with creator Arnold Skolnick and get some insight on the artist and the legendary work. He was contracted to create the visual representation of Woodstock 1969. Woodstock Ventures asked Skolnick for a poster for a music and art fair lasting 3 days that was to be peaceful. His approach and inspiration comes from the philosophy that "the solution is the problem". Many accounts of the piece site his two sons (or daughter that is nonexistent) as the inspiration for his work, which he states is not the case.

The Woodstock Times article states that in Michael Lang's book The Road to Woodstock, Lang claims the idea for the poster design as his own. "They asked for a poster for a music and art fair which would last for 3 days and wanted it to be peaceful. I was given the problem on a Thursday and I delivered it on Monday at about 11am. Mr. Lang never gave me any idea for the poster; he never saw it until it was finished. I don't believe he and I have ever talked," said Skolnick. After the Woodstock poster deal, Skolnick started a company that designed, produced, and published art books and limited editions after in the late 1970s. Many of the publications won awards for design and typography. Skolnick doesn't define his career as being the guy who designed the Woodstock 1969 poster. Skolnick, now a resident of Chesterfield, MA is thankful that he was able to set the right tone for the festival with his work of art, but saw very little in return. Despite the rampant replication of his original catbird/dove design perched on the guitar, he has received only one check for royalties amounting to about $15. He continues to run Chameleon Books and works on his paintings, photography, and drawings holding various exhibitions in New York and Massachusetts. "The Woodstock poster has not changed my life or had any real effect on my career. It was just another design solution that became famous," he said.

Woodstock 1969 Story

Rolling Stone has called it "the most famous event in rock history." The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, on a 600-acre farm in the township of Bethel, New York, from August 15-18, 1969, represents more than a peaceful gathering of 500,000 people and 32 musical performances. Woodstock has become an idea that has suffused our culture, politically and socially, as much as musically. Joni Mitchell, who didn't attend but wrote an anthemic song about it, once said, "Woodstock was a spark of beauty" where half-a-million kids "saw that they were part of a greater organism." According to Michael Lang, one of four young men who formed Woodstock Ventures to produce the festival, "That's what means the most to me – the connection to one another felt by all of us who worked on the festival, all those who came to it, and the millions who couldn't be there but were touched by it."

Lang met Artie Kornfeld, a Capitol Records A&R man and songwriter, in late 1968, and the two envisioned producing a festival in Woodstock, New York.and building a building a recording studio there. In search of financing they connected with John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, a pair of young venture capitalists who were already building Media Sound studios, a large-scale recording facility in New York City. In February of 1969, the four men incorporated Woodstock Ventures, Inc., and they began work on the festival. Soon, the conservative townsfolk of Wallkill became alarmed by the growing number of longhairs arriving to prepare the festival grounds, and a number of lawsuits were filed to stop the festival. After weeks of tension, town meetings, and legal maneuverings, Woodstock Ventures were refused permission to produce the festival.The studio project was put on hold so they could focus all their energy on saving the festival. Miraculously, 600 bucolic acres belonging to White Lake dairyman Max Yasgur, in the township of Bethel, New York, were discovered after Lang recieved a call from a local motel owner Elliott Tiber the day after the Wallkill site was lost. Work rapidly got underway to turn the rural acreage into a concert site with camping areas for 200,000. Three weeks later, during the week of August 11, thousands of people from all over the country began flocking to the festival site.

By Wednesday, August 13, the lush green bowl in front of the massive 75-foot stage was already filled with some 60,000 people. On Friday the roads were so clogged with cars that the only way most artists could reach the festival was by helicopter from a nearby airstrip. Though over 100,000 tickets were sold prior to the festival weekend, they became unnecessary: The fences and gates were never finished and people simply swarmed over those that were in place. "It's a free concert from now on!" was announced from the stage. As John Roberts later pointed out, "It took us eleven years to break even, but it was a success in every other way."

The music was scheduled to start at 4 p.m. on August 15, and just after 5 it did, thanks to New York-born folksinger Richie Havens. His improvised and rhythmic "Freedom" set the tone for the weekend. "The vibe at Woodstock was an expression of the times," says Joel Rosenman. "Energized by repugnance for a senseless war and for the entrenched discrimination of the establishment, a spirited but nonviolent counterculture was sweeping the country. That counterculture burst into bloom like the mother of all Mother's Day bouquets at Woodstock."

The occasional cloudburst delayed the primarily acoustic music as Friday night wore on, but eight acts, plus a swami, made it to the stage. Around 2 a.m, Joan Baez closed the first night with the spiritual "We Shall Overcome."

Saturday boasted the most music of the weekend, starting just after noon and continuing until Sunday at dawn (with Jefferson Airplane performing "morning maniac music," as described by Grace Slick). Highlights included the then-unknown Santana in mid-afternoon, and that night spectacular back-to-back performances by Sly and the Family Stone and The Who. Blues-rock was featured via Canned Heat and Mountain, followed by such legendary California-based artists as the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Janis Joplin. Sunday featured another long span of music, though violent thunderstorms wreaked havoc just after Joe Cocker and The Grease Band's finale of "A Little Help From My Friends." The music was delayed until late afternoon but carried on throughout the night with more highlights including the Texas bluesman Johnny Winter and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (their second gig). On Monday morning at 8:30, Jimi Hendrix closed out the festival. His magnificent, improvisational version of "The Star Spangled Banner" has come to symbolize the weekend.

Around 10:30 a.m. on August 18, the festival came to an end. The innovative concert film Woodstock, directed by Michael Wadleigh, was released in March of 1970 and took the festival's message around the world. The movie documented a community of a half million people who managed to peacefully co-exist over three days of consistent rain, food shortages, and a lack of creature comforts. "Woodstock is a reminder that inside each of us is the instinct for building a decent, loving community, the kind we all wish for," according to Joel Rosenman. "Over the decades, the history of that weekend has served as a beacon of hope that a beautiful spirit in each of us ultimately will triumph."

Recordings of the music played that weekend still evoke the magic and power felt by those who were there. "It was a privilege to help found something that has meant so much to so many," adds Rosenman. "Woodstock turned out to be a sort of permanent relative of the Family of Man—the adventuresome, kind-hearted uncle you're always happy to see at Thanksgiving and graduation. I'm really grateful that we both ended up in the same family."

Two days after Woodstock ended, the New York Times ran an editorial praising what had happened at Bethel (a reversal from a previous editorial condemning the festival). It concluded with a quote from Shakespeare's Henry V, which seems appropriate upon the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock: "He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, will stand a-tiptoe when this day is nam'd."

Hot Review : Guitar Effects Top 10

1.		Line 6 POD X3 Live Modeling Guitar Effects Processor	The Line 6 POD X3 Live represents the true evolution of the classic POD XT Live. The POD X3 Live features an expanded arsenal of 78 guitar amps, from high-wattage heavyweights to boutique beauties along with 24 guitar cabs, 98 stompbox and studio effects, 28 bass amps, 22 bass cabs and 6 vocal preamps. With the sonic firepower of a top-tier studio in a portable pedal board, the POD X3 live is an incredible value.
2.		Boss GT10 Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal	The Boss GT10 is a floorboard powerhouse that offers natural and musical response as well as a marked improvement in sound quality from previous generations. Loaded with tones of effects and an innovative user interface, the GT10 includes EZ Tone that allows guitarists to obtain the exact sound they desire in an extremely intuitive way.
3.		Digidesign Eleven Rack Guitar Effects and Amp Modeling Interface	A must have for any guitarist, the Eleven Rack combines the highest quality guitar effects with a pristine Pro Tools interface. Eleven Rack can be used as a standalone effects processor on stage or a Pro Tools interface with exquisite amp modes for the studio. The built-in amp models deliver the full depth, dimension, and response of a mic’d up rig giving you the experience of playing through the most coveted and best guitar amps in the world.
4.		Boss ME70 Guitar Multi Effects Pedal	The Boss ME70 is a multi-effects unit that is stompbox easy. The friendly, knob-laden design makes tone creation a snap, but with a powerful COSM amp section derived from the GT10, the ME70 takes the EZ effects concept to new heights.
5.		TC Electronic G System Limited Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal	G System is the first floor-based unit ever to offer both studio-quality guitar effects and advanced loop/routing facilities for external pedals and preamps. With a unique combination of 2 DSP sections, analog loops, amp switching, and 9VDC power outputs for external pedals, G-System is aimed at the experienced guitar player looking to complete his setup with the ultimate in quality, integration and flexibility.
6.		DigiTech RP1000 Guitar Multi-Effects Pedal	The control of your sound is imperative. The RP1000 gives you added control to express yourself the way you want – No longer will the lack of control stand in the way of your expression. The RP1000 features great sounding amp and cabinet models, internal and external effects switching system, built-in phrase looper, USB connection and much more.
7.		Boss RC20XL Loop Station Pedal	The Boss RC20XL allows musicians to create multi-layered performances in real time. Loops and riffs can be stacked repeatedly until the 16 minutes of ample recording space is full. Never before has it been so easy to create a massive one-person band sound in real time.
8.		Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler Pedal and Loop Sampler	The DL4 Delay is a programmable stomp box full of classic guitar effects, with the power and versatility of Line 6’s incredible digital modeling technology. The DL4 Delay Modeler has 3 programmable presets, a Tap Tempo switch and includes a Loop Sampler; Tube, Tape, Sweep, Multi-Head and Analog Echoes; Low Res, Rhythmic, Stereo, Ping Pong, Reverse, and Auto-Volume Delays.
9.		Fulltone OCD Obsessive Compulsive Drive Pedal	It's always been somewhat of a compromise using Overdrive pedals until now. The OCD is designed to replicate the dynamics and harmonic structure of an overdriven tube amp. The OCD pedal uses a unique multi-stage distortion circuit, as opposed to the more common diodes-in-feedback-loop/diodes-to-ground configurations. The designers at Fulltone made this pedal for themselves, but they'll let you use it too. And you'll love it!
10.		Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler	The Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler is powerful, portable and bursting with immortal stompbox effects. Its wide variety of vintage and modern tones makes it perfect on its own or an unrivalled addition to you pedal board. Featuring over 100 distinctive distortions, tangy choruses, syrupy sweet reverbs, and many other kinds of expressive effects. They combine under your feet to form an instant collection of stunning stompbox tones.

How to Build a Guitar in Easy Steps!

You simply can’t go out, buy some wood, and start glueing it all together. You have to have a detailed plan. This includes accurate drawings of the front of the guitar as well as a section through the center of it. I enjoy doodling my ideas on scraps of paper as thoughts come to me. As I refine those ideas, I’ll input them into my AutoCAD program to work out the details and exact measurements. It’s a good exercise in using both halves of your brain; sketch and refine. On the following pages are numerous design exercises which I went through on this build. Many times I went through many versions of a particular component only to come back to my first idea. That’s ok; it just reaffirmed my initial choice and let me know that I’ve explored all of my options. These diagrams have been reduced in size to fit in this book. Also, AutoCAD does not talk to my word processor very well. Thus, some diagrams will be a little difficult to read. This is mostly to show you that you need to do a lot of sketching and ciphering to get your design to work. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes which no one will ever really see. All of your drawings should be done in minute detail and to full scale.

Even though we traced a Paul Reed Smith body, we still needed to plot out the points so it could be input into AutoCAD accurately (sketch 1 above). After connecting all the dots (sketch 2), I found that the pen I traced the guitar with probably wandered around a bit. I refined the layout by breaking down the design into it’s individual arcs and lines (sketch 3). I then polished up the geometry, got the body perfectly symmetrical, and tweaked a few arcs (sketch 4). Ultimately, this led to the ultimate body shape which we could work with (sketch 5). You need to have all of your hardware in hand before you can complete your design. Obviously, you want to make sure everything will fit. After receiving the hardware, I got out my calipers and transfered all of the dimensions into AutoCAD. With all of these individual parts in the computer, I began to arrange them on the guitar body I drew up previously. Preparation and accuracy are paramount when dealing with the fine level of detail involved in guitar building. Take your time and get it right the first time. Fixing a screw up later on down the line is at best difficult, and it can be impossible. These sketches depict both top and side views of many of the pieces of hardware.

You might think that the knobs and switches are trivial, that is until they won’t fit into your control cavity. This exercise informed me that the 3-way switch was too tall and would end up poking Brian in the pecker while he was playing. That may have lent some added inspiration to Brian’s improvisations; however, it wouldn’t have looked very good (neither his pecker nor the guitar). I also had a large battery compartment which needed to be accommodated within the body of the guitar. These diagrams helped layout the routing templates used to cut the cavity and wiring channels. It’s important to document and verify everything before you start cutting any wood.

The dimensions of the nut and bridge are required to properly layout the neck. They define the width at each end of the scale. The desired scale length defines the distance between the nut and the bridge. Combining all of this data will dictate the taper of the fretboard. Use a fret spacing chart (which can be found on the internet) to help layout your fret locations. The headstock is the signature area on many guitars. You can tell whether a guitar is a Stratocaster or a Les Paul simply by looking at the headstock. It also lends a convenient spot to sign your own artistry via an inlay. We went through many different design schemes on the headstock and ended up with one of a very simple design.

Once you have all the bits a pieces documented and input into the computer, I started laying out everything on the guitar and putting the big picture together. A plan and section of the guitar was drawn accurately to scale. These drawings were printed out and directly used to make all of the templates. Wiring channels were laid out making sure they didn’t interfere with the bridge mounting posts or dowel locations. Knobs and switches were located and the control cavity was designed to accommodate them while avoiding cutting into the neck pocket. The height of the bridge will define the amount the neck will tilt back from the body of the guitar. This is evident in the section through the guitar. Make as many notes to yourself on these drawings as needed; these are your blueprints and patterns. This is the time you really get your guitar figured out in minute detail. Don’t leave anything left to figure out later as by then it might be too late.

The single most important layout you’ll need to devise is for the neck. If you get the neck wrong, it might render your new guitar useless. Since our neck was set into the body, we had a few more angles and cuts to make. The top sketch is a top view of the neck. The bottom two sketches are sections of the same neck, but showing how it could be cut from the block of wood in two different fashions. I chose to go with the bottommost layout since I could keep the fretboard surface (the most critical surface) untouched and dead flat. This layout is fully dimensioned since I would not be using a template to cut out the neck. I had to transfer all of the dimensions to the block of wood with a pencil, ruler, and square. This opens up an area for inaccuracies or transcribing errors, so double-check everything ... and then check it again

Radio Rolling Review Concept Design

I’m talking about Queen, the pop star Lady, and everyone in between! That’s right, stumble upon the middles of music. That’s what this project is all about, the finding of new things through happy accidents and utterly excellent analog instruments. It’s the “Radio Ball” and it means to take you back to a time when finding your favorite tune meant searching through radio stations, one after another. Along the way you might find what you need isn’t always what you were looking for.

This is the Radio Ball. Spin it, flip it, bop it. Make it do what you want to do to it, and find a magical blend of static and radio music. Turn it over to turn it on, spin it on it’s butt to turn it up or down.

Once you’ve found a station you love, mark it with a standard-size plug that fits right into the honeycomb of the ball. You can go back to it whenever you wish by flipping the ball back over to that stopper, as each comb acts a platform for flat standing when you want to listen to a straight up song.

And for when you want to go wild- just roll it!

Top 99 Best Designed Album Covers

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