Strange Timez

For the album, see Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.
"Strange Timez"
Single by Gorillaz featuring Robert Smith
from the album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez
Released9 September 2020 (2020-09-09)
Recorded2020
StudioDamon Albarn's home studio, Devon, England
Genre
Length3:47
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Gorillaz singles chronology
"Pac-Man"
(2020) 		"Strange Timez"
(2020) 		"The Pink Phantom"
(2020)
Robert Smith singles chronology
"It Never Was the Same"
(2015) 		"Strange Timez"
(2020) 		"How Not to Drown"
(2021)
Music video
"Strange Timez" on YouTube

"Strange Timez" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring The Cure frontman, Robert Smith. The track was released on 9 September 2020 as the seventh single for Gorillaz' seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, and the sixth episode of the Song Machine project, a web series that involved the release of various Gorillaz tracks featuring different guest musicians over the course of 2020.[4][5]

Background

[edit]

The song was first teased at the end of the "Pac-Man" music video, where the opening tune of the song played over an announcement that Song Machine would return in September. It is the first single from Song Machine to be recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Albarn mentioning that the track was recorded over email with Smith.[6]

Music video

[edit]

The video, directed by Jamie Hewlett, Tim McCourt, and Max Taylor, features the band members going on a trip to the Moon. 2-D stares at the Earth, Noodle blows up a billboard on the Moon, Russel performs donuts with the vehicle on the Moon's surface, and Murdoc discovers a Monolith on the Moon. When he stepped through it, it teleported him back to Earth, right outside of Kong Studios. The video ends with the message "Be the Change" written out of craters on the Moon's surface.

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)ProducersLength
1."Machine Bitez #12" (with 2-D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle)  0:30
2."Strange Timez" (featuring Robert Smith)
3:47
3."Machine Bitez #13" (with 2-D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle)  0:46
4."Strange Timez" (Robert Smith AURORA Remix)  4:58
Total length:10:01

Personnel

[edit]

Gorillaz

Additional musicians and personnel

  • Robert Smith – vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass guitar, music box
  • Etta Albarn Teulon – trumpet
  • John Davis – mastering engineer
  • Samuel Egglenton – engineering
  • Stephen Sedgwick – mixing engineer, engineering

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Schmidt, Claudia (10 September 2020). "WATCH: Gorillaz ft. Robert Smith- 'Strange Timez'". Happy. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Gorillaz's 'Song Machine: Season One – Strange Timez' is a Perfect Pop Tonic for 2020: Album Review". 23 October 2020.
  3. ^ Blistein, Jon (9 September 2020). "Gorillaz Venture to the Moon With Robert Smith in New 'Strange Timez' Video". Rolling Stone.
  4. ^ Blistein, Jon (29 January 2020). "Gorillaz Detail New Music, Video Series 'Song Machine'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  5. ^ Jon Blisten (9 September 2020). "Gorillaz Venture to the Moon With Robert Smith in New 'Strange Timez' Video". Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ Tom Skinner (9 September 2020). "Gorillaz team up with Robert Smith on 'Strange Timez' and share star-studded 'Song Machine' tracklist". NME.
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