As promised, the new Gorillaz album The Fall — secretly recorded during the band’s recent American tour entirely on Damon Albarn’s iPad — will be released for free on the band’s site Christmas Day (there’s an Advent countdown calendar and everything). And as a Christmas Eve treat, the band has gone ahead and dropped the full version of The Fall track “Phoner to Arizona,†along with a mesmerizing fast-cut music video of scenes from the tour, the Gorillaz cartoon characters, and old-timey planes landing and taking off. Unlike their traditional star-stuffed, ultracatchy fare, this is the kind of stripped-down version of the band’s bread and butter that you might expect Albarn to make while dealing with bumpy tour-bus rides, backed-up mobile septic tanks, bunk beds, and scratched up Grown Ups Blu-rays (aAlso: ladies!). Which means: a nearly instrumental, funky as hell four-plus minutes, full of synth burbles and keyboard noodles that would definitely sound great with Mos Def/Snoop/Lou Reed vocals. Check it out!
