Premiering this afternoon via the virtual band’s official YouTube channel, “Friday 13th” is the latest installment in Gorillaz’s ongoing Song Machine project. As with the other iterations of Song Machine 1-3, “Friday 13th” arrived attached to an eye-catching music video. Continuing on from the cyberpunk platformer antics in the joyfully retro “Aries”, the perspective’s now flipped to face us head-on, with the band’s cartoon faces (as well as the thoroughly non-animated guest rapper Octavian) superimposed over footage of an oncoming highway.
Song Machine | Episode Four
Friday 13th ft. @OctavianEssie
Premieres 09/06 5pm BSThttps://t.co/y0t2TUppYx#SongMachine pic.twitter.com/Tp3XTozbNb— gorillaz (@gorillaz) June 8, 2020
Dubbed as “Episode Four” of a series (perhaps a cheeky jab at lockdown enforcing our addiction to online boxsets?), the band’s Twitter account teased the release on Sunday, revealing French-British rapper Octavian to be the latest addition to a roster of big name collaborators who have already put their name to the project. The trio of Song machine EPs that have been put out this year boast appearances from the punk duo Slaves, Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, former Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook, and no less than Northampton’s child himself (slowthai).
Though “Friday 13th” has been billed as the fourth edition of the Song Machine series, it’s actually the fifth new song the virtual group has put out in 2020. Last month’s “Song Machine: How Far?” (above) on which Skepta’s delivery took front and centre, arrived with little to no fanfare since the song’s other guest musician, the legendary afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, had passed away a few days prior at the age of 79. Gorillaz’s unofficial creative director Damon Albarn had been a longtime admirer of Allen’s before the two went on to become firm friends. After Albarn sang “Tony Allen really got me dancing” on the 2000 Blur song “Music Is My Radar”, the Nigerian music pioneer got in touch, and they would both go on to perform together in the supergroups Rocket Juice & The Moon (with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bass player Flea) and The Good, The Bad & The Queen (with The Clash’s Paul Simonon and The Verve’s Simon Tong).
In a similar vein to “…How Far?”, “Friday 13th” also places its grime artist in the foreground. But whereas Skepta’s delivery cut cleanly through the mix on the former, Octavian’s flow is allowed to seep a little into the track’s hazy production – a stylistic choice reflected in the video by having Octavian’s translucent outline blend into his surroundings. Watch the video below:
