Gorillaz

Gorillaz are a virtual band conceived in 1998 by Britpop musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, built around four animated characters — 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs — whose fictional lives run parallel to the music. The project functions as something between a band and a conceptual art piece: each album arrives as a new narrative phase, complete with its own visual world, and the guest list reads like a deliberate collision of genres, decades, and continents. Their 2001 self-titled debut and the 2005 follow-up Demon Days established a template of hip-hop, alternative rock, and electronic music threaded together by Albarn's melodic instincts and Hewlett's distinctive illustration. Their ninth album, The Mountain, arrived in early 2026.