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The Gorillaz record new album ‘The Fall’ on Apple iPad, offer it free to fan club

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The Gorillaz, a band led by English musician Damon Albarn, have recorded an album called ‘The Fall’ entirely on an Apple iPad.

On Christmas Eve the Gorillaz gave the 15-song album away to members of its Sub-Division fan club. For those who aren’t paid club members, the record can be heard by-way-of streaming online and the band has promised to bring it to record stores early next year.

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The first track on the album, Phoner to Arizona, is also available on YouTube.

And the 20 apps used to record the album are all available in Apple’s iTunes App Store.

They are: Speak It!, SoundyThingie, Mugician, Solo Synth, Synth, Funk Box, Gliss, AmpliTube, Xenon, Korg iElectribe, BS-16i, Mellotronics M3000 HD, Cleartune, iOrgel HD, Olsynth, StudioMini XL, BassLine, Harmonizer, Dub Siren Pro and Moog Filatron.

A few traditional instruments were used too, each of which were recorded solely by an iPad, incuding a guitar, Melodica, Microkorg, Moog Voyager, Korg Monotron, Korg Vocoder, Omnichord, piano and ukulele.

The Gorillaz said on their website that ‘The Fall’ was recorded over a 32-day period while the band was on a North American tour this year.

Using an iPad instead of a mixing board and a more capable computer, along with other amenities found in high-end recording studios, might be a bit unorthodox, but the Gorillaz have never been an ordinary band.

Albarn, who created the Gorillaz with comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, is the only member of the band to have appeared on each of the group’s albums. Other band members change frequently depending on the album or live concert.

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Many of the Gorillaz performances feature musicians playing behind or near a screen on which animated videos, based on designs by Hewlett, of virtual band members are shown to the audience.

The five cartoon band members — Stuart ‘2D’ Tusspot, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, Russel Hobbs and Cyborg Noodle — adorn the artwork of albums and are credited with playing various instruments in liner notes.

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— Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

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Video: Phoner to Arizona from the album The Fall. Image: The album cover of The Fall. Credit: The Gorillaz

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