Monkey - Monkey Bee (Single)
When I requested this CD, all I knew was that it was something by the Gorillaz guys (Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, among others). That's literally all I knew. So when the CD arrived in my mailbox and I unwrapped it, my curiosity was raging like Jake Lamotta.
The cover art for this teaser single, Monkey Bee, is a pretty sweet anime-inspired drawing of a monkey in a cape, holding a staff, on a rock. It's decidedly different from the Gorillaz stuff, while being recognisably related somehow. Text on the front tells me this is 'From the new album Journey To The West.' Ok wait, let me re-read that. Journey .. To.. The.. West. Don't tell me: Monkey Magic?
I hopped online and my hopes were confirmed; the Gorillaz boys were involved with a freakin' opera of Monkey Magic (for the culturally deprived: Monkey was an awesome tv show based on the book Journey To The West, about a Monkey king with magical powers who travels with the monk Tripitaka on his journey to get some ancient scriptures blah blah blah it was amazingly trashy kung fu awesomeness!) The opera was performed back in 2007, in Manchester, and incorporated music by Albarn and design/art direction by Hewlett.
Anyway. Monkey Bee is one of the songs from the soundtrack to this opera. The soundtrack has been recorded specifically for an album format over the past year, and features a whole lotta Chinesey instruments as well as lyrics in Mandarin. Monkey Bee fits into the opera somewhere near the end, and really only provides the listener with a taste of what is sure to be a much more filling meal. It's atmospheric, upbeat, and fun, with liberal heapings of electronica, traditional Chinese intrumentation, and crazy Chinese singing. As you can see by the title of this review, the Gorillaz boys are releasing this single and the album under the band name Monkey.
The more I find out about this, the more I want to know.
