The year 2020 has been an absolute dystopian nightmare, but Gorillaz’ ongoing Song Machine series has kept our beats above water. The collaborative series has connected familiar faces (Peter Hook, Slaves) and introduced us to others (slowthai, Georgia, Fatoumata Diawara), and provided a true SOTY in April’s melancholic “Aries”.
This week, the animated collective team up with French-British rapper Octavian for the series’ fourth installment, and the result is a woozy haze of street life called “Friday 13th.”
From the opening lines, London’s Octavian sets the tone: “I been drinkin’ and smokin’ too much, that shit damages / Gimme a lot, I can do it myself, I can manage it / Two Xans, I gotta leave, and you know how it is / You and me, we can take on the world, we can be savages.”
Get into it via the psychedelic video below, directed by Jamie Hewlett.