I'm having more fun writing these summaries, I think I found my new format.  Now if I can only put this together quicker I might do it daily instead of sporatically.  Anyway, lots of links in this one, enjoy!

So let's try something new.  I've been on vacation for over a week and have gathered up a ton of links to interesting stories.  Instead of writing a bunch of little stories for each thing, I'm just going to lump them all in this one post.  This should get me all caught up and ready for the rest of the week.

NPR has a couple of albums that you can stream from their site.

First up is the new collaboration by Shins frontman, James Mercer, and Danger Mouse called Broken Bells.  While the Shins linup is changing, the band is going to a new label, and Gnarls Barkley is between albums, Broken Bells formed and put out a pretty fantastic record.

Second is the latest installment from Gorillaz who will headline Coachella later this year.

UPDATE:  fixed the Broken Bells link as it was broken.  Thanks Erik!

Lots of little news bits all circling around Damon Albarn:

• First off, he's collaborating with Massive Attack on their next album and is wary of a long drawn out recording process.  So he's making them work 10am-6pm at his home studio to get the recoding done.  I think he just wants them out of his home studio.
• Then his other band, Gorillaz, is finishing up mixing their upcoming album and frontman, "Murdoc", is now on twitter announcing the progress.  Their album is due out in March and a tour will likely follow.
• Finally, Blur's reunion shows last year were stellar and they made a DVD of the shows, "No Distance Left to Run", which is currently airing in England movie theaters and will be released on February 15th.  Check out the trailer, it looks pretty fun.

The highly anticipated Gorillaz documentary Bananaz, set for a global online premiere April 20 through Babelgum, will be screened tonight at the New York Soho Apple Store followed by a Q & A session with director Ceri Levy. - Source

That previously reported Monkey: Journey To The West project, involving Gorillaz collaborators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett in the classic tale of a Monkey King approaching monkey enlightenment one monkey day at a time, has become a pretty big deal. First there were the classy openings at opera houses around the world, followed by the BBC commissioning a Hewlett/Albarn reprise (Journey To The East) for their 2008 Summer Olympics Coverage. But this is the pinnacle for this Simian Mobile Opera: a YouTube homepage takeover. Shrimp and white wine for all.

Damon and Jamie sat to talk about it, and also chose the occasion to premiere the video for the Monkey project soundtrack's first single, "Monkey Bee." It's part Gorillaz backbeats, part Chinese folk/modal melodies, part Lord Of The Ringsy epic battle-sequence art direction, with some tail-end post-punk and unhelpful subtitles just in case you need more things to pay attention to. - Source

Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett & Chen Shi-Zheng are bringing their adaptation of Monkey: Journey To The West to the US beginning later this month. We've been drooling over this unbelievable project created by the Gorillaz crew ever since we caught a sneak peak nearly one year ago - Source

Gorillaz mastermind Jamie Hewlett has produced a new, one-off television programme. - Source

The Belgian duo (aka 2 Many DJs) collect their best remix work-- songs that reconfigure tracks from LCD Soundsystem, Kylie Minogue, Gorillaz, Klaxons, Muse, and more-- and add a second disc that mixes them together.  Source

Alright, you can throw this one into the Unconfirmed Rumour Dept.:

What IS known is that Virgin is hosting a a world premiere GORILLAZ Listening Party at SXSW. This will quite literally be the FIRST time that the new Gorillaz material will be aired to the public. The listening party will be on Thursday, March 17, 2005, from 3pm-5pm at Red Fez at 209 B W. 5th St. in Austin.

What ISN'T known is that it's been all but confirmed to us by an inside source that attending the party will be Damon Albarn, Dangermouse, and MF Doom - in person. Shh. You didn't hear that from us.

You might have to prove yourselves industry-worthy to get inside the door... they're taking RSVP's at THIS WEBSITE. So if you're gonna be in the vicinity, you might wanna check it out.