Gorillaz are coming for you.

Gorillaz photo by Mark Allan via the band's Facebook page.

I remember breathlessly running to the Virgin Records in downtown Chicago the day the Gorillaz debut arrived in the import section of the store. I was a massive Blur fan, and since that band was known to most Americans at the time as the “woo hoo” band, Gorillaz arrived in the states virtually unnoticed—at first. They were a po-mo cartoon band; an Archies for a new era. At least that seemed to be the common consensus—again, at first.

Obviously that all changed.

By the time Plastic Beach dropped just under a decade later, Damon Albarn was arguably more internationally famous for his “cartoon band” than his original outfit. Gorillaz was a superstar outifit. But after an exultant tour that saw he and his assembled cast of world class bandmates taking the music out in front of the projections of the cartoon characters for the first time, it appeared the band might be done.

Gorillaz at UIC Pavillion in 2008, photo by me.

So news of Humanz, the first new Gorillas album since 2011’s tour souvenir The Fall—hotel room recordings Albarn made on the road—has everyone going bonkers. Including me. The multi-media rollout is everywhere.

So it’s making things difficult for me.

You see, I want to experience the new album as a whole. So I’m trying to avoid things like the slew of advance singles, and concert footage and the bajillion other things saturating media outlets all around me. I mean, it’s a masterful media plan and it’s great! But I selfishly want to treat this particular release as one I wait with great anticipation without knowing too much. Kind of like the olden days. And it’s kind of fun. As the buzz grows from everyone reacting to the new material it just makes me even more gloriously impatient to hear the whole thing.

Obviously should I be lucky enough to get an advance sent to me I’ll listen to that right away, but again, I want to experience the whole thing fresh. For me, personally, I think it’ll be just so much more satisfying.

How funny is it that a band set in the future and focused on the current state of affairs would trigger such a nostalgic series of behavior from me? Heh.