Gorillaz

After learning that the latest Gorillaz album was recorded on an iPad, I was pretty interested to hear the results. If you're in the same boat, good news: the band is giving everyone their own Christmas present by posting The Fall online for free. All 15 tracks are available for a listen on the Gorillaz website now, and fan club members can download the entire album online. A wide release of The Fall is expected early next year.

How does the album sound? I'm making my way through the tracks and so far, so good. Want to make a digital album of your own on your iPad? You can with the help of some apps. Check out the list of iPad apps used to make the album, along with a song to whet your palate after the break.

I'm a big fan of Gorillaz, especially since I feel like we'd have a lot to talk about if I ever met the band. I mean, we're both crazy about music (obviously), and we both enjoy geeky things like holograms, oh, and iPads. iPads, you ask? Yes, iPads. See, Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn recently announced that the band's next album (which will be out by year's end) has been recorded entirely on an iPad.

In a recent interview, Damon told NME magazine how he hopes to be the first person to record an album on the Apple tablet. He says:

I fell in love with my iPad as soon as I got it, so I've made a completely different kind of record . . . It's ironic, being the sort of technophobe and Luddite that I am.

It seems the iPad can be a jack of all trades of sorts when it comes to art and is being used in a number of ways that you and I wouldn't have thought of. What other kind of magic can you create on the iPad? Find out after the break.

Today's entertainment goodies just keep on coming! In this week's music releases, a brand new collaboration is hitting the airwaves, alongside an album of previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix tracks. Hear my two cents, and then judge for yourself.

A perfect pairing: Broken Bells is the collaborative side project of Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse) and James Mercer. In their self-titled debut, they break free of Gnarls Barkley and the Shins, creating a sound all their own. The result is a dreamily dizzying mix of electronic, synth, and organ that's sure to be a hit with indie pop lovers and disenchanted youth everywhere (as on the haunting "Vaporize" where Mercer sings of "feeling lost"). Listen to it while contemplating your existence — or just do like "The Mall & Misery" suggests and "let your mind go."

Cartoon chaos: For a band that's a bunch of virtual characters, Gorillaz sure has a lot of friends. The group brings in everyone from Snoop Dogg to Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash for what's being called their environmental concept album, Plastic Beach. As such, expect to hear themes of consumerism (as on "Superfast Jellyfish") and saving the planet (on "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach"). It's a nice idea, but the mix of artists and sounds — '80s electronic pop to a Lebanese orchestra — sometimes feels all over the place. Where mishmash really succeeds: on the ambitious (and my personal fave) "White Flag."

One more release to check out when you read more