The Neptunes/N*E*R*D's Pharrell Williams Working With Blur/Gorillaz' Damon Albarn On New Song

I knew these photos had a story to tell. Pharrell Williams has revealed that he's putting a song together with Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. According to NME, The rapper said he has been in the studio laying down one new song. He didn't make it clear if it was recorded for Gorillaz, but with Albarn releasing a new album by the collective this year and having said he's working on further new songs for them, it is thought that Williams' contribution was for that project. 

“We’re working on a song together,” he told the Daily Star. “We haven’t finished it but it sounds so dope, though.”

Hears hoping that Williams and Albarn's upcoming track makes the next Gorillaz release which Damon has been recording on his iPad and is attempting to release around the holidays.

[Watch] N*E*R*D - "Sacred Temple" Live on Jimmy Fallon

N*E*R*D have been doing a lot of promo these past few months for their latest album Nothing which dropped at the start of the month. They've also been on a mission to release video/visuals for each and every track on said album! Quite a challenge by any means, amongst touring and promo. Last night was another date in the diary for them as they said hello to Jimmy Fallon and performed "Sacred Temple". Take a look at the performance up top courtesy of our friend the Audio Perv. Nothing is out now if you want to go pick it up.

[Listen & Download] N*E*R*D - "Hypnotize U" (Nero Remix) x (Koolade Remix)

Grab yourself this nice little download of N*E*R*D's "Hypnotize U" which has been remixed by British duo Nero and the funky remix by Koolade which you can stream below. The original track was produced by Daft Punk so I can see the appeal of it for people wanting a piece of the pie and getting in on the remix action. 
  N.E.R.D - Hypnotize You (Koolade RMX) by BlackoutHipHop

N*E*R*D - "Hypnotize U" (Nero Remix) by Some Kind of Awesome

[Watch] N*E*R*D - "Life As A Fish" (Video)

Enthusiastic about the visuals for their latest studio offering we have another video from N*E*R*D for your eyes to take in. The "Life As A Fish" video is kind of shocking and that's the point making a political statement about our abuse of the world and the planet we live in. Contrast to their last video about hypnotising girls as you go about your day to day business. I look forward to seeing the rest of the videos the boys are planning, as they prepare to unleash a video for each and every song on Nothing. Check it out up top and pick up their latest album Nothing over here or on iTunes here.

[Watch] N*E*R*D - "God Bless Us All"

N*E*R*D dropped by one Mr Jay Leno's show and performed album track "God Bless Us All" in between releasing their new album and giving us several videos for new tracks. Their latest studio offering, Nothing dropped last week and it's got some pretty catchy tunes on it as well as a few that fall shorter of the mark. You can check them out on the road if you happen to live in Australia, with them having a few dates set for the new year. If you don't grace the land down under don't sweat it, head out and pick up the latest album and enjoy the good vibes until more dates are announced. Thanks to our friends The Audio Perv for the video.

[Album Review] N*E*R*D - Nothing

It's been about two and a half years since N*E*R*D released their last album, Seeing Sounds, and man, Pharrell and the boys have been busy. At the very end of touring with Gorillaz across North America, N*E*R*D released their newest album Nothing, and it's clear that they are still on top of their game. With the same smooth, sexual delivery courtesy of Pharrell and the hard-hitting beats to back up his vocals, Nothing delivers exactly what fans expect from the Virginia Beach boys. And if there is one thing that N*E*R*D does extremely well, that is their ability to blend so many different genres of music into one. Blending funk, hip hop, rock, R&B, electronic, and pop, the diversity of the songs on Nothing is definitely a strength. Despite a few weaknesses, it's clear that their fourth studio outing is their most focused, cleanest album yet.

Nothing starts with a bang, hitting hard with the opening track "Party People." The track, featuring T.I., is high-energy and lives up to its title. The album's first single, "Hot-n-Fun" features Nelly Furtado and is a fun, energetic, funk/dance track that shows what the rest of the album is like: a more funk/dance-oriented album that takes successful elements from all three of N*E*R*D's previous albums. The diversity of the album is most prominent in the album's second single "Hypnotize U," produced by French electronic duo Daft Punk. Evidence of Daft Punk's style can be heard throughout the whole track, with synth heavy beats and hard-hitting 808 drums. This, coupled with Pharrell's sexualized voice, makes "Hypnotize U" the most standout song on the entire album.

When the album starts to slow down, N*E*R*D's strengths and weaknesses are easy to pick out. With slow songs like "I've Seen The Light," "Life As A Fish," and "Help Me" you see that their major weakness is with their writing ability, with extremely sexualized lyrics being found on many of the songs on the album. Those three songs in particular have fairly indirect, and often hard to understand, lyrics from Pharrell. Despite Pharrell's lyrics being either smug or sexual lyrics, I actually find their excessively sexualized lyrics to be pretty hilarious it adds to the distinct attitude and style of N*E*R*D. "Victory" is a nice contrast to the weaker songs on the album, with Pharrell giving us everything he's capable of with his pitch-perfect voice. It's good that the beats that accompany Pharrell are getting so refined and perfected that it almost doesn't matter whether he sounds amazing or not; the instrumentals constantly steal the limelight.

It's good to see that N*E*R*D is continuing to go with their distinct and classic musical style that they've become so well known for. The variety of genres that come together in their music is so unique that it's hard to pass up if you're a fan of what Pharrell and the boys do. Nothing continues with what N*E*R*D does best and that's exactly what fans will be looking for. What makes this such an outstanding album is the fact that, when compared to In Search Of..., Fly or Die, and Seeing Sounds, N*E*R*D is maturing musically, with more clean, crisp songs and a more focused sound. This is something that is definitely worth listening to.

SCORE: 4.0

[Listen] Pharrell - "Hoppin' Over Fences"

Pharrell has made a track for Rob Dyrdek’s Skateboard-movie Street Dreams. Lyrically it is exactly what it says in the title. 3 words repeated over and over again..."Hoppin' Over Fences". The beats are cool for the track and overall it's pretty decent and it'll get stuck in your head, that's for sure! N*E*R*D's latest album Nothing dropped earlier this week so head out and pick it up and watch their latest hypnotic music video over here. Thanks to theneptunes.org for this one.

Pharrell - "Hoppin' Over Fences" by Some Kind of Awesome

[Watch] N*E*R*D - "Hypnotize You" (Video)

Today is a big day for N*E*R*D their 4th studio offering, Nothing hits stores today! You can go listen to it in full over here if you missed it last week. As well as that, feast your eyes on their latest video for "Hypnotize You" in which it looks like Pharrell has worked his magic and turned a bunch of ladies into his own house trained robots. Pretty cool. You can grab the album over here now and add it to your collection if you're yet to grab a copy. We had another new video from the band just last week for album track "Help Me" which you may as well check out while you're getting you N*E*R*D fix for the day. Enjoy.