Apple Music Archives -

‘The Simpsons: Hit & Run’ soundtrack now on Spotify and Apple Music

Spotify and Apple Music are now featuring the original music of The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

The 2003 video game inspired by Grand Theft Auto includes instrumental songs such as Simpsons Hotline, Flowers By Irene, and Petty Theft Homer, but the music is only now streamable as the complete soundtrack.

Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons, Testify, and Songs in the Key of Springfield are among the other Simpsons albums that are now available on Spotify.

Using a mod, Hit & Run was transformed into the animated program Futurama in August last year. The demo was marketed as a complete conversion mod for The Simpsons: Hit & Run with the intention of recreating Hit & Run’s gameplay in the Futurama setting. The replica included original 3D models made to seem like an expansion pack for the game.

Matt Selman, the co-showrunner of The Simpsons, admitted in 2021 that he would love to see a remastered version of the Hit & Run.

Netflix to make a full-length Gorillaz film

A Gorillaz film is in the works at Netflix, confirmed frontman Damon Albarn in an interview with Apple Music.

Albarn said, “I’m at Netflix because we’re making a full-length Gorillaz film with Netflix. We’re having a writing session in Malibu this afternoon. It’s really exciting to do that. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a very long time. It’s been through so many incarnations; this Gorillaz doing a movie. Honestly.”

The Gorillaz is an English virtual band created in 1998 by musicians Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Each band member is represented by animated characters, including 2D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, keyboards, vocals), and Russel Hobbs (drums). Throughout the years, the Gorillaz have appeared across music videos, interviews, and short films as their animated counterparts. Even when the band is performing in front of a live crowd, they do so as 3D renderings of their animated characters. Some of the band’s biggest hits include songs like Feel Good Inc. ft. De La Soul, Clint Eastwood ft. Del the Funky Homosapien”, “19-2000”, Rhinestone Eyes, and Dirty Harry ft. Bootie Brown to name a few.

Back in October 2020, Albarn said that the band had “signed contracts” and “begun scripts.” He told Radio.com that “Making an animated film that’s kind of abstract is quite a big risk for a movie studio because they’re very expensive.” He went on to say, “I see a lot of people doing animated videos these days, but I don’t think they really touch the quality of ours. We’re more in the world of Studio Ghibli.”

Hewlett’s characters, who have appeared in both 2D and CG animation, have had a huge influence on character design in animated films and shows, video games, and comics. Their music has also been used in many hit films and shows including Trolls, How to Lose a Guy in 10 days, and Outer Banks.

Gorillaz released their most recent album, Song Machine: Season One, in October of last year. The new Gorillaz film does not have a release date yet, but hopefully it won’t take too long until there’s an official announcement with fresh details.

RADWIMPS releases English version of ‘Weathering With You’ score

RADWIMPS has once again collaborated with Makoto Shinkai on anime film Weathering with You, which was released in cinemas around the world earlier this year, and is coming to the US in January 2020.

Shinkai’s Your Name was one of the most successful anime film releases of all time. While it was a visual and narrative delight, the musical score composed by RADWIMPS was one of the big reasons for its success. Now that the film has gone onto major success already, RADWIMPS has released its soundtrack, Weathering With You, complete version in Japan. And the main theme is in English!

Weathering With You soundtrack is now available on services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, and more, and includes both a Japanese and English language version of Is There Still Anything Love Can Do?

GKIDS will be bringing Weathering With You to theaters in North America on 17 January, but Fathom Events will be holding special preview screenings for both the English dubbed release on 15 January and the original Japanese-language release on 16 January.