I’ve always loved the idea of the Gorillaz. Something about their approach to a musical act taking on a persona has always intrigued me for some reason. It’s been done before – masked musicians like Kiss, Mushroom Head and Slipknot comes to mind – but Gorillaz has upped the ante by having a complete separation between the actual musicians and the “band”. What’s interesting is that, as technology progresses, the Gorillaz characters evolve and become more and more real, more visceral. The cartoon band even got to take the stage in front of live audiences.

Recently, I ran across an article that described the development of technology that would allow us to recreate the works of dead musicians. The project by Zenph Studios analyzes nuances of playing and musicality and recreates performances on real instruments via midi.

I wonder how long it’ll take until the two ideas merge: virtual bands and “reincarnated” musicians. Maybe someday soon, we could see live performances by virtual Hendrix, Bach, Lennon, Mozart.

Until then, enjoy the Gorillaz video. The guy from Die Hard is in it being a badass.