Noodle (Gorillaz)
Encyclopedia
Noodle is a musician and member of the virtual band
Gorillaz
. She provides the guitar and keyboard, as well as some main and backing vocals for the band. She, like all other Gorillaz members, was created by Damon Albarn
and Jamie Hewlett
. She was inspired by guitarist Julie Sims, of the band Tiger
.
crate, in immediate response to the ad they placed for a guitarist in NME
. She could not speak any English beyond the word "Noodle", thus earning her name. She quickly got settled in England with the Gorillaz, and was accepted as the fourth member of the band.
In Rise of the Ogre
, it is revealed that during the band's hiatus in November 2003, Noodle went back to Japan to find out the truth about her past after being haunted by strange nightmares while on tour. Upon her return to Japan, Noodle regained her memory after hearing the code-phrase "ocean bacon" at a restaurant. There she coincidentally met with her creator/mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories: Noodle is, in fact, part of a secret government super soldier project, trained specially as a musician. As a result, she is a master of many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a specialty in the guitar, both as a musical instrument, and a weapon. Out of the 23 children created for the project, Noodle was the only one to survive; the others were all destroyed by the government when the project was scrapped. Kyuzo had smuggled her to safety in England after reading the aforementioned ad placed by the other three Gorillaz members in NME.
Noodle regained the ability to speak English, along with her memories, and was the first member of Gorillaz to return to Kong Studios after their failed international tour. She was alone at Kong Studios for nearly six months; during that time she composed the majority of the Demon Days album as a response to the chaotic cultural climate at the time. Her composition of the album crafted a specific message, as opposed to the debut which was composed by Murdoc and 2D, which had a grimier, more spontaneous sound. Despite her quiet nature, she became the most vocal of the band when it came to describing the album.
" music video appeared outside of Kong Studios on the website's splash page. Shortly before the release of "El Mañana", the windmill was seen flying away.
The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video, once again depicting Noodle on the Slowboat, although she appears to be much older in the "El Mañana" video than when she is shown in the "Feel Good Inc" video. The video concludes with the helicopters bombing the crashed windmill. Two days after the video's release, cracks appeared on the walls of Noodle's room on the website (which spread to the ground floor lobby) and the clock on her wall labelled "Armageddon" (the only piece of furniture left behind) gained a fourth hand, and fell to the floor. The cracks grew to the point that part of the roof collapsed, exposing the outdoor sky. Near the end of the month, more boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby, one of which was labelled "DedEx". They disappeared after the lobby was destroyed.
In the book Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc reveals that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. According to Murdoc, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out", though that was the interview before receiving a transmission from Noodle.
in the Gorillaz book, Rise of the Ogre:
According to a interview with Q magazine, Murdoc found that Noodle had fallen foul of another attempt to take his soul, this time a group of spirits who had taken advantage of Russel's spirit-channelling capabilities. Armed with an ancient spellbook, he set off into the underworld, but failed to find her.
and Yahoo!
radio broadcasts to promote the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach
. Murdoc claimed that Noodle was never rescued after the "El Mañana" video, and that his supposed rescue attempt was a drunken delusion. With Russel's whereabouts still unknown, he and 2D have been working on the third album with the help of a Noodle cyborg
constructed from Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage. However, due to the improbability of anything Murdoc says and the fact that only DNA was gathered, the status of the real Noodle was in question. It has since been confirmed that the real Noodle is alive. Recently, Murdoc has called Noodle his greatest asset.
Noodle is confirmed to be alive in an exclusive new Gorillaz video for the single "On Melancholy Hill
". In the video, a luxury cruise ship (called the "M. Harriet") is being bombarded by torpedoes coming from pirate WWII Corsairs flying overhead. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn Noodle (who is sitting, wearing an oni mask) that the ship is under attack by pirates and to take her to the lifeboats. Noodle walks over to her briefcase and opens it, revealing a Thompson submachine gun
. She then passes the confused crew member and heads out to face the pirates. She kills one of the pirates, but the other drops a bomb on the ship, sinking it. Noodle is seen floating out to sea in a lifeboat which is later picked up by the now-giant Russel. Murdoc has since posted on his Twitter page that he was surprised to see the real Noodle alive and is claiming to be on his way to retrieve her. In one of the visuals for the live show, Noodle is seen playing a melodica to the track "Broken".
In the storyboard for the potential video for "Rhinestone Eyes
", Noodle is seen to be carried on the top of the giant Russel's head as he swims towards Plastic Beach. Once the fighting stops near the end of the storyboard, she is seen to step out of Russel's mouth, and removes her cat oni mask, revealing some scarring to her face and eye.
album, Noodle was seen with a notably different look, no longer sporting her trademark radio helmet as well as having a noticeably more feminine fashion style and lighter skin tone. She was also noticeably taller with thinner legs, and occasionally seen sporting a monkey named Mike. In the video for "El Mañana
" she has green eyes, which contradicts the previous videos where her eyes are seen: "19-2000
", "Rock the House
", and "Dare
". In these videos she is depicted as having black eyes with no irises or pupils, unlike 2-D whose eyes were fractured by Murdoc's stolen Vauxhall Astra, but this difference is likely because the pan of the video was zoomed entirely on her eye, making the green noticeable. Most of the time, though, Noodle's eyes are covered by her hair. In a recent Q&A, Jamie Hewlett stated that Noodle's eye color varies depending on distance; when far away, they're black. When up close, they're green.
In Phase One, her hair was completely black, and she was always wearing her helmet (as seen on Brit Awards Show 2002), except for select live performances. During Phase Two, Noodle's hair became purple and blue tinted and somewhat longer, covering her eyes.
According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle was sixteen as of January 2006. It was confirmed by a Gorillaz e-mail sent out on Halloween that she was born on that day, 31 October, in 1990.
In "On Melancholy Hill
", Noodle is seen wearing red lipstick and her body is noticeably more matured with her height and body structure, since she should be 19 years old in this video. (That is, if the Gorillaz have been paying attention to dates.) She is also seen wearing a white and green cat mask. Underneath the cat mask is a large, dark bruise on the right side of her face.
album.
It was not until Phase Two with the Demon Days album that anyone actually heard her fluently speak English conversationally.
Noodle is a fan of Miyazaki
's films. She enjoyed Spirited Away
and got inspiration for the "Feel Good Inc.
" video from Castle in the Sky
; her floating island was inspired by Howl's Moving Castle (film)
. According to the bio presented during Gorillaz' appearance on MTV Cribs
, her listed interests are Johnny Thunders
and Richie Sambora
.
Also, on her computer in Kong, it is shown in the file '21_facts' that she is interested in that number. This file also features a reference to Prince
. In Rise of the Ogre, many pictures of Noodle include her holding a guitar in her left hand, showing that she is right-handed.(Irrelevant because not many people do things with the opposite hand than they write with.) However, in pictures for the Gorillaz bite "Search for a Star", she can be seen holding a pencil in her left hand. This is further supported in the "On Melancholy Hill" music video, where in which both she and her cyborg clone are shown firing their guns in a left-handed fashion.
vocalist Miho Hatori
and Talking Heads
' Tina Weymouth
, who both had provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda
, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice (i.e. in interviews, etc.); and Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE
". Her spiritual embodiment is suspected to be that of a high school girl residing across the world in Ohio, USA.
In Plastic Beach
, it's been a matter of debate for fans as to who is "Noodle". While some argue that Yukimi Nagano
of Little Dragon
provides either Noodle's voice or that of her cyborg clone in "Empire Ants" and "To Binge
" and that her guitar portions were provided by whoever plays guitar on a given song, including Simon Katz, Simon Tong
, and Damon Albarn
, some argue she is not at all on the album. The question is where the video of "On Melancholy Hill" takes place chronologically: if the video is all the collaborators on their way to Plastic Beach, then that means Noodle may have arrived in time to play a role. But during production of the album this was never implied and obviously the twitter posts by Murdoc came out after the album was released. Phase 3 has no named "voice coach" as of yet for Noodle or Cyborg. Her voice does appear in the demo "Electric Shock" and "Rhinestone Eyes
" but again, no one has yet been confirmed.
Gorillaz created for their album Plastic Beach. In the storyline, she was created by the band leader, Murdoc, as a replacement for the band's original guitarist, Noodle, whose whereabouts were allegedly unknown. She was created through the use of cybernetic prosthetics as well as some DNA samples of Noodle that were salvaged from the wreckage of the flying windmill island which was destroyed in the "El Mañana" music video. She serves as both a guitarist and a "gun-slinging bodyguard" for Murdoc.
Aside from her built-in knowledge of musical instruments and theory, Cyborg Noodle also has a vast knowledge of weapons and fighting techniques, as well as basic skills, much like Noodle. Unlike the original Noodle's reserved and calm nature, Cyborg Noodle was programmed by Murdoc to take on even the riskiest tasks without hesitation by any means necessary, making her in some ways a robotic mercenary. She seems to malfunction in "Stylo
" due to a thunderstorm halfway through the video and having been previously shot in the head, but later repairs herself, as seen in "On Melancholy Hill
".
Murdoc revealed in a radio interview that she malfunctioned and tried to kill him,then Noodle destroyed the cyborg.
, in which it revealed that it prefers pop music, unlike the original Noodle's "rock-chick" style. It also claims to enjoy the Twilight
films and their starring actor, Robert Pattinson
. This further tells of the incomplete nature of the cyborg, as the real Noodle would have rejected both as "False Icons", in accordance with the ideals she spoke of in Rise of the Ogre. Cyborg Noodle first appears in the music video for the Plastic Beach
track "Stylo
", where it has been shot multiple times, and shuts down shortly after firing upon a police car. The cyborg survives, and Murdoc explains in the Plastic Beach Experience video that she is in constant need of charging whenever not being used. In the documentary that comes with the Experience edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett refers to the cyborg as "Evil Noodle".
In the "Rhinestone Eyes" music video, she is shown hiding behind some palm trees clutching two Uzis as the island is being attacked by the Boogieman and pirates. A small group of collaborators, who seem to be Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, are hiding against a wall. Cyborg Noodle locks eyes with one of the De La Soul members and she is seen smiling. Fluid is seen leaking out of her eye, nose, and mouth, the cause unknown.
Cyborg Noodle
Virtual band
In music, a virtual band is any group whose members are not corporeal musicians, but animated characters...
Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
. She provides the guitar and keyboard, as well as some main and backing vocals for the band. She, like all other Gorillaz members, was created by Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
and Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett is an English comic book artist and designer. He is known for being the co-creator of the comic Tank Girl and co-creator of the virtual band Gorillaz.-Biography:...
. She was inspired by guitarist Julie Sims, of the band Tiger
Tiger (band)
Tiger were an indie band from Princes Risborough and London who were formed in 1996.Tiger quickly got British press attention after their debut single "Shining in the Wood" was played on BBC Radio 1. The musical climate of the time was dominated by Britpop and retro bands influenced by Oasis...
.
Biography
Noodle arrived on Murdoc's doorstep in a FedExFedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
crate, in immediate response to the ad they placed for a guitarist in NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
. She could not speak any English beyond the word "Noodle", thus earning her name. She quickly got settled in England with the Gorillaz, and was accepted as the fourth member of the band.
In Rise of the Ogre
Rise of the Ogre
Rise of the Ogre is an autobiography about the virtual band Gorillaz. Ostensibly written by the four band-members in collaboration with Gorillaz musician and official scribe Cass Browne, the book is 304 pages long and is extensively illustrated. It was released in the UK on 26 October 2006 by...
, it is revealed that during the band's hiatus in November 2003, Noodle went back to Japan to find out the truth about her past after being haunted by strange nightmares while on tour. Upon her return to Japan, Noodle regained her memory after hearing the code-phrase "ocean bacon" at a restaurant. There she coincidentally met with her creator/mentor, Mr. Kyuzo, who was working as the head chef in the restaurant. Kyuzo helped her make sense of her lost memories: Noodle is, in fact, part of a secret government super soldier project, trained specially as a musician. As a result, she is a master of many weapons, languages, and musical instruments, with a specialty in the guitar, both as a musical instrument, and a weapon. Out of the 23 children created for the project, Noodle was the only one to survive; the others were all destroyed by the government when the project was scrapped. Kyuzo had smuggled her to safety in England after reading the aforementioned ad placed by the other three Gorillaz members in NME.
Noodle regained the ability to speak English, along with her memories, and was the first member of Gorillaz to return to Kong Studios after their failed international tour. She was alone at Kong Studios for nearly six months; during that time she composed the majority of the Demon Days album as a response to the chaotic cultural climate at the time. Her composition of the album crafted a specific message, as opposed to the debut which was composed by Murdoc and 2D, which had a grimier, more spontaneous sound. Despite her quiet nature, she became the most vocal of the band when it came to describing the album.
"El Mañana"
In March 2006, the Gorillaz video "El Mañana" was released. In the days preceding the release of the video, cardboard boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby. The boxes soon moved to Noodle's room, and each day, her room was shown to be more and more packed away until the room was entirely barren. At the same time, the Slowboat (AKA Windmill Island) from the "Feel Good Inc.Feel Good Inc.
"Feel Good Inc." is a song by Gorillaz, on their album Demon Days, featuring De La Soul. The song was released as the lead single from the album on 9 May 2005 in the United Kingdom . "Feel Good Inc." peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom and #14 in the United States, at the time the band's highest...
" music video appeared outside of Kong Studios on the website's splash page. Shortly before the release of "El Mañana", the windmill was seen flying away.
The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video, once again depicting Noodle on the Slowboat, although she appears to be much older in the "El Mañana" video than when she is shown in the "Feel Good Inc" video. The video concludes with the helicopters bombing the crashed windmill. Two days after the video's release, cracks appeared on the walls of Noodle's room on the website (which spread to the ground floor lobby) and the clock on her wall labelled "Armageddon" (the only piece of furniture left behind) gained a fourth hand, and fell to the floor. The cracks grew to the point that part of the roof collapsed, exposing the outdoor sky. Near the end of the month, more boxes were found in the Kong Studios lobby, one of which was labelled "DedEx". They disappeared after the lobby was destroyed.
In the book Rise of the Ogre, Murdoc reveals that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It was stated by Murdoc that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. According to Murdoc, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out", though that was the interview before receiving a transmission from Noodle.
Trapped in Hell
When the Gorillaz web site still allowed visitors to tour Kong Studios, a radio could be heard in the basement, broadcasting a distress call from Noodle. The message was printed as an epilogueEpilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
in the Gorillaz book, Rise of the Ogre:
According to a interview with Q magazine, Murdoc found that Noodle had fallen foul of another attempt to take his soul, this time a group of spirits who had taken advantage of Russel's spirit-channelling capabilities. Armed with an ancient spellbook, he set off into the underworld, but failed to find her.
Plastic Beach
On 22 January 2010, Murdoc hijacked the online NME RadioNME Radio
NME Radio is the radio station from NME magazine, that broadcasts in a new commercially oriented alternative music format. It first began broadcasting on 24 June 2008.- History :...
and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
radio broadcasts to promote the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...
. Murdoc claimed that Noodle was never rescued after the "El Mañana" video, and that his supposed rescue attempt was a drunken delusion. With Russel's whereabouts still unknown, he and 2D have been working on the third album with the help of a Noodle cyborg
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
constructed from Noodle's DNA from the windmill wreckage. However, due to the improbability of anything Murdoc says and the fact that only DNA was gathered, the status of the real Noodle was in question. It has since been confirmed that the real Noodle is alive. Recently, Murdoc has called Noodle his greatest asset.
Noodle is confirmed to be alive in an exclusive new Gorillaz video for the single "On Melancholy Hill
On Melancholy Hill
"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British alternative group Gorillaz' third studio album, Plastic Beach. The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production time for The Good The Bad and The Queen's self titled album. The single was released on 26 July 2010...
". In the video, a luxury cruise ship (called the "M. Harriet") is being bombarded by torpedoes coming from pirate WWII Corsairs flying overhead. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn Noodle (who is sitting, wearing an oni mask) that the ship is under attack by pirates and to take her to the lifeboats. Noodle walks over to her briefcase and opens it, revealing a Thompson submachine gun
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
. She then passes the confused crew member and heads out to face the pirates. She kills one of the pirates, but the other drops a bomb on the ship, sinking it. Noodle is seen floating out to sea in a lifeboat which is later picked up by the now-giant Russel. Murdoc has since posted on his Twitter page that he was surprised to see the real Noodle alive and is claiming to be on his way to retrieve her. In one of the visuals for the live show, Noodle is seen playing a melodica to the track "Broken".
In the storyboard for the potential video for "Rhinestone Eyes
Rhinestone Eyes
"Rhinestone Eyes" is a single from Gorillaz's third studio album, Plastic Beach. Fictional band member, Murdoc Niccals, stated the following about "Rhinestone Eyes" in a 'Track by Track' commentary:...
", Noodle is seen to be carried on the top of the giant Russel's head as he swims towards Plastic Beach. Once the fighting stops near the end of the storyboard, she is seen to step out of Russel's mouth, and removes her cat oni mask, revealing some scarring to her face and eye.
Character appearance
For the Demon DaysDemon Days
Demon Days is the second studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released in May 2005. The album features contributions from De La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, Roots Manuva, MF DOOM, Ike Turner, Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde, Shaun Ryder, Dennis Hopper, the London Community Gospel...
album, Noodle was seen with a notably different look, no longer sporting her trademark radio helmet as well as having a noticeably more feminine fashion style and lighter skin tone. She was also noticeably taller with thinner legs, and occasionally seen sporting a monkey named Mike. In the video for "El Mañana
El Mañana
"El Mañana" is a song from the Gorillaz's second album, Demon Days. It was released as a single on April 10, 2006 in the UK as double A-side with "Kids With Guns" as the fourth and final single from the album Demon Days...
" she has green eyes, which contradicts the previous videos where her eyes are seen: "19-2000
19-2000
"19-2000", sometimes written "19/2000", is a song from the Gorillaz' self-titled debut album, Gorillaz. It was also the second single from the album, released in June 2001. The single released was accompanied by a completely new version of the song, called the "Soulchild Remix", which was produced...
", "Rock the House
Rock the House
"Rock the House" is a song from the Gorillaz self-titled debut album, Gorillaz. It was released as the third single from the album in October 2001. It peaked at #18 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is one of the more hip hop-oriented songs on the album, along with "Clint Eastwood"...
", and "Dare
DARE (song)
"DARE" is a song by Gorillaz and is featured on their 2005 album Demon Days. It was released 29 August 2005 as the second single from the album and became the first Gorillaz single to hit number one on the UK Singles Chart. On online music stores such as iTunes, the radio edit of the song was...
". In these videos she is depicted as having black eyes with no irises or pupils, unlike 2-D whose eyes were fractured by Murdoc's stolen Vauxhall Astra, but this difference is likely because the pan of the video was zoomed entirely on her eye, making the green noticeable. Most of the time, though, Noodle's eyes are covered by her hair. In a recent Q&A, Jamie Hewlett stated that Noodle's eye color varies depending on distance; when far away, they're black. When up close, they're green.
In Phase One, her hair was completely black, and she was always wearing her helmet (as seen on Brit Awards Show 2002), except for select live performances. During Phase Two, Noodle's hair became purple and blue tinted and somewhat longer, covering her eyes.
According to the original promotional booklet, Noodle was sixteen as of January 2006. It was confirmed by a Gorillaz e-mail sent out on Halloween that she was born on that day, 31 October, in 1990.
In "On Melancholy Hill
On Melancholy Hill
"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British alternative group Gorillaz' third studio album, Plastic Beach. The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production time for The Good The Bad and The Queen's self titled album. The single was released on 26 July 2010...
", Noodle is seen wearing red lipstick and her body is noticeably more matured with her height and body structure, since she should be 19 years old in this video. (That is, if the Gorillaz have been paying attention to dates.) She is also seen wearing a white and green cat mask. Underneath the cat mask is a large, dark bruise on the right side of her face.
Character personality
During Phase One of Gorillaz, Noodle could only speak Japanese, with the exceptions of her bandmates' names and small words such as "duh" or "yeah", and Russel had translated for her; but she had done vocals in English: the chorus for "19-2000" and backup in several tracks in the first album. She also did an alternately Japanese and English vocal narration for the track "Left Hand Suzuki Method", originally from the G-SidesG-Sides
G Sides is a B-sides collection by Gorillaz, featuring the additional tracks from their first three singles and the Tomorrow Comes Today EP. The compilation was originally released only in Japan in December 2001. The US edition, with a slightly different track listing, followed in February 2002...
album.
It was not until Phase Two with the Demon Days album that anyone actually heard her fluently speak English conversationally.
Noodle is a fan of Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's films. She enjoyed Spirited Away
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
and got inspiration for the "Feel Good Inc.
Feel Good Inc.
"Feel Good Inc." is a song by Gorillaz, on their album Demon Days, featuring De La Soul. The song was released as the lead single from the album on 9 May 2005 in the United Kingdom . "Feel Good Inc." peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom and #14 in the United States, at the time the band's highest...
" video from Castle in the Sky
Castle in the Sky
All compositions by Joe Hisaishi.#"The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" – 2:27#"Morning in Slag Ravine" – 3:04#"A Fun Brawl " – 4:27#"Memories of Gondoa" – 2:46#"Discouraged Pazu" – 1:46#"Robot Soldier " – 2:34...
; her floating island was inspired by Howl's Moving Castle (film)
Howl's Moving Castle (film)
is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli and based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones...
. According to the bio presented during Gorillaz' appearance on MTV Cribs
MTV Cribs
MTV Cribs and CMT Cribs, depending on which channel it airs, is a franchise reality television program that originated on the MTV Networks' MTV. It later aired on its CMT channel that features tours of the houses and mansions of celebrities. The first show aired September 2000...
, her listed interests are Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
and Richie Sambora
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen "Richie" Sambora is an American rock guitarist, producer, musician, singer, and songwriter who is the longtime lead guitarist of the rock band, Bon Jovi. He and frontman Jon Bon Jovi form the primary songwriting unit of the band...
.
Also, on her computer in Kong, it is shown in the file '21_facts' that she is interested in that number. This file also features a reference to Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
. In Rise of the Ogre, many pictures of Noodle include her holding a guitar in her left hand, showing that she is right-handed.(Irrelevant because not many people do things with the opposite hand than they write with.) However, in pictures for the Gorillaz bite "Search for a Star", she can be seen holding a pencil in her left hand. This is further supported in the "On Melancholy Hill" music video, where in which both she and her cyborg clone are shown firing their guns in a left-handed fashion.
Voice actors
There are several people who make up the identity of Noodle, they include former Cibo MattoCibo Matto
Cibo Matto are a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994...
vocalist Miho Hatori
Miho Hatori
is a singer, songwriter, and musician. She is primarily known as the vocalist of the New York City group Cibo Matto, and the first person to provide the voice of Gorillaz member Noodle.-Biography:...
and Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
' Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
, who both had provided singing vocals for Noodle on the first album; Haruka Kuroda
Haruka Kuroda
Haruka Kuroda is a London based Japanese actress who is widely known for performing the voice of Noodle, the Japanese guitarist in Gorillaz, the cartoon band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. She was born in Kyoto, Japan....
, an actress who provides Noodle's speaking voice (i.e. in interviews, etc.); and Rosie Wilson, who performs Noodle's lead vocal in "DARE
DARE (song)
"DARE" is a song by Gorillaz and is featured on their 2005 album Demon Days. It was released 29 August 2005 as the second single from the album and became the first Gorillaz single to hit number one on the UK Singles Chart. On online music stores such as iTunes, the radio edit of the song was...
". Her spiritual embodiment is suspected to be that of a high school girl residing across the world in Ohio, USA.
In Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...
, it's been a matter of debate for fans as to who is "Noodle". While some argue that Yukimi Nagano
Yukimi Nagano
Yukimi Nagano is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Nagano was born and raised in Gothenburg, Sweden to a Japanese father and Swedish-American mother; she grew up listening to American folk because of her mother, but always had an affinity for R&B.She is the vocalist of Gothenburg-based electronic band...
of Little Dragon
Little Dragon
Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic band, formed in Gothenburg in 1996. It consists of Swedish-Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano and her close high school friends Erik Bodin , Fredrik Källgren Wallin and Håkan Wirenstrand .Little Dragon's first release was the double A-side 7" single...
provides either Noodle's voice or that of her cyborg clone in "Empire Ants" and "To Binge
Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...
" and that her guitar portions were provided by whoever plays guitar on a given song, including Simon Katz, Simon Tong
Simon Tong
Simon Tong is a guitarist and keyboardist who was a member of The Verve between 1996 and 1999 and is currently a member of Erland and the Carnival and Transmission. He has also played on tour with Blur, Gorillaz and the unnamed supergroup responsible for The Good, the Bad & the Queen...
, and Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
, some argue she is not at all on the album. The question is where the video of "On Melancholy Hill" takes place chronologically: if the video is all the collaborators on their way to Plastic Beach, then that means Noodle may have arrived in time to play a role. But during production of the album this was never implied and obviously the twitter posts by Murdoc came out after the album was released. Phase 3 has no named "voice coach" as of yet for Noodle or Cyborg. Her voice does appear in the demo "Electric Shock" and "Rhinestone Eyes
Rhinestone Eyes
"Rhinestone Eyes" is a single from Gorillaz's third studio album, Plastic Beach. Fictional band member, Murdoc Niccals, stated the following about "Rhinestone Eyes" in a 'Track by Track' commentary:...
" but again, no one has yet been confirmed.
Guitars
Noodle is most often seen with either a yellow Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul or a fictional, generic red guitar. She also has an acoustic guitar which is seen in "Feel Good Inc.", "El Mañana" and "On Melancholy Hill".Cyborg Noodle
Cyborg Noodle was the newest member for virtual bandVirtual band
In music, a virtual band is any group whose members are not corporeal musicians, but animated characters...
Gorillaz created for their album Plastic Beach. In the storyline, she was created by the band leader, Murdoc, as a replacement for the band's original guitarist, Noodle, whose whereabouts were allegedly unknown. She was created through the use of cybernetic prosthetics as well as some DNA samples of Noodle that were salvaged from the wreckage of the flying windmill island which was destroyed in the "El Mañana" music video. She serves as both a guitarist and a "gun-slinging bodyguard" for Murdoc.
Aside from her built-in knowledge of musical instruments and theory, Cyborg Noodle also has a vast knowledge of weapons and fighting techniques, as well as basic skills, much like Noodle. Unlike the original Noodle's reserved and calm nature, Cyborg Noodle was programmed by Murdoc to take on even the riskiest tasks without hesitation by any means necessary, making her in some ways a robotic mercenary. She seems to malfunction in "Stylo
Stylo (song)
"Stylo" is the first single from British alternative group Gorillaz's third studio album Plastic Beach. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack and Mos Def. The single was released on 26 January 2010.-Production:...
" due to a thunderstorm halfway through the video and having been previously shot in the head, but later repairs herself, as seen in "On Melancholy Hill
On Melancholy Hill
"On Melancholy Hill" is the third single from British alternative group Gorillaz' third studio album, Plastic Beach. The song was originally written by Damon Albarn during the production time for The Good The Bad and The Queen's self titled album. The single was released on 26 July 2010...
".
Murdoc revealed in a radio interview that she malfunctioned and tried to kill him,then Noodle destroyed the cyborg.
Appearance and personality
The cyborg replica retains all of Noodle's physical characteristics and mannerisms but not her memories or tastes. It is also trained to obey Murdoc's every command. The cyborg gave an interview for the tabloid magazine Us WeeklyUs Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
, in which it revealed that it prefers pop music, unlike the original Noodle's "rock-chick" style. It also claims to enjoy the Twilight
The Twilight Saga (film series)
The Twilight Saga is a series of supernatural romance fantasy films from Summit Entertainment based on the four Twilight series novels by the American author Stephenie Meyer. The films star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. The series has grossed over $2 billion in worldwide...
films and their starring actor, Robert Pattinson
Robert Pattinson
Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson is an English actor, model, musician, and producer. Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...
. This further tells of the incomplete nature of the cyborg, as the real Noodle would have rejected both as "False Icons", in accordance with the ideals she spoke of in Rise of the Ogre. Cyborg Noodle first appears in the music video for the Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band and alternative hip hop supergroup Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced...
track "Stylo
Stylo (song)
"Stylo" is the first single from British alternative group Gorillaz's third studio album Plastic Beach. The song features guest vocals from Bobby Womack and Mos Def. The single was released on 26 January 2010.-Production:...
", where it has been shot multiple times, and shuts down shortly after firing upon a police car. The cyborg survives, and Murdoc explains in the Plastic Beach Experience video that she is in constant need of charging whenever not being used. In the documentary that comes with the Experience edition of the album, Jamie Hewlett refers to the cyborg as "Evil Noodle".
In the "Rhinestone Eyes" music video, she is shown hiding behind some palm trees clutching two Uzis as the island is being attacked by the Boogieman and pirates. A small group of collaborators, who seem to be Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, are hiding against a wall. Cyborg Noodle locks eyes with one of the De La Soul members and she is seen smiling. Fluid is seen leaking out of her eye, nose, and mouth, the cause unknown.
External links
Noodle- Noodle's biography on Gorillaz' official fansite
- Related YouTube video
- Rise of the OgreRise of the OgreRise of the Ogre is an autobiography about the virtual band Gorillaz. Ostensibly written by the four band-members in collaboration with Gorillaz musician and official scribe Cass Browne, the book is 304 pages long and is extensively illustrated. It was released in the UK on 26 October 2006 by...
Cyborg Noodle