The Sounder

The Sounder is a B-side track to the "Rock the House" single. It was written and performed by Gorillaz and Phi Life Cypher, featuring guest vocals by Si Phili and Life MC from the same group.

It was first released on the French limited edition of their debut album Gorillaz, appearing as a bonus track, and at a few versions of the "Rock The House" single. The edited and shorter version of it, named "The Sounder (Edit)", was featured as the 4th track of the Gorillaz' 2002 compilation album G-Sides.

Recording
"The Sounder" was originally a beat Cass Browne made backstage on the band's first tour on his laptop with Damon Albarn, bassist Junior Dan and hip hop group Phi-Life Cypher. It was a remix of "Rock The House", as shown by the bassline it shared with it. It later evolved to a proper studio track after Damon decided it was good enough to take to Dan The Automator and Kid Koala, and so was released as a bonus and B-side track. Some of its lyrics were modified and/or adapted versions of the original and previously unreleased Phi Life Cypher Version of "Starshine", named "Starshine ft Gorillaz", along with new rhymes and verses for it. This also goes for Phi-Life Cypher's version of "Rock the House" itself.

Trivia

 * The full version of the song has a length of 6:13, while the shorter, edited one featured on G-Sides has a length of approximately 4:30.
 * This version also appeared on some individual promo CDs instead of the edited one.
 * This track is one of four Gorillaz songs to contain a reference to Star Wars, alongside "Clint Eastwood" (Both Phi Life Cypher's and the Demon Detour Session Versions) and the unreleased "Starshine" (PLC Version). With the exception of the Phase 2 Version, all of them have their rap done by Life and Si Phili.
 * According to Cass Browne in an interview with Hallelujah Monkeyzundefined, "The Sounder" was originally supposed to feature D12 and was the track the group were going to feature on before the September 11 attacks took place and "911" was recorded instead.