update: Gorillaz [ tickets ], the experimental U.K. dance-pop and hip-hop project created by Blur singer Damon Albarn and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, is set to play a handful of U.S. dates in February and March. The tour kicks off on Feb. 25 at Boston's Avalon Ballroom. According to Virgin Records, the shows will combine music and technology "for a mind blowing, multi-sensory experience."

Albarn, along with producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, is the musical mastermind behind Gorillaz, while Hewlett has given Gorillaz a public face, drawing "band members" Murdoc (bassist and "part-time Satanist"), 2-D ("pretty-boy front man"), Noodle ("11-year-old Asian guitar princess") and Russel ("hip-hop hard man from the U.S.").

Albarn will be onstage producing the music as images of the animated band members are cast on a screen. The record label says thatspecial guests may make appearances. Cibo Matto's Miho Hatori, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, former Talking Heads and current Tom Tom Club member Tina Weymouth and Ibrahim Ferrer are among the artists featured on the band's self-titled debut album.

A surprise critical and commercial hit of 2001, Gorillaz have received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap By a Duo or Group for the single "Clint Eastwood," were nominated for two MTV Video Awards, four Billboard Awards and Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize and Shortlist Awards. Their self-titled debut album has sold over a million copies in the U.S.