BlurBalls - Throwing YOU the latest Blur, Gorillaz and Damon Albarn news

March 31, 2012

A Blurred future for Blur - Damon Albarn has the last word

It seems like Damon Albarn has fallen out with super-producer William Orbit, by deciding not to continue working with him for any new material. This bitter tweet was posted by William Orbit on March 28th on his official Twitter page:

Is William Orbit really posting about Damon ruling out Blur's future, or is this just another tweet to generate hype? Blur could have been good - does he mean that Blur is not going to "be" anything anymore?

Also according to a recent new interview, Damon Albarn said that the band's debut new song Under the Westway may not be released for the public officially, stating that "it's something I've had knocking about for years and didn't know what to do with".

Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn told the interviewer that "Initially I wrote it as a slightly wistful national anthem for my house, I had this idea of getting it made into an old 78 record and making a flag and then just playing it - just being really silly. But I had these chords and I ended up writing this tune around it...."

He then said: "I don't really do anything with Blur any more - there's this concert this year but it's not a full time thing at all. Maybe this tune's a last little coda to the whole story."

Blur in the 90s - last tune in 2012 ?

So is this the end of any more new Blur projects / plans / songs? Is Damon Albarn simply telling what he feels at that moment, or what he genuinely believes to be the future for Blur? There's no official notice from the band or any management, but we really hope that this is simply another of Damon's spur-of-the-moment comments.

But lets not lose all hope- Blur are also rumoured to play in Argentina this year for the Rock It event.

Read the excellent Quietus interview with Damon HERE.

Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE,
10 Cool Damon Albarn facts HERE, Blur talking about their future HERE
New tear jerker song HERE and check out their newest track HERE

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March 29, 2012

Time Out: An Evening with Alex James

EVENT NEWS: There will be an exclusive Q&A with Alex James, as he discusses life after Blur and his new book ‘All Cheese Great and Small’ with Time Out’s Editor-in-Chief Tim Arthur.

Event Title: Time Out Live presents an evening with Alex James
Date: Thursday, April 5 2012
Time: 7.00pm
Location: Shaw Theatre, 100-110 Euston Rd, London NW1 2AJ
Price: £12, £10 concessions

Time Out's Editor-in-Chief Tim Arthur and Foyles, in London's iconic bookshop, will host an evening in conversation with Blur bassist Alex James about his latest book 'All Cheeses Great and Small', discussing life's new challenges after finding global fame as a rock star in his twenties.

Don't miss this if you're in London!

Ticket link:https://tickets.timeout.com/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=74200B3A-537E-4584-8DFA-A59322ED2C80

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March 27, 2012

2manydjs / Radio Soulwax - Girls and Boys animation

An ongoing Radio Soulwax project launched its application and website last year, where they have done twenty four one-hour music track mixes with visuals. All animations are made from the record sleeves. The homepage for the application has a description of what this is all about:

WHAT is Radio Soulwax?

Ok, so it's a radio station, but not as you know it. For now, it's a growing collection of 24 one hour-long mixes with visuals that we are sharing with you for free, and hopefully it will become a platform for many more things to come. We call them mixes, but in reality they are more like musical films based on the record sleeves.

We grew up surrounded by our dad's extensive record collection and many of our earliest memories are of record sleeves, so it only makes sense that we made this tribute to that forgotten art form, albeit in a very digital way.

Every hour has a different musical and visual theme (always based on the covers), to eventually make for a varied day-long radio schedule that will remain online in a rotated and continuous loop.

They have included a great visual mix for Blur's track Girls & Boys - not only is the single cover animated, but the Parklife album cover has also been given some spice with it's entertaining animation. Watch the snippet with Blur below:

Radio Soulwax Presents: Blur - Girls and Boys from UTC3 from Radio Soulwax on Vimeo.

It's quite cool to see Blur's album art moving, and the concept of this project is unique and interesting. Makes for a good listening and viewing experience!

All the hours are also available to watch in HD on vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/channels/radiosoulwax

Download the RADIO SOULWAX app for iphone / ipad / android HERE or watch online at http://www.radiosoulwax.com

March 26, 2012

Damon Albarn says Under the Westway may be last Blur song

BLUR NEWS: Damon Albarn had an interview with The Quietus two days ago and a chat about Blur's future plans - or shall we say, Blur's non-existent plans. Damon Albarn has exclaimed that Blur's current reunion for the London 2012 Olympics gig in Hyde Park does not mean "a rejuvenated, long-term return for the band".

As quoted from the article, Albarn told Stephen Dalton that the new track, first aired when he played live with Graham Coxon in February, is a song about that perennial West London inspiration, the Westway route.

“Funnily enough I’ve done a new tune for Blur, I don’t know if it will ever see the light of day but it’s really traditional… it’s something I’ve had knocking about for years and didn’t know what to do with it," he said.

Damon through the years

"Initially I wrote it as a slightly wistful national anthem for my house, I had this idea of getting it made into an old 78 record and making a flag and then just playing it - just being really silly. But I had these chords and I ended up writing this tune around it…"

Albarn went on to say that although the band are back together for this summer's live appearances, "I don’t really do anything with Blur any more - there’s this concert this year but its not a full time thing at all. Maybe this tune’s a last little coda to the whole story.”

Blur holding The Great Escape records

The Quietus had previously reviewed Mr Albarn's Dr Dee musical up in Manchester, and had found it rather lacking, something Albarn has taken squarely on the chin. “Oh it certainly lacked narrative! No shit Sherlock! Ha ha! But I mean, you know, what do you do… ? I’m quite comfortable with presenting a work in progress and I know we made some stinkers as decisions, but you can’t really move forwards unless you make those mistakes. Hopefully it will be a more rounded and satisfactory piece, narrative wise, this time around. I sincerely hope so, otherwise I’ll be very disappointed."

Damon has been quite contradictory about Blur in recent years. Before their 2009 reunion, he has said that Blur are definitely over, but then the reunion happened and Damon and the boys have all said different things. Graham and Alex says maybe, Dave says maybe not.

Damon's new supergroup Rocket Juice and the Moon released their album today. Listen HERE.

Guess we will have to wait and see what's next.

March 31, 2012

A Blurred future for Blur - Damon Albarn has the last word

March 29, 2012

Time Out: An Evening with Alex James

March 27, 2012

2manydjs / Radio Soulwax - Girls and Boys animation

March 26, 2012

Damon Albarn says Under the Westway may be last Blur song

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