New Blur Exhibition in London - July to August 2012

Heads up - there's a new Blur event in town. Blur will be holding a band exhibition to celebrate the band's new 'Blur21' box set and their 21 years in music.

Spotify presents Blur 21: The Exhibition will take place in London at the Londonewcastle Gallery, East London.  

It will run from July 27th to August 14th 2012, and entry is free for all. 

Memorabilia and other items of the band will be shown for all to enjoy. Images of the band, taken by famous photographers Pennie Smith (who took the Blur black and white 2009 comeback photos) and Kevin Cummins will also be shown. 

Will the props from Blur's music videos, or some their early apparel will be there?

Will the milk carton from Coffee and TV will make a special appearance?

Here is what is in store for all visiting, according to the venue's official site:

21 years after the release of their debut albumLeisure (1991), Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree will return to the heart of London in an exhibition of rare photographs, artwork and never-before-seen images of this great British band.

Presented by Spotify and EMI Music, the retrospective celebrates Blur’s era defining music, documenting their career as one of the most successful and influential bands of the past two decades, through the lens of legendary and iconic music photographers Pennie Smith, Kevin Cummins, Tom Sheehan and Paul Postle, among others. Previously unseen artwork will also be on display.

Spotify presents Blur 21: The Exhibition documents the band’s story from the early days as Seymour through the 1990s and the height of Britpop, the performance at Alexandra Palace in 1994, seven chart topping studio albums, and eleven top 10 singles, including Country House, Song 2 and Beetlebum, to a historic Sunday night appearance at Glastonbury.

Bringing us right up to 2012 - a year that has seen Blur awarded the BRIT for Outstanding Contribution to Music and the release of two new songs - Under The Westway and The Puritan - ahead of a sold out show at London’s Hyde Park on 12th August, before the upcoming release of career spanning Blur 21: The Box on 30th July.

Curated by leading expert on music photographyDave Brolan, all the key moments of the band’s career are illustrated – on the road, live on stage, in the studio, as well as formal portrait sessions. Additional Blur 21 material will be made available to Spotify users globally over the coming weeks.

Don't miss this opportunity to visit the exhibition if you are in London this summer. Blur also did a Blur X Exhibition in 1999. It's a nice side-event to the Blur Olympics hyde park gigs. 

Visit the venue website for more details here.

Order the new Blur vinyl HERE
The Puritan- new track HERE

Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

Is Damon and Graham Coxon recording together? Find out HERE

Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

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Graham Coxon talks about Orbit- Blur feud

Graham Coxon has finally spoken about the Blur and William Orbit feud in a recent press interview. The Blur guitarist did a short question and answer for Vulture, and spoke about the new Blur songs, new sounds, opening for Noel Gallagher of Oasis fame and why (or why not) Blur may do a new album in the future.

According to the article, Graham Coxon "personally seemed into the idea" of making a new Blur album. He said that the band were getting on "really well" these days, much better than during their comeback gigs in 2009. With regards to any possible new Blur album, here's what Coxon said: 

Plans for a new Blur album seem up in the air at the moment.
Up in the air, yeah.

What would you say is the biggest obstacle to the band recording a new album?
I don’t know. Maybe it’s time or the guts or pressing the fucking button and going, "Come on, let’s just bloody do it." It’s maybe the committing to it. It’s a frightening thought, because there’s kind of a pressure on us to record another one, and of course we quite like the idea. But what's stopping us is the pressure. People are saying they want [an album], and that’s making us panic. We like to create our stuff in a relaxed way. It’s no good trying to force stuff just because people want to hear it. It would be a big decision. Because we know what’d be coming after the recording: We’d have to do a lot of traveling and playing. Which is great fun, but it’s a big commitment, obviously. 

Who's the holdout? Which band member is the hardest to convince? It sounds like you're into the idea.
I tell you what — we’re all into the idea. There’s nothing wrong with the idea, it’s just the practicalities that get slightly scary. And if we do something, it’s got to be really good.

If you decided against an album, would you consider just releasing singles or EPs?
I think that’s probably not a very good idea, to keep doing that. I’m old-fashioned. I like an album to be a big slice of a time and place, and have a lot of development of ideas. These singles were recorded pretty quickly — too quickly for my liking — and I still get worried. I still come up with ideas for stuff after it's released. Taking our time on an album, that’s what I would like to do. I’d be really into making a record, but [sighs]. If people leave us alone to do it, I think it would be cool.

Coxon also talked about ex-Blur producer William Orbit's (album 13) recent angry tweets about Damon Albarn being a "pig" to the rest of Blur. The mystery of his twitter attacks is finally revealed - Orbit had a go at producing the band's new track 'Under the Westway' but it turned out to be "not what [Blur] were after". So, that was what happened back then.

Blur was in the studio a few months ago with William Orbit for a session that ended acrimoniously, at least according to his tweets. What happened?
We had a go at "Under the Westway." And we just didn’t like the way it turned out. We were just like, "Shit, this is not what we’re after." And we decided to go it alone.

What did it sound like?
I don’t know. [Laughs.] I don’t know what it sounded like, really. I didn’t hear it.

Click here to read the rest of the interesting interview, with more on Under the Westway, The Puritan, Noel Gallagher and also Graham Coxon's New York tour.

Also, check out William Orbit's version of 'Under the Westway' HERE and give it a listen. The producer posted this up on Soundcloud recently for all to hear. Like it or hate it - it's undeniable that both tracks sound and feel very different.

Order the new Blur vinyl HERE
The Puritan- new track HERE

Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

Is Damon and Graham Coxon recording together? Find out HERE

Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Stay Tuned, leave us a comment below and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet!

Blur will play B-side show at Maida Vale - July 2012

BBC Radio's Steve Lamacq has confirmed that Blur will be playing an exclusive special session at Maida Vale Studios, London on Tuesday 31st July 2012, in which there will be a limited number of tickets to be won.

Blur will be playing a special set from their hits collection and some real fan’s set of b-sides, rarities and oddities, with a few surprises thrown in. They will also be in conversation with Steve who has also been digging through the archives to uncover some lost gems.

The deadline for registration is Friday 20th July. The maximum tickets per household is 2. The gig is free and hosted by Steve. To get a chance to see Blur live in this intimate gig, simply head to the BBC 6 Music website (click here) to register and enter the ticket draw. 


For those who are not in London or live outside Britain, tune in on July 31, 11am EST, and listen online at www.bbc.co.uk/6Music. Good luck to all - this is a rare tread indeed!

Listen to William Orbit's Version of Under the Westway HERE 

Order the new Blur vinyl HERE
The Puritan- new track HERE

Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

Is Damon and Graham Coxon recording together? Find out HERE

Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Stay Tuned, leave us a comment below and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet! 

William Orbit leaks his version of new Blur single

Fresh update: William Orbit has posted up his version of Blur's new single 'Under the Westway' for all to listen to. This followed several angry tweets about the band a few weeks ago, where the band and the ex-Blur producer's relationship seem to be on the rocks.

Gigwise reports:

Producer Orbit was working with Blur earlier this year but went his separate ways from Damon Albarn and co. after Tweeting about the secret sessions. It is perhaps ironic (or totally unsurprising?) then that Orbit has shown his indiscretion once more and placed an alternative version to the single on Twitter today.

The version is still recognisable as the song which was premiered via a live online stream earlier this month but features far more electronic production and a less epic, windswept feel.

Speaking to BBC's Steve Lamacq on a show yesterday, Alex James said that the band are on good terms and that they are "not having fist fights anymore". Alex also said that the band's future seems to be going well at the moment, although their future has remained undecided. 

"I've got no idea what happens next, or if it ever happens again," he said. Discussing the way in which he, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree work together, James added that "we click back into it like a family at Christmas."

Currently, Orbit's version of the track is unavailable off Soundcloud. However, many have heard the track and the general review from fans seems to be negative. Perhaps it is the fact that Orbit has publicly made his disappointment (for the band to not choose his track) about Blur's choice, or perhaps it is the auto-tuned vocals which made the song less hymn-like and more "13"/ single like.

Different lyrics, more bouncy chorus, the single is completely changed to a semi-electronic feel. It also has much more heavy sounds than the current version. It is definitely not bad, but the track definitely sounds very different to what the band has released. 

Download the track HERE (Sendspace) and give it a listen. *Note: The file may be unavailable 

Leave a comment below or vote in the poll - do you like this better than the official release, which Damon Albarn decided to self-produced?

Order the new Blur vinyl HERE
The Puritan- new track HERE

Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

Is Damon and Graham Coxon recording together? Find out HERE

Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

Stay Tuned, leave us a comment below and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet!