Murdoc from Damon Albarn's cartoon band Gorillaz has uploaded a broadcast on his official Soundcloud to announce that he will be revealing the title of a Gorillaz collaboration track, with shoe brand Converse on February 9th 2012 - 1 day away!
Listen to the broadcast below:
Apparently the new Gorillaz Converse single will be featuring Andre 3000 from Outkast, an American Hip Hip duo fro Georgia, USA.
Murdoc tweeted a picture a few days ago, which was briefly leaked by Converse on their site (but it's gone now) that showed a picture drawing that was identical to Andre 3000's outfit for a November photoshoot in GQ 2011 (click here to view).
Looks like Gorillaz fans out there wil be getting a smashing hip-hop style/ rap single, perhaps sounding like Clint Eastwood or Feel Good Inc !
You heard it here on BlurBalls, the most up to date fan site for all things related to Blur, Gorillaz and the band members. Read past news on this Converse/Gorillaz track HERE and HERE.
February 8, 2012
Gorillaz will reveal Converse Single title on Feb 9th 2012
February 7, 2012
Fans can appear on Graham Coxon's new video for A+E - Feb 2012
Graham Coxon's newest solo album (due out on 2nd April 2012) will produce a single called "What'll It Take". Graham Coxon is also involving fans (yes, you read that right!) in the video making and has started a competition on youtube about this once in a lifetime opportunity for you to take part in his music video.
What we report below is quoted from the video description from Graham's youtube channel.
***
GRAHAM WANTS YOU TO BE IN THE VIDEO FOR HIS NEXT SINGLE "WHAT'LL IT TAKE' FROM HIS NEW ALBUM 'A+E'.
If you're up for being in the video check out the video and follow the instructions.
Just use any camera, whether it's on you phone, a webcam, or a proper camera. Whatever you have is good for us, and don't worry if you're no good at filming, we want it all!*
THE PRIZE:
In addition to appearing in the video, Graham's 10 favourite entries will win a signed copy of the new album 'A+E' and the ultimate favourite will win two tickets to one of the shows on the tour.
Enter here: http://www.grahamcoxon.co.uk/whatllittake
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February 4, 2012
Damon Albarn to play in Honeyfest event 2012
A nice article from NME on Damon Albarn's gigs in 2012:
Blur's Damon Albarn will headline this year's Honeyfest, playing a set which will consist of songs from his opera Doctor Dee.
The opera originally ran in Manchester earlier this summer as part of the Manchester International Festival and received considerable praise from critics. Its plot details the life of 16th century scientist John Dee.
The show featured Albarn singing 10 songs from a position a third level above the stage and he will perform the songs, along with some of the musicians who performed in the show, at Honeyfest which takes place on April 14 in Tumuli Field in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Also confirmed to appear at the event are BBC Sound Of 2012 nominees Dry The River, Rae Morris, Nick Harper, Cut A Shine and Kidnap Alice
Doctor Dee is also set to be performed at London's Coliseum during this summer. The opera will open at the UK capital venue on June 25 and will then be performed on June 26, 28, 29, July 4, 6 and 7. All the performances begin at 7.30pm, with a matinee performance also booked for July 7 at 2.30pm.
For more information about Honeyfest, visit Honeyfestuk.com.
February 2, 2012
Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon to play together at Brits preview show 2012
GIG NEWS: Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon are going to appear together and perform in the pre-Brit Award show, the War Child's Brits Show 2012.
The event will take place on February 19th, at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Arena. Damon and Graham has been billed as "special guests" for the show, and this may be the day they announce official plans for a new album, or a new set of songs and tell us what they are doing with William Orbit on board.
The news of the performance was announced on Blur's official facebook page and a nice poster was included in the exciting post.
Allgigs writes:
Blur's Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon will team up for a very exclusive and acoustic double-act presentation of Blur and solo works, with future hopefuls Dry the River providing support.
Other groups performing will include Dry the River and Ed Sheeran.
Tickets, costing £40 will go on sale on Thursday Feb 2nd 2012, at 9am GMT here, in O2's website. All profits will go towards charity War Child.
Let us know if you are going by dropping us a line here or in our facebook page.
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February 1, 2012
Producer William Orbit keeps hinting at new Blur material
William Orbit, producer of albums by Madonna and Blur, amongst many other musicians, keeps dropping hints on his facebook page about an upcoming Blur album.
He wrote on January 31st 2012:
Why does he keep mentioning Blur ? If nothing major was up, why keep posting and tweeting about it ? If it's a one off track like Fool's Day, Blur's comeback little song, then there's NO NEED to hire any producer, albeit an expensive, famous one.
Another fact: 2012 marks the 13th year since Blur recorded their album "13" (produced by William Orbit) in 1999. Coincidence ? We think not! It could be that Blur decided to surprise us by making another album, with the same producer as their 1999 album, hiring the same producer, for their comeback album.
It is quite likely that by hiring Orbit, such a renowned producer to work with them, Blur IS actually going to release something new. Blur was never a band who told us fans much before anything was going to happen, even for previous album titles, including their last album in 2003 titled "Think Tank".
Stay tuned on Blurballs and we'll keep you updated on anything happening. We can't wait!
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January 31, 2012
Murdoc Niccals unleashes hype for new Gorillaz songs by twitter - 2012
Murdoc Niccals from the virtual band Gorillaz (fronted by Damon Albarn) has made three tweets yesterday afternoon about the fourthcoming Gorillaz converse track. Below is a screenshot from his twitter page:
Gorillaz announced back in November 2011 that they teamed up with shoe brand Converse and will release a new track and a new pair of Gorillaz designed converse shoes, exclusively for this collaboration.
If the new Gorillaz track is as great as the one Graham Coxon did, then it's definitely going to be a great time for all fans out there. It's been a while since they released anything since Plastic Beach, and Damon Albarn has, on many occasions, said how he'd like to make this Gorillaz's last year as a band.
To find out more information, to view the range of shoes and for more details about the night, visit Converse.co.uk.
All his tweets can be found on Murdoc's twitter page HERE.
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January 30, 2012
Blur's eighth album "Mirror Press" track list announced - 2012
BREAKING NEWS: The tracklist for britpop superstars Blur's new album "Mirror Press" is released on Wikipedia :
So this is either the real-deal here, or it is someone messing around with information. Blur is supposedly set to produce new material this year, working with William Orbit in January to record and remix some new tracks, but Blur's Wikipedia page has been edited on and off these two days.
Yesterday, the page for Blur's 2012 album, supposedly called "Mirror Press" has been put up, removed, added back and removed AGAIN from their discography. Now the tracklist for the album has been revealed and the song names are:
- Dog Years
- Mirror Press
- Just Look Around
- Nostalgic Song
- From a Silent Film
- Secret Den
- Insomnia
- Caster Song
- Fable
- Growing Nails
- On The Road Tonight
- Faster Life
- Room 101
It seems that some song names are quite unusual (Growing Nails ! ) but this COULD be true. There still hasn't been any confirmation or leakage from the band and their management, and there's no news from William Orbit himself.
Visit their wikipedia site yourself to see (Click here). (Edit: It has been removed again. This may just be someone's edit for fun).
We are just as puzzled as you are - and we're on the watch out for any breaking news right now, this week, about Blur's potential new release. This year is going to be a great year for Blur and us fans and you're very welcome to contact us if anything crops up.
You heard it first on BlurBalls - keep watching this space for the latest updates and anything about their upcoming release (and any Brit Award news - yes Blur are playing!)
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January 29, 2012
Blur's eighth album to be named 'Mirror Press' - 2012
Breaking news on Blur's eighth comeback album (to be produced by William Orbit) - the album's possible name has been leaked out and posted onto Wikipedia this morning and the name was written down to be "Mirror Press".
Although it was posted up a week ago and has been taken down once, it is CURRENTLY ON WIKIPEDIA AGAIN.
This little leak COULD give us a clue to what the album's name would be, or could be the actual title name. Perhaps even if this was not the real name, the words "Mirror" and "Press" may pop up in the album title. Below is a quote from the history of the article before it was removed:
It was noted during a short interview leading up to the BRIT Awards that a band member mentioned an Album or Single of the name 'Mirror Press'. And that the band were working on it mainly for their own entertainment and joy.
There has been no confirmation from Blur or their management on this, but watch this space for the latest Blur news and anything related to their LATEST ALBUM in 2012 !
This year is going to be a great year for Blur and us fans and you're very welcome to contact us (thanks Maria for the news) if anything that crops up.
(Edit: It has now been removed again. EDIT: It' back up there! We are just as puzzled [and excited] as you are! )
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January 26, 2012
Graham Coxon A&E Cover Art Revealed
Graham Coxon's newest album A+E unveiled its album cover today, very different, unique and a just a little bit unsettling. This cover seems to pay homage to older, 80s, oldies, retro styled bands like Talking Heads, especially the font type, and features a low-resolution image of legs and an accident.
One fan even suggested that "Graham cut himself shaving", and has interesting typefaces of red and black on the top and bottom of the cover.
Similar fonts to Talking Heads ?
Here's just a comparison to his previous 7 albums, all of which feature Graham Coxon's own original artwork and paintings. His 8th album has a very different color, and according to Graham, has a very different theme and style in music too. He also mentioned in an interview that he wanted to experiment with photo manipulation and editing, and it's no surprise that this cover features a photography instead of any drawings. 
To promote A+E, Graham Coxon will play:
13 Oxford O2 Academy
15 Gateshead Sage
16 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
17 Glasgow Garage
19 Manchester Sound Control
20 Sheffield Leadmill
21 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
23 Brighton Concorde
24 Cambridge Junction
25 London HMV Forum
27 Gloucester Guildhall
28 Bristol Trinity
29 Exeter Phoenix and 30 Falmouth Princess Pavilions
Watch the teaser videos for the new album here:15 Gateshead Sage
16 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
17 Glasgow Garage
19 Manchester Sound Control
20 Sheffield Leadmill
21 Nottingham Rescue Rooms
23 Brighton Concorde
24 Cambridge Junction
25 London HMV Forum
27 Gloucester Guildhall
28 Bristol Trinity
29 Exeter Phoenix and 30 Falmouth Princess Pavilions