Gorillaz released their 3-in-1 Converse campaign single Doyathing, featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy, on 23rd February 2012. Damon Albarn raps as 2D in his monotone, signature style and the track.
Watch the music video featuring a sleepy 2D and a very green Murdoc parading around their rather tidy house below. It's strange but fits the tune well, and as usual, Gorillaz blends live action and graphics perfectly.
As for the music, this Gorillaz track is quite enjoyable - it's definitely something worth downloading for fans. Damon's rap is similar to the introduction of Gorillaz's hit "Clint Eastwood" and Andre 3000 is brilliant as usual. The beat is catchy and extremely addicting- in a good way of course!
Gorillaz also released the making of Doyathing's music video along with a nice little interview with Pitchfork (click to read):
Visit converse's website here to download the track.
There's also a 13 minute version available for those of you who want to enjoy a longer tune HERE.
And since we're ape-ing around, it would be appropriate to mention that Davy Jones of The Monkees passed away recently. The Monkees sounded somewhat like The Beatles, and of course, The Beatles have influenced Damon Albarn and Blur significantly (although this influence doesn't seem to extend to Gorillaz!).
You can also buy the Converse shoes with great designs on Amazon.
March 3, 2012
Gorillaz unveil full new collaborative track- Doyathing
Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE,
Olympics Gig HERE,
New potential album HERE
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
March 1, 2012
Alex James blurs cheese, farming and being a rockstar in new book
Alex James is set to release a new
memoir following his book Bit of a Blur, titled All Cheeses Great and Small.
The second volume of his
autibiographical work describes the Blur bassist's journey into becoming a
farmer, starting from his purchase of a farm in the Cotswolds, to marrying his
wife and raising kids, making cheese and being generally cheesy.
After Blur's last album in 2003, Alex has been making
a name for himself in the cheese world. He has made his cheese and
established a reputation for appearing on various media shows.
He currently lives in a house, a very big house in the
country.
He also spoke about Blur at the Brits very
recently in an article from The
Sun (click to read source article). He talked about how
"amazing" it was to win a Brit Award after so many years away from
the music scene.
The article goes on to reiterate what Alex has already
said in numerous older articles- how "Pulling the band back
together is like reassembling the A-Team for one last job. I'm a cheesemaker
now." He stressed that Damon, Graham and Dave have gone and done
their own thing in the well-needed hiatus.
There was no new information about any future plans or Blur albums. The article did have some very nice images that are rather nice, including Blur at the Brits in 1995 looking young and lovely. There also was an image of Blur in their early Leisure era, complete with the bowl-cuts and dazed expressions.
 |
| Graham Coxon has Instagram on his iphone - follow him @tinhat |
Check out his feature article on the Daily Mail which promotes his new book. The article is titled "'My wife married a rockstar but ended up with a floundering farmer': Alex James on why he prefers mucking out to being in Blur". As usual, it's kind of funny, kind of entertaining and kind of cool.
On a more sweeter note, here's something to cheer fans up - Graham Coxon tweeted in his twitter page (click to follow him) that there were Blur chocolates at the Brits. A pleasant surprise - we want some too Graham! Bet he ate them all up the next day.
February 29, 2012
Blur working with Parklife producer on new release of albums for 2012
ALBUM NEWS: Blur are set to release their
complete back catalogue with
the Blur albums being remastered by
Stephen Street. Street is the producer which has worked with Blur on 5 albums including
their biggest hit Parklife in 1995.
This means only one thing: Blur's full works are going to be available for fans
soon, in a complete box set of works with possibly new rare songs, b-sides and extra goodies for completists.
Could it be like the Special Collector's Edition with extra tracks / unreleased goods , or just another remaster with a new track like Best Of's "Music is my Radar" ?
"I love Blur, I think they're some of the most
talented people I've ever worked with" said Stephen Street in a recent
interview with Louder than War. "I'm currently remastering their entire back catalogue ... It's
just great to listen to the tapes and think that now they sound so much better.
They sound fuller, and wider, and I'm really pleased to be focusing on it. I'm
really chuffed as a producer how it's sounding."
There is no word on when exactly these albums would be
out - perhaps some time in the end of 2012 would be appropriate, after
Blur has done their huge Olympics gig in Hyde Park in August.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Modern Life is
Rubbish.
Perhaps Street will put something new into the remasters for the 20th anniversary
However, according to Street (excerpt from The Guardian), a full-length album doesn't seem very likely.
"I got the impression that they don't want the
pressure of having to make a new [LP]," he said. But the group do seem to
be prepping a single: Under theWestway, which premiered live at last week's War Child benefit.
"I would love to be asked to produce [Blur] again," Street exclaimed,
"but ... they haven't asked me to do the Under the Westway track. William
Orbit is involved apparently, but I don't know."
Overall - this release of remastered albums could mean two things - either Blur aren't going to be producing anything more and are using this release as a final goodbye present for fans, or that they are using the recent new developments to generate hype for a possible new album. We can only hope it's the latter!
Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE,
Olympics Gig HERE,
New potential album HERE
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
February 28, 2012
Producers William Orbit working on latest Blur track
News update: William Orbit, who has been rumoured to be producing a new Blur album, has been revealed to be working on Blur's new song "Under The Westway".
The piano ballad debuted on 19th February, at the War Childs charity gig, where Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon appeared on stage as a two-piece, with a piano and acoustic guitar, and performed a gentle melody.
Blur perform Under the Westway (recorded by us BlurBalls!)
Under the Westway is rumoured to be released for Record Store Day in April 2012. For those of you who want to know what Record Store Day is, this is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores in the UK and USA come together with artists to celebrate music. Special vinyls, tracks and CDs are made for this annual event. There is usually performances, in-store meet and greets and signings in store, with DJs and artists alike as well as other fun activities.
Blur has a history with releasing a new track for Record Store Day - they released "Fools Day", a new tune, for this event in 2010.
Blur's record store track "Fool's Day" - lyrics video also uploaded by Blurballs
It's unclear whether Orbit is responsible for more Blur tracks or just for Under the Westway. Damon did say he has got a lot of Blur tracks in his pocket and the rest of the band is being very secretive. Or perhaps this track could even be for the new album.
In a recent NME interview, when asked "Will Blur be making a new album?" the response was mixed:
- Damon said "Don't count on it" , aka NO
- Graham said "We've got commitment issues. But it'll probably happen." aka YES
- Alex said "There are definitely no plans to make one"aka NO
- Dave: "There's a lot of appetite out there for new Blur music. It's no secret that we're working on something" aka YES
But one thing's for sure, William Orbit is twiddling with his producer knobs and currently in progress with making "Under The Westway" fit for release - soon. Where? No one knows. Ask Damon.
Read all about Blur being BASHED AT THE BRITS HERE,
Olympics Gig HERE,
New potential album HERE
SUBSCRIBE NOW!