Blur is set to release a new song 'The Puritan' on July 2nd 2012, at exactly 7:15pm.
The Blur official facebook page updated it's cover photo to the lyrics of the new song 'The Puritan' - "The Flash of the blade is one less of getting paid" was the words on the neon-lighted cover of the band's page, which has been filled with cryptic, mysterious messages for the past few days.
A tweet stating the time and date - July 2nd 2012 at 7:15pm, followed the update in cover image.
Coincidentally, the Zane Lowe BBC Radio show also begins at 7:15pm - could this song be debuted on national radio when it's set for release? Zane Lowe has always had the first play on Blur and Damon Albarn's new material (think Gorillaz, the 2008-2009 tracks and more) and this definitely could be the reason for the unusual, specific time.
The single was debuted live a few days ago in a Damon Albarn Dr Dee concert. Listen to what Damon played to live audiences below. It definitely sounds like the old Blur, with traces of tunes from 'Modern Life is Rubbish' and the britpop-era tracks.
Let the countdown begin!
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
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Something's brewing in the Blur camp, and it's going to reveal itself today! Blur's management, Eleven Management, posted this on their Facebook feed today:
What could this mean? Some early speculations include Blur announcing a new single or even album, or there's truly more than one new piece of material by the band coming out soon. Damon Albarn recently premiered a new Blur song 'The Puritan' in his recent gigs, albeit it being not complete.
Listen to 'The Puritan' below - could this be another B-side for their track 'Under the Westway' ? Or could it be the start of a new album or a new era of Blur?
Stay tuned for some exciting Blur news later on today.
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
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 NEWS: Exciting news - Damon Albarn premiered another new Blur song called "The Puritan" just a few days ago in one of his recent live shows. The title was only known from an article fromThe Standard.
“This is the new Blur single called The Puritan and it has never been performed live before,” said Albarn, which he then did, beatnik-style, with just a guitar and a glass of champagne.
The rare footage (scroll down to watch) is recorded by a fan- the song was performed right after a few other Dr Dee songs. Damon began by teasing the audience, then proceeded to strum an acoustic version of what we think has huge potential to be a full blown Blur song.
We at BlurBalls isolated the audio from the footage (credits to MinlMinlmovie) and you can listen to it below. For those of you who regularly visit Youtube, make sure to subscribe to BlurBall's Channel for the coolest, latest videos!
The new song sounds very much like a tune right out of Modern Life is Rubbish! Perhaps this track will be featured in Blur's massive July box set. Us fans have good reason to sing along with Damon - La La La indeed.
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For all who's interested in Damon Albarn's side-projects including his latest Dr. Dee, here's a little recent piece of action. Damon Albarn was featured on the BBC music documentary 'London Calling' a few days ago and he had a few things to say about his music.
Albarn talked about bells and how he made music with large bells from Portobello Road. He exclaims what he loves about London is it's 'monumental history' and how he can be 'simultaneously' in two eras at the same time.
He then followed with more about Dr. Dee and how he tried to demonstrate the musical style of the time past.
There's also a mention of the Westway highway, which was the subject of Blur's latest (and only) song 'Under the Westway'.
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With Graham's tour winding down and Damon's Dr Dee coming to wraps, Blur has officially started rehearsing and jamming together again, as of June 2012.
Dave Rowntree posted some exciting pictures on his facebook page. including his new shiny drum set, which is presumably going to be used for the Blur gigs later this summer and for their rehearsals.
And there's more - there's microphones hooked all around the drum set. Could this mean they're truly recording the rehearsals, or perhaps even more? New sounds?
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For fans who has heard or is familiar with the Blur Primrose Hill Graffiti ("and the view's so nice" inscribed on a path in the hill), the following is not good news. The graffiti was drawn by an Australian woman who sneaked into the park one evening
Several fans tried to redraw the graffiti a month ago, but unfortunately their efforts were destroyed by the rain.
An article from Camden Journal sums up the current situation well, including the recent removal of the legendary graffiti and Dave Rowntree's remarks:
IT had become a part of park life on Primrose Hill – but a famous graffiti tribute to Britpop giants Blur has been painted over in the name of keeping the hill “clean”.
The Royal Parks Agency decided to remove the white writing found on the path leading to the summit which spelt out the band’s lyric “and the view’s so nice” – part of their song, For Tomorrow.
It was put there back in 2000 by an Australian fan but the scrawl became a stopping off point for music buffs and was quickly celebrated as one of the quirks of Primrose Hill.
Blur’s Dave Rowntree said: “If local people want it there they should show that by getting in touch with The Royal Parks.
“It is a jobsworth attitude in the Olympic year when we’re meant to celebrating British culture, and Blur certainly did contribute to British culture so it would have been nice to see it kept.”
He added: “On the other hand, perhaps I’m being selfish, because I suppose it is graffiti, and if the whole park was graffiti then it wouldn’t be so lovely.
"I can understand The Royal Parks’ decision, but I lived in the area for about 15 years in the 1990s and even I got used to it being there. "It’s a shame, it was part of the Blur ethos because it was in one of our videos, we felt deeply about the lyric and about the hill.
“It’s something that was special to us, and very flattering at the time.”
Mr Rowntree told how the band would meet on the hill where the graffiti was, and paid homage to the “beautiful view from the top” in the lyric.
In 2001, Damon Albarn told Q magazine he had been walking up the hill with Graham Coxon deciding whether to quit the band.
He said: “Then there was this huge graffiti. If that wasn’t a sign we should keep making music together I don’t know what is.”
Mr Rowntree said: “It’s part of the Blur story. That park is full of hidden secrets, and it’s a shame to get rid of this one.”
Trish Bertram, 55, who has been living in nearby Gloucester Avenue for more than two decades, said: “That hill is a steep climb. Nearly everybody I know is out of breath at the top, so just when you’re about to give up from climbing to the top you see the words ‘and the view’s so nice’.
"It’s really precious, because it makes you think, ‘OK, yes, let me do it, let me climb to the top to see the view.’”
Ms Bertram added: “It added to the area, the weather would wash it away and someone else would come and paint over it.
“So people obviously wanted it here.
"In the morning all the dog walkers and keep-fit regulars noticed it was missing – straight away.
"I just don’t get it, that art has been blogged all over the world, and filmed and photographed, and they’ve just got rid of it without asking anyone who uses the park what they think?”
A spokeswoman for The Royal Parks said: “The original piece of graffiti was painted many years ago and the decision was taken to allow it to weather out naturally.
“More recently, several attempts were made by members of the public to re-paint it.
"The last attempt took place in wet weather resulting in paint running down and spoiling a popular path.
"It was therefore necessary for us to clean the area.”
Here at BlurBalls, we're lucky to have visited the site in early April on a spur-of-the-moment trek. We even took some pictures of the beautiful piece of Blur tribute, a tribute painted by the Australian fan back in 2000s, that is now gone. It is such a pity indeed.
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The rumours that Stephen Street is producing any new Blur material can be officially ruled out. Street, who produced many of Blur's top britpop albums including the best-selling 'Parklife' tweeted this on May 23rd 2012:
This tweet was in reply to Alex Jame's great announcement - that Blur are recording in the studio together, as of May 2012.
Most of the Blur news recently have been from twitter...for those who signed up for the micro-blogging website, follow Blur (official), Alex James,Damon Albarn,Graham Coxon and Dave Rowntree and maybe they will post more revealing tweets as summer rolls along!
Lets just hope that "in the studio" means recording new material, as well as practicing hard for the Hyde Park gigs!
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NME tweeted that they were going to post an article about "Blur's new album" recently. Imagine the surprise and disappointment when instead, this article came out (source: NME magazine):
Damon Albarn has halted work on new Blur material, producer William Orbit has toldNME.
The producer, who worked on the reunited Britpop band's 1999 album '13', confirmed that the four-piece had been recording new material, but that the sessions were stopped "suddenly" three weeks ago.
"The new stuff sounded amazing," he says in this week's NME, which is on newsstands from today or available digitally now. "Then it all stopped suddenly. It was all over with Damon, and the rest of the band were like, 'is this it?'". Orbit had previously hinted that he was recording with the band in a series of tweets. Back in January, he wrote: "I just found out that she [Diawara] has done tracks with Damon A, who I’m in the studio with from Wednesday!" He later added to the band's guitarist Graham Coxon: ‘Loving the guitars you laid down! Vocal session March 3!’, suggesting that the sessions?were with Blur and not one of Albarn's many side projects.
However, another tweet later suggested the work may have stalled. Replying to a tweet from one fan who asked for Blur news in March, Orbit replied: "Blur could have been good. But Damon, brilliant and talented tho he is, is kinda a shit to the rest of Blur."
Last month, Albarn denied he was finished with Blur after earlier suggesting that their huge Hyde Park reunion gig to coincide with the close of this summer's Olympics in August would be their final show.
Quite a sensational article that was quite over-hyped, but it definitely summed up the interaction between William Orbit and Damon Albarn in the last few weeks. Strange tweets, strange news and disputes... what is going on?
The real deal!
Then seconds later, suddenly...this happened: fans are told that the Blur boys are recording again! Check out Alex Jame's tweet fresh off his twitter feed today!
Guess NME isn't entirely accurate then. Fans, prepare for more excitement and news on the Blur roller coaster ride all the way until the Olympics gig 2012.
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Yes, the future's been so different while we're gone...
Feature Article by BlurBalls.com
We are going to try to speculate about Blur's future sounds, and future plans, albeit the limited information out there in the Blur-o-sphere. Read on to find out our theories and analysis.
Blur is, essentially, making our brains foggy. There has been a bombardment of news, interviews and mixed information about Blur's prospectus in the year 2012. Blur may make new material. Wait- actually Blur may not make any new material at all. Blur are also, definitely, going to be playing one of their most important gigs ever this year- the Olympics Hyde Park summer shows.
So what is in store for us fans, who have followed, anguished and screamed in excitement about the band we know and love?
To start off, there is some great news for all Blur fans out there. Damon Albarn has revealed that Blur, far from their rumoured disbanding/ splitting up/ fall out, is actively back in the studio recording new tracks.
Damon Albarn appeared on the Andrew Marr show on BBC Radio 1 in the morning of May 13th 2012. He said that Blur were doing some recordings "next week" or "the week after", and that there could well be more than one new song played at the Hyde Park Olympic summer shows.
"A couple, maybe a couple. We're going to do some more recording" - Damon Albarn, May 13th 2012
This recent development is certainly generating great hype amongst Blur's fan base. Could this, once again, be another comment to throw fans off another direction? Or is it genuine, positive news?
The Blur camp has been full of emotional ups and downs lately. Moods have been soaring sky high with the announcement of the Olympics Hyde Park summer gigs (when it was thought 2009 was their last). Moods dipped to an all time low when previously, Damon Albarn announced Blur are 'over', and that they will quit after the summer gigs.
Damon have also said Blur will not record new songs. The Guardian did a revealing interview where Blur were made to sound like it's over permanently. Damon Albarn later seemingly changed his mind (or perhaps it was the biased reporting) and quashed his statements in ShortList magazine. He, apparently, "completely lost it" when he made those statements.
Damon on the cover of The Guardian interview, which rocked the Blur fan-base
Guitarist Graham Coxon and Drummer Dave Rowntree also made several statements deeming the bleak future of Blur. Bassist Alex James also said many varied things about the band's prospects, and not all of it was positive. Who can we believe?
Another revealing new development: William Orbit (producer of Blur's 13) made a harsh tweet calling Damon Albarn a 'pig' recently. Straight off his twitter feed was the agressive remark:
"Blur. Awesome band. Damon, brilliant. No question. + hard working as can 100% relate. But as a person, turned out to be a pig."
Could this be the beginning of a feud between Blur and the super producer? We speculate that perhaps Damon and the band recorded several new tracks with Orbit at the beginning of this year, but some how, things did not work out for the collaboration. Maybe Damon was fickle in his choice and opinions, ideas and music talents clashed.
Quite possibly, the news that Blur are "recording again" means that they were re-recording the tracks they recorded with Orbit after being displeased with the results. Orbit is appearing on BBC Radio 6 to speak about this fall-out - but we have to ask, why is he making public attacks on Damon Albarn? Why the bitter remarks? Is this another random massive fall out between strong minded people of the music business?
Damon with violin - back to Modern Life is Rubbish / The Great Escape orchestral, wispy sounds?
Or, Blur could be reuniting with their early producer Stephen Street for a different sound. After all, Street is producing and remastering the whole Blur catalogue for the 'Blur21' massive compilation box set, set for release in July 2012. They could have chosen anyone otherwise if nothing was up.
No one knows what is going to happen yet this year. Blur, being Blur, keeps us guessing - imagine Damon taunting: "It really really could happen" and then changing his mind!
A very young Blur - will their new tracks sound 'Leisure'-esque?
After all, Blur is an unpredictable band that changes constantly. The sounds range from early Indie tunes like in ''Leisure', to the Britpop sounds of 'Modern Life is Rubbish' and 'Parklife', to the American Rock sound from 'Blur', melancholic / sonic sounds from Orbit's '13' and finally, the low-fi rock of 'Think Tank'.
Maybe Blur decided they have outgrown Orbit's sonic, psychedelic sound of the early 2000s and want to embrace something new. Or perhaps Damon's leaning towards more of a 'Fool's Day' feel, the ballads that matches drums and piano tunes together in an almost 'The Good The Bad and The Queen' style. Damon's new opera 'Dr Dee' definitely shows traces of his love for folk, piano ballad pop, which seems to be cropping up a lot in Damon's post-Blur projects.
Hot off BBC 6's twitter - What's up with Billy Orbit ?
Blur's latest song 'Under the Westway' certainly seems to be heading towards the general direction of what we mentioned above. Slow, sad and reflective... could this be Blur's new sound? Piano ballads? 'Apple-Carts'-esque tunes? If so, then it would be very interesting to hear what new tracks Damon and company are currently recording. Maybe Dave's drums will only feature on limited tracks.
That's not to say that Blur will release a new album any time soon. There seems to be no album plans in store for the immediate future. At most, perhaps we will get a few new tracks from the band. Or will these "new tracks" and recordings even see the light of day? What if Damon changes his mind yet again?
Damon, after all, did say he was recording with Graham Coxon again recently (click to read). Is he planning some sort of solo album with Graham only? Certainly, he seems to be getting on with the guitarist very well lately, more so than "the other two" ? Is a Graham Coxon/ Damon Albarn album in the works? Note- Dave and Alex had little to say in the media recently about their band.
Future two man show ?
Listen to the latest Blur interview chat below (credit to Gorillaz Unofficial for the recording) where Damon revealed there may be more than 1 new song and feel free to leave a comment, vote on our poll and tell us your views on what you think of all the new developments.
Blur can now move on to many possible roads- it's up to the boys to decide which road to take. Which one would they choose ?
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