NME Magazine writes:
Graham Coxon has teamed up with rapper Example on his new album.
The guitarist features on four tracks on the rapper's forthcoming third album 'The Evolution Of Man' - scroll down to listen to first single 'Say Nothing', which will be released on September 16. 
Example met Coxon at a gig and asked him to feature on the record, which is due on November 18. "I met him at a War Child gig at Shepherd’s Bush Empire," he says. "Then I saw him at The Brits, and told my manager we needed to get him on the album. So I pitched my idea, then went to his house and played him the album. On some songs he just picked up his guitar and started freestyling. It was fucking amazing."
As well as 'Say Nothing', Coxon features on three more tracks – ' Crying Out For Help', ' Snakeskin', and the Zane Lowe-produced 'Blood From A Stone'.
The rapper has also announced an arena tour for early 2013, which will kick off at Bournemouth's BIC on February 11, finishing at Manchester's MEN on March 1.
Example will play:
Bournemouth BIC (February 11)
Nottingham Capital FM Arena (12)
Liverpool Echo Arena (13)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (15)
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (16)
Glasgow SECC (17)
Aberdeen AECC (18)
London Earls Court (23)
Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (25)
Brighton Centre (26)
Birmingham LG Arena (28)
Manchester Arena (March 1)
Looks like Graham Coxon is doing his own thing and trying new things, after Blur's summer shows.
Check out a new interview from FT Magazine by Graham Coxon here.
August 25, 2012
Graham Coxon to collaborate with Example in new album
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE
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August 22, 2012
Blur - Warm up at Denmark's Smukfest
On August 9th 2012, Blur played a warm up gig in Denmark, Skanderborg as part of their 2012 live shows. It's been a an exciting few weeks leading up to Blur's Hyde Park Olympics show, which closed this landmark London sporting event very successfully despite a little volume troubles.
After Blur's initial London gigs (first one being Maida Vale on August 2nd), Blur packed their bags and traveled to Denmark to visit their Denmark and neighbouring fans. According to many members of the audience, the Smukfest show was raw, visually bright and was an enjoyable experience.
It's time to catch up on this rare, "outside-UK" Blur warm up show which received little media attention.
Smukfest in pictures
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| Credits to Morten Pape. More pictures here (link) |
The setlist for Blur at Smukfest 2012 was as follows:
- Girls & Boys
- Tracy Jacks
- Beetlebum
- Out of Time
- Young & Lovely
- Caramel
- Country House
- Parklife
- The Puritan
- Popscene
- Song 2
- Tender
- This Is a Low
- Encore:
- Sing
- Under The Westway
- Intermission
- For Tomorrow
- The Universal
The crowd's great, hyped up and excited. Catch up on this warm up gig below with footage of Damon Albarn crowd surfing, Beetlebum, Country House, Song 2, The Universal and more. Blur were on a roll that night!
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE
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August 19, 2012
Broken (film) features Damon Albarn Soundtrack
Damon Albarn worked with director Rufus Norris on his new film 'Broken' (2012)'s soundtrack. The singer wrote the musical scores and instrumentals for this film, which details the story of a young girl in North London whose life changes after witnessing a violent attack.
The first piece of music in the movie trailer sounds a bit like something off Gorillaz's third album 'Plastic Beach' and definitely has a touch of Damon's signature melodies and beats.
The second piece of music is a nice rendition of Blur's fan club single 'Colours'. The single was released on August 2003 and seems to fit the movie's dark theme very well.
Watch the trailer for 'Broken' below.
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE
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August 17, 2012
Top 10 things to check out -Blur Hyde Park Olympics 2012 Gig Special
Special Report - Post- Olympic Blur Craze: Top 10 things to do after Hyde Park
Things to do after Blur's Hyde Park gig - this week, we sum up the top hottest, must-see, must-have Blur items and releases for the die hard fans / lucky fans who went / those who missed the performance , or anyone who's interested in getting a piece of post- Olympic music action (including ourselves over here at BlurBalls!):
1) Blur - Parklive (Live)
The digital audio release of Blur's massive, sold out Hyde Park gig on August 12th 2012. Just in the for the end of London's glorious Olympics event. Both fans who went and fans who didn't will be able to re-live the experience of one of the band's finest show. Physical CD plus DVD will be released in November. Highlights include Caramel (live) and Song 2 (live) - the latter replaced 'The Puritan' in an unexpected Damon decision. 
Get it here on iTunes store now.
2) Hyde Park merchandise
We're not advertising anything but personally, these new cool Blur shirts are very worth getting. They're beautiful, bold and represent Blur's Hyde Park 2012 gig. Makes great gifts, pyjamas, workout clothes, casual clothes, party outfits, jogging suit... and they're going to be great memorabilia for years to come. You can even get the Hyde Park poster in full large size to stick up your wall, or have it framed to add to your collection. We're loving the Hyde Park navy shirt most!Visit Blur's official shop here.
3) Admire the #BlurHydePark2012 photo stream
Very worth checking out - as fans watched live that day, they tweeted and posted pictures on Instagram, and the tag "#blurhydepark2012" automatically added their posts to a beautiful stream of images on Blur's official site. Just load the page and watch endless Blur images pop out everywhere... literally Blur heaven right here. Plus for fans who didn't go, you can easily re-live the gig by vicarious experience. Hey, better than nothing right ?Jump to the Blur Hyde Park photostream here.
4) Watch snippets on Youtube
Since the physical Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park 2012) CD isn't released until November, we have to rely on our number one source: Youtube. This user (click here) has several well-recorded tracks including 'Tender' , "Girls and Boys' and 'Country House' which you can view. Alternatively, you can just do a simple search. And since we try to make Blur things simpler for you...Click here to watch Blur at Hyde Park (Youtube)
5) Get a piece of actual Hyde Park memorabilia - Milky Carton and Posters
The Hyde Park gig has some surprises - a milky carton was given out as live memorabilia for the audience.
It's the one from 'Coffee and TV' and measures 9 inch by 4 inches! One of them appeared on ebay - and it is indeed very cute. Belongs to any collector's desk, so bid when prices are still low. We're also guessing there will be more rare things on ebay soon - especially as Blur cools down their engines.
Check out the milk carton on ebay now.
6) Blur Hyde Park 2012 Image Gallery
Feast your eyes on this set of high quality, high resolution professional Blur pictures - there's lots more circulating around the internet but 'Blur Peru''s album is by far the most comprehensive and fullest one out there.
Did we mention how the boys are looking better and better recently? Highlights include Damon screaming on top of his lungs and Alex James looking cool. The kings of Britpop are 'Young and Lovely' again.
View HQ Blur Hyde Park Photos here
View NME's Blur gallery here.
7) Reviews, Reviews and More Reviews
Lots of reviews of the Blur Hyde Park 2012 Closing Ceremony gig. Recommended reviews to read include:- Rolling Stone's review - nice summary of the show
- University of Nottingham's magazine review - nice change reading a university magazine review
- The Arts Desk - nice short little review
- Where The Wild Things Are - an audience fan's review
8) Download the audio and Damon's interview before the show
In our review, we have cool pictures, fun facts, videos and audio download links (also in 'Downloads' section) available for the show all in one neat summary. Plus you get to hear Damon Albarn talk about Korean pop music, Japanese pop music and British pop music. Straight from the pop star's mouth. How interesting.Check out our previous review on Blur's Hyde Park Olympics gig.
9) How much did Blur get paid for the London Olympics Hyde Park gig ?
So how much exactly did Damon Albarn and the gang earn this time? Millions ? Thousands of pounds? Or was it much more? We read it, we know the answer. But now it is your turn to find out. The topic made the news on several online sources, and is quite an interesting (and rather unexpected) insight.Snoop in on how much Blur earned this time here.
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| What's next for Blur ? |
10) Put Blur on shuffle
Lastly, go back and listen to Blur's catalogue of songs, b-sides and other tracks again. They're going to sound better than ever with the recent remastered CDs and the new memories, sounds, experiences and aftertastes of Blur's memorable Hyde Park Olympics gig.
If it is indeed Blur's last gig ever, as rumoured, then it's well worth going through our list and re-live this wonderful gig the band has brought to us. It has been a blur and there's a lot of new Blur material to swallow, not including the recent Blur: 21 unreleased tracks and remasters!
Go - and complete these 10 Blur post-Olympic tasks.
Brought to you by Blurballs - August 17th 2012
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE
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August 13, 2012
Watch Blur live Hyde Park 2012- Blur wraps up London Olympics
Blur closed the London Olympics 2012 with their typically grand fashion. Although some fans complained about the lack of volume and sound, Blur sounded great to those who were lucky enough to be able to watch them live in Hyde Park on the evening of August 12th 2012.
Prior to the gig, Alex James, bassist, posted several emotional tweets about Blur's soundcheck and final rehearsal. He said that he "cried during [Under the Westway] in soundcheck" and was pleased that some fans pulled out some photoshop magic on the band's Brit Award photo.
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| What a blur.... who's who ? |
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| Alex James tweeted this picture of the stage's centre |
In the show, Colin Zeal, Young & Lovely and Caramel were played. It's great to see Blur playing some of the lesser known songs from their back catalogue. Especially seeing as Caramel was only played live for the first time ever in Maida Vale, August 2nd 2012 (watch the performance here).
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| Rock on Blur |
It's unlikely that Blur fans will get new material after this grand Olympics gig though. Graham Coxon said he had to break the bad news to fans as there's "no more plans to record" anything in last week's interview. Damon Albarn also agreed in this interview.
The Blur Hyde Park 2012 setlist was as follows:
- Girls & Boys
- London Loves
- Tracy Jacks
- Jubilee
- Beetlebum
- Coffee & TV
- Out of Time(with Khyam Allami)
- Young & Lovely
- Trimm Trabb
- Caramel
- Sunday Sunday
- Country House
- Parklife(with Phil Daniels)
- Colin Zeal(with Harry Enfield)
- Popscene
- Advert
- Song 2
- No Distance Left to Run
- Tender
- This Is a Low
- Encore:
- Sing
- Under The Westway
- Intermission
- End of a Century
- For Tomorrow
- The Universal
Note: Final show of 2012 tour
Blur's final massive gig in Hyde Park this summer for the London Olympics Closing ceremony will be made available to all fans worldwide - via an exclusive CD and DVD package (Cost: 45 GBP).
This special release will be available for download via the iTunes store – worldwide within 24 hours for of the band leaving the stage.
Next week, a rare limited edition CD of the entire full Hyde Park show will be available. Titled Blur: Parklive, it features 2 CD show discs including a BONUS disc featuring unreleased live tracks chosen from the recent warm-up shows (Margate, Wolverhampton, Plymouth, Maida Vale). Pre-order your copy here!
Watch some of the latest live tracks below performed by Blur, at what is their biggest gig in many years since 2009. Lets hope this is not the end of the reign for the Britpop kings and one of Britain's most influential bands.
This special release will be available for download via the iTunes store – worldwide within 24 hours for of the band leaving the stage.Next week, a rare limited edition CD of the entire full Hyde Park show will be available. Titled Blur: Parklive, it features 2 CD show discs including a BONUS disc featuring unreleased live tracks chosen from the recent warm-up shows (Margate, Wolverhampton, Plymouth, Maida Vale). Pre-order your copy here!
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| Pictures credited to Daily Mail and The Sun - Damon is radiant against purple backdrop |
Download the show (audio mp3) HERE (credits to Mr. Magpie)
Order the new Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park CD / DVD) HERE
Blur Exhibition review and photos HERE
SUBSCRIBE NOW!
August 12, 2012
Blur at London Olympics Hyde Park - live pics & tweets
Share Your Blur Hyde Park Moments
with us using Twitter and Instagram.
Just tag your photos with
#blurhydepark2012
August 11, 2012
Blur: Parklife - Full coverage of Blur's Summer show DVD / CD available
Blur's final massive gig in Hyde Park this summer for the London Olympics Closing ceremony will be made available to all fans worldwide - via an exclusive CD and DVD package.
This can only mean one thing - fans who cannot make it this summer will be able to re-live the experience right in their own living rooms.
This special release will be available for download via the iTunes store – worldwide within 24 hours for of the band leaving the stage.
Next week, a rare limited edition CD of the entire full Hyde Park show will be available. Titled Blur: Parklive, it features 2 CD show discs including a BONUS disc featuring unreleased live tracks chosen from the recent warm-up shows (Margate, Wolverhampton, Plymouth, Maida Vale).
After, in November there will be a deluxe 5-disc set, which contains 3 full CDs of gig audio with an additional DVD of Blur's performance at the massiveHyde Park gig.
There's more! A CD of tracks – 'Blur Live At The 100 Club' – recorded at the legendary London venue in August will also be released.
The discs are packaged in a hardback book which features 60+ pages of new, exclusive photographs and images from both Hyde Park and the 100 Club Gig.
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| Our little Blur sketch - in celebration of the 'Blur: Parklife (Live at Hyde Park 2012) ' CD |
Click HERE to pre-order your copy of this package.