Damon Albarn: Blur, Gorillaz and other Fables - Book Review + Giveaway 2015

Heads up for all Damon Albarn fans- there's a new Damon Albarn biography out in the bookstores and this one is the most up to date, most recent Blur biography of all time.

This fully updated book by authors Martin Roach and David Nolan was published in August 2015. Featuring first-hand interviews with those closest to the musician in his formative years, is the only available dedicated biography of Albarn and covers his multiple musical personas in depth, as well as the Britpop era and the rock star’s re-emergence as the Godfather to the iPod generation.

Damon Albarn: Blur, Gorillaz and other fables. Out 6th August, Paperback, Music Press, RRP £7.99. 

‘I can’t stand the idea of being a sad, lonely bedsit poet. I’d much rather be perceived as loud and arrogant, because all our sensitivity’s in our records’ - Damon Albarn

From Blur to the virtual band Gorillaz and his unique solo album Everyday Robots, to working with recently deceased Soul legend Bobby Womack, everything Damon Albarn touches turns to success. With The Magic Whip – Blur’s first album in over a decade - released last May, Damon Albarn is once again ready to take his place as an iconic jewel in the crown of the British music scene.

Yet this book documents the musician's struggles, life, love, relationships, origins and musical journey throughout his most formative years. The book follows Damon Albarn through Blur, the Britpop era, to his next musical endeavours, to his life with his partner Suzi and ends with a complete discography encompassing all of the singer's songs up to the year 2015.

This book is a definite must have for any Damon Albarn fan out there who wants an accessible, well-written and thorough book. It's biggest advantage is it's timely relevance- the year 2015 marks the beginning of possible a new chapter in Damon Albarn's musical career, and this book serves as a good memorabilia for the 'new' Blur of 2015.

About the authors: David Nolan is a British television producer and author, specialising in music and popular culture biographies, including the seminal book on the Sex Pistols, ‘I Swear I Was There’.

Martin Roach is a firmly established writer and publisher on all things popular music, having ghost-written several extremely high-profile projects for major publishing houses and owned his own music publishing company

This book is great for both younger fans and to the more serious Albarn fans who want more insight into how the musician developed his career throughout the years.

This book is available on Amazon for purchase.

Alternatively, BlurBalls is bringing you an exclusive chance to win 1 FREE COPY of the book Damon Albarn: Blur, Gorillaz and other fables. Simply enter using the form below and the winner will be chosen in 4 weeks (September 28)! 

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Damon Albarn Getting Ready for New Gorillaz Album Recording

After Jamie Hewlett launched the 2015 2D versions of Murdoc, Noodle and Russel on Instagram  it immediately started speculations that Gorillaz is going to release a new album.

And lo and behold, Damon Albarn, who is in tour with his other band Blur, confirmed that they are definitely gearing up for a Gorillaz new album.

While in Australia for his tour, Albarn revealed to ABC News that they are actually preparing for the recording, which will most likely going to happen next month.

"I'm starting recording in September for a new Gorillaz record," Albarn admitted. "I've just been really, really busy so I haven't had a chance."

Moreover, Albarn is very excited to go back in the studio and work on new music for Gorillaz.

"I'd love to just get back in to that routine of being at home and coming to the studio five days a week."

He however did not mention about the new album's release date, but there are speculations claiming that it will most likely going to happen next year.

In addition to the new Gorillaz album, Damon Albarn also talked about his other band, Blur.

"I would imagine there's some kind of future, but at the moment there's no time for the future - only the present," he said of Blur's future in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. "Who knows? I'm reluctant to say anything [about Blur], because if I do, it just gets taken out of context and then I'm accused of being a wind-up."

And while the new Gorillaz album has been well thought of, Albarn confessed that Blur's "The Magic Whip" album on the other hand was made spontaneously after the band took a break.

"It was very easy because we did it over a period of five days in Hong Kong," Albarn said.

"And we didn't tell anyone, didn't have any sort of agenda really, we just jammed.

"So it was a very pleasurable and fluid session."

London Calling- New Blur Podcast 2015

New Blur podcast alert! Music Heritage UK, a charity which exists to promote, protect and preserve UK's popular music heritage recently launched a podcast on the Camden Town and its role in the birth of Britpop, featuring Alison Wise who runs the London 'Camden Rock n Roll Walking Tour'.

This new podcast is a great listen, and there's plenty on Blur in there!

London Calling Ep 2.3 - Camden Town: Birthplace of Britpop by Music Heritage Uk on Mixcloud

Damon Albarn Performs "Song 2" for First Time Without Blur

Damon Albarn is currently touring in support of his solo album, Everyday Robots, released in April this year.

Last night, at a show in Boston, he and his band played Blur's 1997 hit "Song 2" without his bandmates for the first time. According to The Guardian, it's the first time Albarn has performed the song without Blur, and the first time he's played it on the current tour. Albarn was wearing an elephant hat thrown on stage by a fan, according to NME.

Blur perform Tender on Jimmy Fallon

Blur perform an excellent, touching acoustic version of Tender from their album '13' in the backstage of the Jimmy Fallon show earlier last month. The band looks extremely relaxed and chilled, and this is probably the best live version of Tender we've seen in the last few years. Hope you enjoy the share!

Blur- Ong Ong acoustic version

We are currently loving the song Ong Ong from Blur's newest album. Here's some footage of the song performed on Last.fm sessions live in May 2015. Blur performs a refreshing light acoustic version of their new song, which is perhaps the best little gem on their new album The Magic Whip.



What's your favourite song from The Magic Whip?

What's your favourite song from The Magic Whip?

Lonesome Street

New World Towers

Go Out

Ice cream man

Thought I Was a Spaceman

I Broadcast

My Terracotta Heart

There Are Too Many of Us

Ghost Ship

Pyongyang

Ong Ong

Mirror Ball

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Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon talk about recording

Watch a new interview where the band talks about recording at Abbey Road studios. The video contains some refreshing footage of Damon and Graham looking young and energetic.

Watch Blur- Ong Ong Music Video - Love it or hate it?

The new video for Blur's new single Ong Ong features an orange in a retro video game, with the band dressed up as various insects, ice-cream cones and an unidentifiable red object. It's a different style of video compared to the band's previous release Lonesome Street and Go Out, which features live footage of real people. Check out the video below!

 

Do you love Blur's Ong Ong video?

Love it

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Neither/ don't care

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10 things you didn't know about The Magic Whip

1. Blur produced this album secretly in Hong Kong, when they were there for tour in 2014. Graham Coxon even revealed that he had to lie to friends and family in order to keep their new album secret.
2. In May of 2013, Blur were set to play Japan's Tokyo Rocks Music festival. However, the entire festival was cancelled for unknown reasons, leaving the band stranded in Hong Kong for an extra 5 days. The result of this extra 5 days of studio work is the new album, where Albarn later stated he was unsure whether the resulting music would ever be released.
3. Stephen Street, the producer of The Magic Whip, actually produced Blur's first album 'Leisure' and several other subsequent albums. He had a fall-out with the band a few years ago where there was a mini-feud between him, William Orbit and other Blur members. 
4. The Magic Whip is band's first studio album since Think Tank (2003), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career.
5. Stephen Street actually plays keyboard in several of Blur's live performances as part of their new 2015 tour. See this video for Stephen on the keyboards! 
6. The cover of the album features the Chinese words of 模糊 魔鞭, which translates into "Blur Magic-whip". The artist, Tony Hung, who also created the lyric video for "Go Out",  met with frontman Damon Albarn in early 2015 to discuss the album artwork and was shown photos and ephemera from the singer's travels in Hong Kong.
7. Damon Albarn has always enjoyed featuring Asian cities or Chinese elements in his songs. His hit from Gorillaz- Hong Kong- was also about the city, as is the whole of The Magic Whip. The song 'Ong Ong' in particular is also a tribute to Hong Kong. 
8. Graham Coxon said that The Magic Whip is his favourite Blur album of all time. His reason? "It's poignant – a lot of what Damon [Albarn]'s saying with the lyrics would maybe resonate with someone who's my age, feeling dislocated by technology but also slightly enslaved by it, and worried about where it's all going to end up. I feel like he's saying the stuff that I feel". 
9. The Magic Whip actually contains only half of the songs that Damon Albarn has written in Hong Kong. Alex James has revealed that the band have enough material to release another new album, having only used half of the tracks they wrote for 'The Magic Whip'.
10. Damon Albarn’s voice has changed a lot, evident in his new album. His voice matured from a more high-pitched voice to a deeper, raspier and melancholic voice which conveys the feeling of the Magic Whip well. It's probably why the new album received very positive critical reviews.