New Damon Albarn Interview- 2017

It's been a while since we've posted here on Blurballs, but we want to apologize for the hiatus. The following is an interesting little interview taken from Vulture (source below) whom interviewed Damon Albarn about his recent work on November 2017.

Yes, we're back! 

In exploring the differences between Damon Albarn’s twin flagship bands, it never occurred to me that Albarn viewed the one as a commentary on British life and the other as an exploration of America through music. It tracks, though. The sound experiments of 2001’s Gorillaz imagined the breakbeats and turntable wizardry of the States’ bubbling independent hip-hop scene growing a natural affinity for pop hooks and melodies, a prescient concept to revisit in a year when the beats on the new Jay-Z album sound more like Roc Marciano than Rocafella Records. The washed-out sonics Danger Mouse brought to Demon Days rolled aspects of American surf and psych rock into modern pop, presaging the ’60s-rock vibes Mouse teased out on Gnarls Barkley, Beck, and Black Keys albums in the middle aughts.

Gorillaz’s sound didn’t always scan as American in its roots because early on I was discovering the work of Albarn’s collaborators through him. I stumbled onto his music in high school when “Song 2” broke in America and dug deeper after a snarky older kid’s withering remark that I wasn’t cool enough to listen to Blur.

Albarn’s late-’90s and early-’00s output helped nudge me toward indie rock, Britpop, and underground rap. I was curious how my pop-music Zelig always got into the right rooms with the right people. He swore cosmic providence: “I’m more interested in the right person sort of finding me somehow.” But the guest list on Humanz — D.R.A.M., Popcaan, Little Simz, Danny Brown, Kelela — sounds like it was put together by someone tapped into the cutting edge of modern pop culture. I got my answer when an assistant ambled over to inform Albarn that his kid was heading over to watch Future perform.

More intriguing than Albarn’s future-forward ear for music are the times his songwriting has seemed wise to some coming catastrophe. It’s not justHumanz, which he half pridefully, half morbidly describes as being “no longer a future record, but a record of now.” There’s a dull fatalism haunting the singer-songwriter’s late-’90s work, across “Death of a Party,”“Strange News from Another Star,” “Coffee and TV,” and “Battle,” that I’d understood for years as simple, textbook Albarn melancholia until a question about the Gorillaz live show drew an aside about 9/11. TheHumanz tour does away with the AV theatrics that obscured the band on stage on past tours, dropping the cartoon band conceit to showcase the people making the music. “I want them to see the humans,” he said.

Is that a methodological response to the feeling of the record, the way that you’re performing it?
I think so, yeah. I’m also trying to get to the spirit of the songs from the past. That’s the hard thing, to go back to 2001, when I was in a very different space, and the world was pre-9/11. And then putting a record out while that was happening … It’s very powerful stuff, so you can’t be insensitive to the resonance around what you do. I was just trying to get back to that, to be sensitive to where I am.

It’s interesting that you mention making music around 9/11, because, in retrospect, 13 feels like a record that’s got this sort of coming panic to it. 
Yeah, there seems to be … I dunno what’s the matter with me.

Sounds shamanistic to me.
That’s the second time that conversation has come up recently. For me, that’s what I aspire to. It’s just something you have to practice and be very open-hearted about. It’s as simple as that. Opened eyes. It’s emotional ritual, that’s what shamanism is.

I think that Blur and 13 kind of telegraph the tug-of-war between electronic music and rock that came together on other records to louder acclaim. I’m wondering how you continuously find ways to keep readjusting the formula of rock music. 
I honestly just get up in the morning, get stoned — I get up. I do yoga. Have a little bit of breakfast. Go to the studio. Get stoned. Work. Leave at 5.

There are a lot of musicians who strike whenever the inspiration comes. It could be three in the morning or —
Well, not three in the morning. Not these days. But yeah, sure. Fuck. I made one record, called Democrazy, which was entirely written at five o’clock in the morning for a month. Sounds like the fucking mad clattering insides of someone’s brain, but that’s good for what that is. I always get frustrated because a decision is made about who you are on the basis of that one thing. And it’s like, “Man, I do a lot of different things!” That’s who I am. Thewhole thing. Not just Gorillaz or … And in a way it doesn’t really matter. Forget about personalities. Share the experience together.

Gotcha.
I mean, obviously that means something entirely different in 2017 than it did 1968. The thing is, we have to be sensitive to what we create. Because, literally, you are the future. You can see the future everywhere. We think we can’t see into the future, but we can see everywhere. [Laughs] Also the past.

Does that come with obligations?
Uhhh … no, that’s just the way it is. If you accept the spirit into your universe then you have to follow the spirit. Different people have different spirits. There isn’t one full, cohesive, one spirit. There is spirit, but it then subdivides into a billion different … If you’re gonna get into the, uh, bureaucracy of that, you’ve gotta be an angel or something like that.

Are you a profoundly spiritual person?
I wouldn’t say I’m profoundly anything, but I am spiritual.

Source: Vulture 

A New Gorillaz Album is to be out in 2018 !

Head's up! Damon Albarn has just announced that a new Gorillaz album may be out in 2018. Yes, that's right folks, it might just be coming soon!

But that's not the whole story. After the release Humanz this year, lead singer Damon Albarn has revealed that he’d like to release another “surprise” album, similar to The Fall from back in 2010, which arrived after a short surprise announcement.

“I really like the idea of making new music and playing it live almost simultaneously,” Albarn announced after speaking with Q Magazine. “It will be a more complete record than The Fall, but hopefully have that spontaneity.”

The virtual band still has a number of tour dates to get to, as Damon continued regarding live performances.

“We’ve been discussing ideas for a new kind of live show,” he added. “If we’re going to do more with Gorillaz we don’t want to wait seven years because, y’know, we’re getting on a bit now. We’re excited but we need to get these shows finished first. You never know what’s around the corner.”

“My dream of being able to see holograms of real people onstage is close now. That was the idea at the beginning. We’ve been very patient and we don’t have that long left.”

So is this a teaser for a new Gorillaz album? Is this one of Albarn's many contested hints? Who knows - but what we know for sure is that the future of a new Gorillaz album remains out there for good!

Stay tuned for more (and we're back after our little hiatus!).

Gorillaz carries its energy through San Francisco’s curfew

A cartoon band, Gorillaz may have started from behind Jamie Hewlett’s caricatures but permanent frontman Damon Albarn didn’t pretend to be anything other than flesh and blood at Outside Lands in its headlining set Friday night. Albarn stepped up to the crowd in dark jeans and a black shirt, bereft of inky outlines and purple-y oil paint sheen — it was just the sort of outfit you’d expect from someone who’s 49 years old and English and not a cartoon.

Storm clouds of stage smoke floated around him, sliced through by striped, white lasers and backlit by villainous sci-fi bursts of emerald green. He stood steadily behind the mic stand in the center, singing through the color-saturated air, as the sky at the fringes of Golden Gate Park turned pink then black.

The spotlights refracting around the stage hopscotched the color spectrum as Albarn jumped around the band’s discography — seizured flashes of emerald for “M1 A1” from Gorillaz, a glare of hazy blue at Albarn’s call of “Are we the last living soul?” from Demon Days, a single sheath of white on Albarn as a twangy keyboard synth plucked out the bouncy melody from “19-2000.” It was a song played twice because the band lost its place after Albarn forgot the lyrics while down in the crowd: “I fucked up and I don’t want to fuck up so we’re going to do this again,” he said as the crowd went bananas.

Through the mishmash of alternating colors and sonic eras of Gorillaz, Albarn presented a parade of guest artists — Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon followed American hip hop group De La Soul, who followed Pusha T, who followed Kali Uchis.

Guest artists are a common staple for the Gorillaz, the result of his role as a creative producer. Perhaps the best collaboration — performed and recorded — was that with Nagano on “Empire Ants.”

Nagano waltzed in from from stage left in a second impressive outfit (having played an hour prior with her own band Little Dragon on the same stage in a wide-brimmed neon yellow hat and puffy, ruffled dress). Her voice fluctuated gorgeously and easily over the lilting synths and driving drum line on the song from the upper half of Plastic Beach.

But, of course, it’s hard to top “On Melancholy Hill,” which the band played immediately before. The song’s keyboard line is instantly recognizable, as are Albarn’s megaphone-esque vocals as he opens with, “Up on Melancholy Hill there’s a plastic tree / Are you here with me?” It’s also one of the few songs of the night that was easy for a large crowd to sing along to — so as hands waved darkly silhouetted against a jewel-toned watercolor stage light, you could hear them shouting back the lyrics.

Following “On Melancholy Hill” and “Empire Ants” in the middle of the set, Gorillaz played 10 more songs before beginning its five-song encore with “Stylo.”

What followed “Stylo,” though, was probably the best moment of the night: Vincent Mason (Maseo) of De La Soul returned to the stage, murmurs of anticipation filling the crowd as he shuffled and leaned toward the edge of the stage, Albarn asking the audience to hush so Maseo could focus. The laugh at the beginning of “Feel Good Inc.” resounded across the park as cheers erupted alongside the prominent drum lead in. Nobody stood still through the end of the song.

The end of Gorillaz’s encore brought “Demon Days” and Albarn’s question: “We’re going to keep playing until they switch us off, okay?”

Of course, the audience deemed it perfectly okay, and Gorillaz was cut off before the end of the tune, the geometric colors of the stained glass projection behind them fading out along with the musicians. But not even the SF noise curfew could fade out the crowd’s energy.

Source- Dailycal.org 

Laser Hair Removal by Pulse Light Clinic

Pulse Light Clinic in London has a fantastic way of removing your unwanted hair on your body. They are famous for their Laser Hair Removal treatment that is proven to work.  Now, some of you may be asking- what is laser hair removal? Laser hair removal is removal of body hair using laser technology. Hair generally grows all over the human body, some fine and barely noticeable, with other areas having thicker, more prominent hair. That thicker hair can often be in unwanted places or too excessive, laser hair removal is directed towards the removal or reduction of this hair.

What is the process of laser hair removal? The clinic uses a special procedure called "selective photothermolysis" (photo- means light and thermolysis means to destroy with heat). It is selective as it targets the hair and not the skin. Lasers are useful because they can target a large amount of hairs in one go, in a much less painful manner. After the laser treatments (which you go through several rounds of laser beams), the dead hair will shed through the skin in 1-3 weeks.

During this period the hairs will seem to grow as they are pushed out by the new skin. After the second treatment, depending on skin and hair type the area can already begin to look patchy as certain hair follicles stop producing new hairs. However, the lasers target hair that are growing, so the treatment will require a few repeated cycles as the hair grows out and gets removed.

The advantages of laser hair removal include:

• Reduction of ingrown hairs
• Smoother skin
• Not having to shave or wax
• Less irritation to the skin
• Permanent hair reduction
• Reduces excessive hair growth ( PCOS)
• Smaller pores & easy stress free body

Watch this informative video below and learn more about the process! It is pain-free and useful, and perfect for men and women who want to remove excessive hair. It is completely safe and easy, and can give you benefits for life! 

Contact Pulse Light Clinic to book in a free consultation and patch-test. They provide free same day consultations Clinics in London, by Bank & Tottenham Court Rd. 

Website: www.pulselightclinic.co.uk

Email: info@pulselightclinic.co.uk

Telephone: 0207 523 5158

Gorillaz- Canada Gig Review - 2017

Gorillaz

The Air Canada Centre on July 10.

Gorillaz persists in being far more lifelike than any self-respecting “cartoon band” has any right to be. Also, for that matter, a far bigger concert draw.

There was some noticeable elbow room here and there around the bowl at the 20,000-capacity Air Canada Centre for Monday night’s Toronto performance by the “fake” animated quartet — these days actually the very human ringleader Damon Albarn, a 12-piece ensemble featuring six backup singers and a handful of guest vocalists and MCs drifting in and out of the lineup as the moment warrants. That said, Gorillaz still commanded a thoroughly impressive and enthusiastic turnout for a high-concept stoner lark dreamed up by Albarn and his cartoonist pal Jamie Hewlett when they were flatmates 20 years ago.

Indeed, while those of us of a certain age might be tempted to chalk the size of the crowd up to lingering Blur deprivation on the part of the local Brit-pop audience, the reality is that there’s an entire generation out there raised on “Clint Eastwood” that probably had no idea what a Blur was in the first place. Also, Gorillaz — whose global commercial success long ago surpassed that of Albarn’s on-again/off-again “real” band — has maintained a fairly rigorous standard of quality over five admirably adventurous and eclectic albums now; those ’toons have a lot of badass tunes to pull from, and the ongoing (sort of) mystery as to who might or might not turn up to perform them live on a given night only adds to the allure of a new tour.

A new Gorillaz tour was, mind you, the last thing anyone was looking forward to after the project’s dodgy first live outing in 2002, a misguided affair that had Albarn and his collaborators (maybe) playing in silhouette behind a scrim upon which Hewlett’s characters Murdoc, 2-D, Noodle and Russel were projected. Fortunately, though, a lavish 2010 jaunt in support of third album Plastic Beach that sometimes boasted upwards of 25 musicians onstage (including half of the Clash and the late Bobby Womack) easily atoned for past sins and reset expectations rather high for the next outing — expectations which Monday night’s gig perhaps didn’t quite live up to, but which will remain up there for whenever someone coughs up the no-doubt-sizeable amount of cash required to underwrite the next ambitious Gorillaz excursion.

Monday’s Air Canada Centre appearance was only the second date on this summer’s tour in support of the recent Humanz album, and it showed. The sound was harsh and muddy for much of the performance and, while it filled out as the show went on, never really did the players onstage justice.

The pacing, too, was a little wonky, quickly adopting a meandering, noncommittally dubby tone after a strong start that had opener Vince Staples stalking the stage and firing off rhymes alongside Albarn for Humanz’ genuinely ascendant “Ascension.”

There were definitely sparks during the first half of the set — “Tomorrow Comes Today,” from Gorillaz’ self-titled 2001 debut, remains a keeper and Chicago house vocalist Jamie Principle and sidekick Zebra Katz lit the place up with a booming “Sex Murder Party” towards the midpoint — but it wasn’t until new tracks “Strobelite” (featuring another Chicago vocalist, Peven Everett) and “Andromeda” lit the place up with a proper jolt of house music that the party really got started.

From there on in it was all gold, from two killer appearances by sharp-tongued female MC Little Simz on “Garage Palace” and a throttling “We Got the Power” — wherein Simz easily upstaged the recorded version featuring Savages’ Jehnny Beth — on through a riotous encore that featured Everett nailing the gone-but-not-forgotten Bobby Womack’s part on “Stylo,” a meatier-than-meaty version of “Kids With Guns,” the predictably euphorically received “Clint Eastwood” and a nice Floyd-ian comedown with “Don’t Get Lost in Heaven” and “Demon Days.”

The flaws in the set were, ultimately, part of the charm, though. Gorillaz is, after all, a cartoon band. Technically, we shouldn’t even be able to see these songs live. It’s nice to hear the humans behind the music being so . . . human.

Source- The Star 

Damon Albarn's tribute to Grenfell victims - BBC Radio 4

Damon Albarn pays a tribute to the victims of the Grenfell building burning which happened last week in London.

Cheap Clothing for Music Festivals

It's finally the British summer and it's time for music festivals like Glastonbury, Isle of Wright and Reading! With these festivals, everyone tries to look chic and unique. Celebrities of all kinds try hard to dress up and create fashion trends. It's almost essential to get the outfit right.

With Sammydress, you can get really cheap fashion that look stylish and brilliant at the same time. We here at BlurBalls have personally been sent a few items to review, and we're pleased to say that the quality is pretty impressive. Their coats and tops are brilliant.

They have men's fashion too, and they're all around 10-30 pounds, which means that it's very affordable for anyone who already spent a lot on their music festival or gig tickets.

If Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon Were Cereal

Here's a little mid-week humour to get you through the week! Damon Albarn has often been called "Damon All Bran" by the fans, and apparently when he was a child he used to be called "Allbran" as a joke!

Blur - 13 Live (The Depot)

One of the more emotional concerts of Blur's time. Enjoy!