April 28, 2011

Graham Coxon to play Glastonbury 2011

According to THIS LINK, Graham Coxon will be playing at Glastonbury this year! He will share the Park Stage with ...

The Park Stage

Wild Beasts
James Blake
Special Guests
Tame Impala
The Walkmen
Graham Coxon
Those Dancing Days
About Group
Baelearic Folk Orchestra
Ellen & The Escapades



Awesome news for us fans. Perhaps he'll play something from his new album ?  



Graham looking suave at last year's Blur mega glastonbury gig



April 23, 2011

New Damon Albarn Demo with Kid Koala

Damon Albarn is not the kind of guy who can sit still and leave a couple of years (or more) in between albums. 


He’s just finished with Gorillaz, more rumors of further Blur dates keep surfacing, and now it appears he’s been working on new material with Dan the Automator and Kid Koala. 


The latter just appeared on Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space radio show, where he dropped this as-yet untitled demo, which is a choppy, trip hop-style collaboration between the trio. 


Albarn’s plaintive vocals help increase the already-downcast nature of the track, which is wrapped around a neat stuttering framework. Is this a long-term project for these three artists? We don’t know yet, but this demo certainly sounds promising. 


Listen HERE.


It sounds quite unfinished to me! Apparently it's just a modified version of a song released 4 years ago...






Hmm, why wasn't this released ever ? I think this is the only Gorillaz song I don't own yet!
What do you think ?


April 12, 2011

Graham Coxon - DESIRE with lyrics

Remember when I promised I will upload Graham Coxon's new song "Desire" featuring Paloma Faith and Bill Ryder-Jones if I get permission from Converse? Well, I did get permission from their lovely Internet Team and I uploaded a lyrics video for the awesome new song.

Check it out HERE or watch below.



For those of you who don't know, I have a youtube channel that uploads everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon and Graham....with bits and pieces of Alex and Dave. I'm making sure my account does not get suspended or removed, because there will be much less Blur in the cyber-sphere if I do get deleted.

So I'm chuffed I get to share with all of you and the world this amazing song DESIRE.

Do subscribe, rate and comment please! Keep me going!


April 10, 2011

Graham Coxon NEW SONG - "Desire" with Paloma Faith

Put Paloma Faith, Graham Coxon and Bill Ryder-Jones together in a studio and what do you get? Desire.

This track was created by this trio as the next in line of exclusive music collaborations for Converse Shoes's advertising campaign. Graham collaborated with different musicians to promote their campaign and music. 
The video will be out soon, and I think it's going to be pretty amazing. Beautiful pictures though... I love the last shot of Graham behind his guitar. 
Love Graham 's guitar work in the song, and it really brings out the energy in Paloma Faith's voice. Graham is simply the most awesome guitarist ever. Paloma Faith actually collaborated with Blur in "Kissing' Time" and some old Blur b-sides. Does anyone know whether it's uploaded or not? On youtube?


I am actually trying to upload the song to my youtube channel UKTAHHH but I already have 2 strikes. One more and I'm out of youtube yet again (for those of you who know me, I had an account called "Uktah" that had all the videos I have now, but uploaded a year earlier, the account was deleted due to copyright issues). I emailed Converse about this, and if all goes well, I will have permission to upload it and share to you guys. For now, just listen on the website and enjoy the awesome interface. 

What do you think of the new song? 


EDIT***


I uploaded it on youtube with permission. Here it is:




April 9, 2011

Graham Coxon at Truck Festival 2011



A little about the festival...


Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family (including the brothers Robin and Joe of the band Goldrush), who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. It is held in July at Hill Farm in Steventon, near Abingdon. The festival also gave birth to the Truck Records label in 1999.


Truck has grown somewhat since its inception, but with an annual attendance of around 5,000 it is dwarfed by the likes of Glastonbury (around 150,000 people) and Reading/Leeds. 

The festival prides itself on its family atmosphere, with all of the site services being provided by local groups: the food stall is run by the local Rotary Club, and ice cream is sold by the local vicar. All profits from the festival go to charity.

A compilation album is released each year on Truck Records to coincide with the festival, featuring tracks (mainly studio recordings) from various bands playing at the festival.

This means Graham Coxon will be featured in yet another album in 2011, besides his own solo one, which will probably be out some time this year. I can't wait to see clips of him in Truck Festival! 

Any opinions/ thoughts? 


April 5, 2011

Some news and updates

1) Beady Eye covers Blur for Record Store Day  


Beady Eye have recorded a version of Blur's 'Country House' – the song that once charted ahead of Gallagher's old band Oasis in their infamous 1995 chart battle. 

That year Oasis' 'Roll With It' went in at Number Two behind 'Country House' amidst a war of words between the two bands.

3,000 copies of the new single have been pressed. Half will be available in record stores in Gallagher's hometown of Manchester and the other half in stores in New Cross, London, where Blur formed.

Gallagher said: "The chart battle was only a bit of a fucking laugh and secretly 'Country House' was always my favourite Blur song. Especially the bit in the video when Alex James rides the pig."

Scroll down and click below to watch the video in question.

The Beady Eye mouthpiece added: "I'm saying all this bad blood between us should be put in the past and everyone should come together to help out Record Store Day for the good of music."

The limited-edition singles, already being tipped as the collectors' items of 2011 by music auction experts, will cost £50 each. Proceeds will be split between Beady Eye and Albarn.


2) Rants, moans and actual blogging
So it's time for some actual blogging on Blurballs, since it's called a Blur "blog" - it can't just feature static news about Blur all the time!

I've been hit with a turn in life - I get a chance to spend 2 years in Europe if I study, study hard and get a gpa of around 3.3 and above. That's tough - especially in law school, but I aim to meet that offer and surprise everyone. So that's my explanation for not blogging so much these few weeks, and the next few too, until final exams. 

I want YOU guys to tell me what you have been up to, Blurring or not, these few weeks. Discovered anything? 





April 1, 2011

Inside Dave Rowntree's head - his blog

Dave's got a blog! Check it out by clicking HERE (and bookmarking it of course...)
He writes about interesting things, and yesterday's post included some information on his Blur days, with the incident where he bullies an interviewer explained.


But first, watch this:


I quote from his entry on the 31st March 2011:

There has been some speculation as to why I accepted a recent blog comment linking to a clip of me bullying the Canadian journalist Nardwuar in 2003.
The reason is, that I can’t take the credit for the things I’ve done that I’m proud of, without taking the blame for the things that I’m ashamed of.
And this is definitely one of the things I’m ashamed of.
There’s no excuse for my bullying, and the reason I did it is perhaps nearly as sordid.
As I’ve written in the past I became addicted to cocaine during the nineties. Now I’ve no idea if it has this effect on anyone else, but for me, the day after a cocaine binge I’d sometimes fly into a murderous rage, and take it out on whoever happened to be around. In this case, it happened to be the journalist.
To be clear, Nardwuar didn’t do anything to provoke me. I sent an apology to him the next day, but I didn’t hear anything back from him, so I assume he didn’t accept it.
These days I keep a clip of the interview on my phone. I don’t drink, smoke or take drugs, and if from time to time I wonder if I’m doing the right thing treading this (sometimes rather lonely) path I play it, and have the answer.

I really admire the guy. He's come a long way, from being a drummer to a politician, lawyer and evolving from the guy behind the scenes in Blur, to a guy worth respecting and admiring for his unique hobbies, talents and speech. 

He's also started writing for The Guardian, check it out by clicking HERE. Interesting, but following Alex Jame's footsteps perhaps? 


What do you think of Dave now and Dave then ? 


March 23, 2011

Damon Albarn turns 43 ...and he's still as creative as ever

Before the clock strikes midnight, I would like to dedicate this post wishing Damon Albarn, of Blur and Gorillaz, a happy 43rd birthday! 


Now what's BlurBalls without crazy memes and pictures and captions?




And how can I put up pictures of Damon without adding something like this:


Good night readers! What do you want to give Damon for his birthday? Think he even celebrated at all or did he go out drinking all night ?

Food for thought.


March 22, 2011

Song Review: Snoop Dogg feat. Gorillaz - Sumthin Like This Night

RATING: 


So the song "Sumthin Like This Night" from Snoop Dogg's latest album Doggumentary is out on youtube.

The song features Snoop Dogg's signature drowning rap and clever lyrics, then Damon Albarn does the vocals, or the first part of the chorus "but you never tried it... something like this night...somethin like this night....". The second part of the chorus doesn't sound like Damon, it sounds like someone else, but we can still hear the Damon Albarn backing vocals all through out.

Listen below and keep reading on for a bit more reviewing.



The tune is much like Doncamatic (All played out), Gorillaz's non-album single released a few months ago. That was because Damon felt Plastic Beach didn't have a single that was "pop" and synthetic enough, so he created the song for the sole purpose of it being a non-album single that can sell. Anyways, in Doncamatic (listen below) there is an electronic trumpet instrument that blares the sounds all through the song. The rhythm is basically constructed of the electronic trumpet item blaring the tune of the song. In Sumthin Like This Night, similar sounds were used, and I think it worked better in Doncamatic to be honest.



I would say this isn't good single material. It's catchy but rather repetitive, and definitely not dance floor material (usually those get to top the charts, admit it) and the song's rather mellow and down key. I do hope it will chart if it gets released as a single from Snoop Dogg's album, though I somehow have doubts about that.

I just wish Gorillaz would make a more single worthy song like 19/2000 or Clint Eastwood soon! And release their b-sides.


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