| 2Ds birthday / Poetry event w/Damon / William Orbit / Broken film / Ke$ha uses Song 2 / Blur tumblr |
[posted by 2-J on Wednesday 23 May 2012|17:57pm] |
All the latest news...
2D's birthday
2D, Gorillaz member on lead vocals and keys, is 34 today! Happy birthday 2D!
Damon to appear at poetry event
Damon will appear as one guest among many at a poetry event in London on June 14th at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Called "P O E M! 2012 - The Poetry Olympics Enlightenment Marathon" it is organised by poet Michael Horovitz, who is quoted on the Gorillaz song Stylo (the 'a giant fish....' part). Damon also previously took part a Poetry Olympics organised by Horovitz in 1996. For tickets for this new event, click here.
More William Orbit comments about Blur / Damon, this time to NME
NME.com have an article on their site here, published today, which quotes William Orbit as saying about the Blur sessions he produced for the band this year: "The new stuff sounded amazing. Then it all stopped suddenly. It was all over with Damon, and the rest of the band were like, 'is this it?'. As we've been reporting on Gorillaz-Unofficial, William Orbit has recently called Damon a 'pig' and a 'shit to the rest of Blur' on Twitter. It does seem however, according to Damon's comments to fans at the Dr.Dee Amsterdam Q&A and his comment promoting Dr.Dee on the Andew Marr show recently, that Blur have done more recording sessions since Orbit was removed as producer earlier in the year.
Damon at Cannes promoting 'Broken'
As we reported back in late April, Damon has contributed the soundtrack to the forthcoming Tim Roth film 'Broken'. There are no official release details for the movie yet (or its soundtrack) but Damon was out in France at the Cannes film festival in recent days, to attend the premiere screening. The Damon unofficial tumblr has pictures of this here. We'll bring you further news on Broken and its soundtrack as it emerges.
Ke$ha uses musical elements of Blur's 'Song 2' for new song
In recent days an apparently new Ke$ha song has leaked to the internet, reputedly called 'Woo Hoo' and due to appear on her new album (neither fact is yet confirmed). This track uses musical elements of Song 2, though it appears not to be a direct sample. The record company has been removing clips of it from Youtube but as of time of posting, these still work: (low quality, full) here and a HQ snippet collection is here.
Official Blur tumblr
Blur now have an official tumblr here, already some exclusive content has been posted (such as memories from Damon's bodyguard Smoggy) and if you sign up here you can enter to ask a question of Ben Hillier, the producer of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.
( Read more... )
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| Damon collaborates with JJ Doom / Dee Guardian session / Dee chart news / Orbit still dissing Damon |
[posted by 2-J on Monday 21 May 2012|13:02pm] |
A lot of little news items to bring you over the last few days. The Dr.Dee album promotion is now over. The Bobby Womack LP is due to be the next Damon-related release (Damon produced it and guests), and is out on June 11th in the UK (12th in the USA, 6th in Japan). The London run of Dr.Dee (25th-7th July at the London Coliseum) is Damon's next advertised series of performances though there is speculation that he may put in an appearance at Bobby's 14th June 2012 performance at London's Heaven venue.
Damon records with producer Jneiro Jarel and Beth from Portishead apparently for JJDoom with MF Doom
On 19th May, producer Jnerio Jarel tweeted that he had 'just' done a song with Damon and Beth from Portishead, adding the hashtag '#JJDoom'. JJ Doom is the title of a collaborative project between Jneiro Jarel and MF Doom (read the original tweet here. Pitchfork reported in February here that JJ Doom's first album would be called 'Key To The Kuffs' and that it would be out in May, however it seems that the album has been pushed back now (with no firm release date apparent) and so this Damon / Beth collaboration could yet be included on the album.
Dr.Dee Guardian Session
Video of session tracks recorded at the studio of UK newspaper The Guardian (O Spirit, Animate Us and Apple Carts) introduced by Damon himself, which didn't quite make it out in the album's first week of release. Check it out on the Guardian website here
Chart Update for Dr.Dee
The Dr.Dee album charted at #42 in its first week in the UK charts, and was out the top 100 the week after (this week). In the US, it did not chart on the Billboard 200. Got an official Dr.Dee chart position for your country, with a source? Send it in and we'll update this news item.
William Orbit still dissing Damon
As previously reported on Gorillaz-Unofficial, William Orbit took to Twitter and Facebook earlier this year to mention that he had recorded at least 2 new tracks with Damon's band Blur. Later, as we also reported, he tweeted that Damon was talented, but 'a shit to the rest of Blur'. In recent days he has again slagged off Damon. On the night of 11 May he tweeted that Damon was a 'pig' (which he later deleted, but you can see a screen grab here). Then on 17th May at the Ivor Novello Awards in London he was asked by a BBC 6Music presenter about Blur and replied: "Er... I'm going to pass on that one. I'm not feeling all that fond of Damon at the moment. I was out in Tokyo last week on this thing with Pharrel Williams, and Damon's name came up and I said 'oh you did a track, didn't you?' and he said 'oh I think so but it just kind of disappeared into nothing', and I said 'yeah, I think I had the same thing'. Shall we leave it at that?" this was recorded by 6Music and broadcast on their station on 18th May. Download the clip as an mp3 here
Flea comments on Damon in connection with Africa Express
NME.com recently uploaded a brief clip of Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (and part of Rocket Juice And The Moon) talking about working with Damon in Africa Express, which he describes as 'profound'. Check out the clip here.
Damon in Munich
Damon was in Munich on Saturday to cheer on his beloved Chelsea football club to victory in the UEFA Champion's League final - as he had previously hinted he might be. Twitter user @el_peligrino got a great photo which you can see here on Twitter.
( Read more... )
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| Damon: 'Blur recording next week or week after, maybe 2 new songs live this summer' |
[posted by 2-J on Sunday 13 May 2012|13:34pm] |
Damon appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning promoting Dr.Dee and performed O Spirit, Animate Us.
He also briefly chatted to Andrew Marr and said that Blur were recording 'next week or the week after' and that a 'couple' of new songs may be performed at Hyde Park (possibly at the other shows too).
UPDATE: Video up for viewing worldwide on Youtube here.
In the meantime, you can download mp3s of the chat and performance here:- Chat | O Spirit, Animate Us.
( Read more... )
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| Blur warmup tourdates dates revealed; fan presale |
[posted by 2-J on Saturday 12 May 2012|21:33pm] |
Blur have recently been posting on their Facebook and Twitter that all interested fans should sign up to the mailing list on blur.co.uk ASAP in order to receive details of an exclusive presale for their summer warmup shows. Now the dates of the warmup tour have been revealed on the website of the Wolverhampton Civic Hall venue here. The dates are: 1st Margate Winter Gardens; Sun 5th and Mon 6th Wolverhampton Civic Hall and Tues 7th Plymouth Pavilions. The presale will begin on 9am on Wednesday 16th May (ahead of the general on-sale of Friday 18th). Everyone who has signed up to Blur.co.uk will be sent a link at 9am on Tuesday, which will go live 24 hours later when you can use it to enter Wednesday's pre-sale.
Blur's announced dates for summer 2012 are now:-
01/08/12 Margate Winter Gardens, Margate, UK
05/08/12 Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
06/08/12 Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
07/08/12 Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth, UK
08-12/08/12 Smukfest, Skanderborg, Denmark
09-11/08/12 Way Out West Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
12/08/12 Hyde Park, London, UK
(The Scandinavian festivals have not yet confirmed which particular date Blur will play)
( Read more... )
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| More Dr.Dee video - 8 minute short film, Dancing King clip |
[posted by 2-J on Saturday 12 May 2012|11:35am] |
Some more promo video for Dr.Dee (thanks Liz for the tip!). This 8 minute clip featuring some material already seen on Damon's official Youtube channel and some new material, was shown on UK TV last week. Check it out on Vimeo here.
And there's another clip drawing from the same footage (not yet uploaded to Damon's official Youtube channel) on Youtube here. (the rest of the clips in the series can be seen on Damon's official Youtube channel here.
In related news, the Amsterdam showcase Dr.Dee gig has been uploaded to Youtube, so if you missed it, or want to watch it again, you can on Youtube here.
( Read more... )
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| Official live video from the Amsterdam Dr.Dee showcase |
[posted by 2-J on Tuesday 8 May 2012|20:15pm] |
You can now watch the video of Damon's performance of Dr.Dee material at the intimate 4th May Amsterdam show online on the 3fm site here.
( Read more... )
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| Damon radio special, Under The Westway preview / Pics and report from Dutch showcase / Sky / Media |
[posted by 2-J on Tuesday 8 May 2012|08:07am] |
Tons of news to bring you from the last few days
Damon Front Row radio special / Under The Westway previewed
There was a special Damon edition of Radio 4's Front Row program yesterday. Damon talked extensively about his music, including Dr.Dee. He mentioned he is experimenting with Soviet-era Russian synthesisers for his forthcoming solo album. He also took to his piano to play a bit of the forthcoming Blur song Under The Westway
Download the mp3 of the whole appearance from Mediafire here
Listen to just the Under The Westway performance here
Report from Damon's Amsterdam secret gig
As we previously reported, Damon played a showcase gig in Amsterdam on 4th May for competition winners only (only 50 tickets were given away). Liz writes in with lots of information and pictures.
The songs played were: The Golden Dawn (Mike on organ) / Apple Carts / O Spirit, Animate Us / The Moon Exalted (only Damon's bit) / Cathedrals / Apple Carts / Tree Of Beauty by Damon on organ, while waiting for his guitar to get tune / The Marvelous Dream . Mike Smith was on keys and organ, Damon was on guitar, and Bill was on flute.
Afterwards there was time for a Q&A with Damon.
The show was recorded and should be available online soon - we'll let you know when.
Liz sends a writeup of interesting points raised during the Q&A, click 'Read More' below to read them!
She also sends some photos, click 'Read More' below to see them all!
   
Damon Sky News Report
Sky News did a news item on Dr.Dee and you can watch it online here.
Damon NYMag interview piece
NYMag.com has a new interview with Damon, mostly promoting Dr.Dee. You can read the interview on the NYMag site here
Dr.Dee reviews
Check out some of the latest Dr.Dee reviews:- The Observer review (3/5) | The Guardian review (4/5) | Prefixmag (6.5/10)
Dr.Dee out now, iTunes content
Dr.Dee is out just about everywhere now. The iTunes bonus content has been revealed to be a 2-minute 'Dancing King' video. The video is in the style of the Youtube trailers. In fact, the audio is the same as the Dancing King trailer video already uploaded to Youtube, but the video is different (the iTunes one has previously unseen footage from the recording sessions, whereas the one on Youtube has nature shots from Mortlake).
( Read more... )
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| More Damon Dr.Dee video from Jools Holland(2nd interview, The Marvelous Dream, O Spirit Animate Us) |
[posted by 2-J on Saturday 5 May 2012|14:56pm] |
On the week's second edition of the Jools Holland show last night, Damon performed The Marvelous Dream, O Spirit Animate Us (both from the Dr.Dee album) and gave another interview.
pkrips0791 has them on Youtube here:- O Spirit, Animate Us | The Marvelous Dream | Damon Albarn Interview 2
( Read more... )
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| Damon new interview with Irish Independent, mentions Gorillaz / MSN video interview / Sun interview |
[posted by 2-J on Friday 4 May 2012|13:45pm] |
Irish Independent
Thanks to eyebrowy on the Blur forums here, who posted scans of the Irish Independent article. Check them out here:- 1 | 2 | 3
Damon's asked about Gorillaz again, here's the extract (and it puts a halt to all these crazy 'Damon said Gorillaz could carry on without Jamie' articles that have cropped up over the last few days, based on what Damon said to Shortlist magazine, where he was basically only making the point that he made the music for the Gorillaz albums independently of the characters and storyline):-
"I think we've [Jamie and I] probably OD'ed on one another. Look it's the easiest thing to get going again. I do the music - he does the cartoons. We don't even need to talk to one another to do it. We don't even need to be on the same continent"
Irish Independent: But if you write all the music, surely you can do Gorillaz without Jamie?
"absolutely not," he answers, "I continue making music without Jamie obviously, but under the Gorillaz heading and using those characters? No way. That's something we did together so I wouldn't dream of doing it otherwise"
MSN Damon video interview and Onefest footage
MSN has a 10-minute video interview with Damon about Dr.Dee intercut with performance footage from the recent Dr.Dee show at Onefest. Check it out here
The Sun Damon feature interview about Dr.Dee
There's a new interview with Damon in The Sun newspaper, out today. Read it in full online on the Sun's site here.
( Read more... )
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| Damon on French radio, interview and performance, Leviathan mention / Bobby iTunes single released |
[posted by 2-J on Thursday 3 May 2012|21:01pm] |
Damon interview and performance on Oui FM, also mentions Leviathan
Tonight Damon appeared on the French radio station Oui FM promoting Dr.Dee. He gave an interview and performed two songs acoustically, The Marvelous Dream and Apple Carts.
Grab mp3 recordings here: Full appearance (edited to take out non-Damon songs) | Apple Carts | The Marvelous Dream
Or if you would prefer to listen on Youtube, Lochd999 has uploaded it onto Youtube here
Damon talked about a lot of interesting things but one highlight for Gorillaz fans was this exchange about the Gorillaz track Leviathan:
"Presenter: We heard you remixed some tracks of The Horrors, is that true?
Damon: No! It's not true. What happened is I got to know them and we did this piece of music for the last Gorillaz album called Leviathan, which was all about being this huge great whale that existed in the subconscious of man. And it still exists, and I mean I'd hope one to be able to put it out in its.. yeah 'cos it's a really strong, strong piece of music but it just wasn't... it didn't feel to be... I had so much stuff going on on that last Gorillaz album it seemed like one more thing would just be.. you know.. [too much]. But that's my relationship with them, as a band"
Bobby Womack iTunes single out now
In other news, oscarinsinfronetras sends the news that an iTunes single of The Bravest Man In The Universe has now been released, including an acapella of the title track and the funk remix of Please Forgive My Heart as B-sides.
( Read more... )
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| New Damon interview, mentions Gorillaz (also source of 'I'd love to collaborate with Noel' story) |
[posted by 2-J on Wednesday 2 May 2012|17:40pm] |
The new edition of shortlist magazine out today in its print and online versions, has a feature interview / cover story with Damon and new pictures. Damon is promoting Dr.Dee but also has plenty to say about other topics.
About Gorillaz he says: "It’s strange to talk about a beginning and an end for [Gorillaz], because it was very much Jamie [Hewlett] did the visuals and I did the music. The music won’t change, so there could be another Gorillaz record tomorrow. It wouldn’t necessarily have Murdoch [sic] — the cartoon aspect to it — but musically, no, nothing’s changed whatsoever. But Jamie wants to do other things and I understand. But you never know, in a few years he might have a burning desire to draw those pictures again, and as soon as he does that, as far as I’m concerned, there could be another Gorillaz album."
Check out the full interview with Damon here.
( Read more... )
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| Damon Apple Carts performance + interview on Jools / Bobby Womack new song / Bobby iTunes tracklist |
[posted by 2-J on Wednesday 2 May 2012|08:32am] |
Damon performance and interview on Jools Holland
Last night Damon made an appearance on BBC2's Jools Holland show. He was promoting Dr.Dee. There was an interview with Damon and a performance of Apple Carts. This Jools Holland show was a 'highlights' edition of a fuller show which will screen on Friday night and this Friday night show should include at least one additional performance from Damon.
Check out videos of last night's appearance on the show on Youtube: Apple Carts performance | Interview with Damon | Jools introduces the acts
Bobby Womack news
A new track from Bobby's forthcoming Damon-produced album was officially uploaded to Youtube yesterday after its first radio play. Check out 'The Bravest Man In The Universe' on Youtube here.
The album has also been listed on iTunes stores worldwide and you can listen to previews there. Some new information has been revealed about the album, it will apparently include a track 'Stupid Introlude (feat. Gil-Scott-Heron)' before the track 'Stupid' (this may well be on all editions not just the iTunes edition, even though it hasn't appeared in tracklistings given out so far). It is revealed that Fatou guests on 'Nothin' Can Save Ya' (as previously reported, Lana Del Rey also guests on the album, on the track 'Dayglo Reflection'). Additionally the iTunes version has a Funk version of Please Forgive My Heart at the end of the album. This may be a bonus track for the iTunes version and may or may not be the same as the 'remix' that is listed on the Japanese version that we reported a few days ago (what is clear is that the Japanese version has two tracks 'Hold The River Down' and 'Central Avenue' which aren't listed on any other version so far).
( Read more... )
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| RJATM live footage from tv show / New Tank Girl releases with new Jamie art / Absolut London vids |
[posted by 2-J on Tuesday 1 May 2012|00:40am] |
New Tank Girl books forthcoming featuring some new and some old unreleased Jamie art
Last year, Alan Martin (co-creator of Tank Girl with Jamie) posted on the official Tank Girl site that a new Tank Girl book would be released featuring previously unseen Jamie Tank Girl material. Well, in the last week or so Alan has posted details of two new Tank Girl releases. There will be a hardback book called 'The Hole Of Tank Girl' containing everything Alan and Jamie did on Tank Girl including over 30 pages of previously unseen archive material, and a wholly newly drawn cover by Jamie (see below). This will be out in September although Alan will be signing advance copies at the San Diego Comic Con in July. In other news, in May a new Tank Girl poster magazine will be released, which also features art by Jamie (including a new cover?), this one will be released exclusively through the Tank Girl site. Check out all the details on the official Tank Girl site here.
Rocket Juice And The Moon on French TV now on Youtube
pchel48rus sends the news that someone has uploaded a recent (15th April) French tv broadcast of an hour long 'highlights' show of the Honest Jons Chop-Up that took place in Marseille on 30 October. 6 of the 7 songs (not counting the repeat playing of Lolo) played by Damon's band Rocket Juice And The Moon are included (Benko is the only song not included). Also there are other tracks played by other acts on the night, and Damon guests on some of these including on a performance by Fatou and one by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. Between songs there are links where Damon's partners in the Honest Jons record label talk about the label. Check it all out on Youtube here.
Jamie Absolut vodka mini character videos
pchel48rus sends the news that the Absolut Vodka Youtube channel has uploaded mini vids featuring Jamie's Absolut Vodka characters (no animation, just pictures with a voiceover). Watch them here: Dandy - Sir Charles Prigg | Dickensian - Ernest Scrubbs | Pinstripe - Harry the Hawk | 60s Chick - Suzie Q | Punk - Polly Ester | Ska - Perry Lloyd | Casual - Karl Bugle
( Read more... )
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| 2 Tony Allen interviews promoting Rocket Juice And The Moon |
[posted by 2-J on Sunday 29 April 2012|10:55am] |
Tony Allen, the drummer in Damon's projects The Good, The Bad & The Queen and recently Rocket Juice And The Moon, has given a couple of interviews in the past week promoting Rocket Juice And The Moon.
First there was an interview with website thequietus here and you can also read the Damon extract by clicking 'Read More' below.
Secondly, Tony talked on BBC6Music radio yesterday on the Gilles Peterson show. You can 'listen again' to the show online here for a week. The Tony Allen segment is from 1:32:00 to 2:3:00 and the Damon-related discussion is at the start. You can also click 'Read More' below for a transcript. Perhaps most interestingly, Tony mentions that RJATM were originally set to play dates in 'April' (the Mojo magazine article about RJATM had said they were going to meet up in March for preparation for more live dates). Currently Flea is on tour with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He would have had March 17th - April 26th inclusive off from the tour originally but on January 11th there was the announcement that RHCP member Anthony Kiedis had broken his foot and the RHCP dates had to be rescheduled, leaving Flea which much less time off around the time the proposed RJATM dates were due to take place.
( Read more... )
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| EDITORIAL |
"OF DRUMMERS, GHOSTS AND EXISTENCE"
"This is why, after reading the recent interview with Mr. Hewlett, I was stunned. He said, “But I don’t know if I accept the idea he’s underused. He has had quite a lot happen to him." For a good ten minutes, I sat, rocking back and forth in my chair. How could it be that Russel Hobbs was not an underused character? Sure, he speaks in Rise of the Ogre, in interviews. Sure, he went though the emotional pain of first witnessing the death of his best friend, then being possessed by him, then having his soul ripped from his body-but still. Why does Jamie think that Russel is just as equally used as, say, Noodle?
Once I started to ponder the idea further, however, I realized something"
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| UPCOMING... |
GORILLAZ' THIRD ALBUM
Currently in the making. Anticipated 2010 release. All currently available information is here
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