Gorillaz have rounded up an eye-popping roster of guests for their new album Cracker Island, which will arrive Feb. 24 from Parlophone. Stevie Nicks, Tame Impala, Bad Bunny, Beck and Adeleye Omotayo lend a hand on the project, with Thundercat having already appeared on the summer release of the title track. The album’s next single, “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and The Pharcyde’s Bootie Brown, is out today (Aug. 31), following its live debut in tandem with those artists on Aug. 19 at London’s All Points East festival. “It’s kind of a mad song, to be honest with you,” Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn said from the stage. [embedded content][embedded content] The 10-track Cracker Island is Gorillaz’ eighth studio album and follows 2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. It was record...
The rollout of Flume‘s Palaces continues to unravel with kaleidoscopic quality. Two new singles from Flume’s first full-length project since 2019’s Hi This Is Flume mixtape have hit streaming services, including the album’s titular track featuring Damon Albarn. A lingering piano solo coupled with crescendoing soundscapes unfurls to introduce a melancholic vocal from Albarn, who appears roughly midway through “Palaces.” The Gorillaz frontman’s words resonate with a psychedelic, choral-like effect as Flume blasts into a big instrumental finish with lively drums and bursting synth chords. Flume doesn’t skimp on bringing equally vibrant synth work to “ESCAPE,” a collaboration alongside ascendant bass music produc...
On Saturday night (or Sunday morning depending on where you live), Billie Eilish became the youngest person to headline Coachella. During her set, Eilish had a few surprises up her sleeve. Early in the set, she brought up Khalid for a version of “lovely” and her brother Finneas joined her for “I love you” and “Your Power.” Billie eilish and Khalid – Lovely, Coachella pic.twitter.com/h8aGfEaA9A — kdkrown (@girlonsaturn__) April 17, 2022 However, the biggest surprise came when she brought up Damon Albarn. The Blur/Gorillaz/The Good, The Bad and the Queen frontman performed “Getting Older” with Eilish. After Eilish shared a quite few kind words about his many projects and his influence on her, Albarn and Posdnuos of De La Soul played Gorillaz’s “Feel Good Inc.” which pleased the headliner. EL...
Say this much for Damon Albarn, the guy’s got a sense of humor. As he was winding down his 17-song, 75-minute set at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, he addressed the elephant in the room: his much-discussed comments about Taylor Swift. In case you missed it somehow, Albarn caused quite the stir by knocking Swift’s songwriting that lit social media on fire Monday following Swift’s harsh rebuke. Many of her friends and collaborators came to her defense, leading Albarn to swiftly issue an apology. The day will mostly be remembered for that Before closing with “Song 2,” Albarn addressed the firestorm he created. Joking that “before he cast me into the social media abyss,” Albarn said that Los Angeles Times‘ Mikael Wood asked him if he’d play “Song 2.” That he did, after saying tha...
Damon Albarn is slated to perform at the Walt Disney Hall tonight in Los Angeles. Ahead of the one-off show, the Blur/Gorillaz frontman gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times. In it, he lofted praise upon Billie Eilish, saying that he thinks she’s “exceptional.” However, he didn’t think the same of Taylor Swift. Albarn said that “she doesn’t write her own songs.” And that “co-writing is very different.” Swift caught wind of Albarn’s comments and responded on Twitter, saying: “@DamonAlbarn I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” Swift said. “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging. You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really fucked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.” @DamonAlbarn I was such a big fan of yours until I saw thi...
January has only just begun and Flume has already made the shortlist of most hotly anticipated collabs for 2022. In a short clip simply titled “Flume – 2022,” the famed Australian electronic music producer showcases a dreamy ambient track featuring an unmistakable voice: Damon Albarn of Gorillaz. The visually pleasing graphic opens in a serene tropical landscape. As the camera zooms deeper, the rainforest seemingly sways aside to reveal a color-splashed cockatoo as lush synths and distorted hums resonate throughout. As the camera zooms into the lens of the bird, a psychedelic landscape of geometric shapes fills the scene to the sound of Albarn, who croons, “I thought beyond the exit, there would be palaces,” before the clip fades to darkness. Recommended ...
Damon Albarn‘s latest solo album is getting closer to release, and he just gave another glimpse of what’s to come by sharing a new video for “The Tower Of Montevideo.” [embedded content] Inspired by the iconic 1920s-era building in Uruguay, Palacio Salvo, the track is dedicated to Albarn’s love for South America. The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is Albarn’s newest record, out November 12 via Transgressive Records. The upcoming, 11-track record is a collection of Albarn’s storytellings that explore fragility, loss, emergence, and rebirth. What was initially supposed to be an orchestral piece, Albarn returned to and wrote the music during the pandemic lockdown. The album is available for pre-order. Alongside its digital release, there are limited edition vinyl fo...
Damon Albarn has released the second song off his upcoming solo album, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows. Titled “Polaris,” the song comes with a live performance clip that is shot in black-and-white and sees the Blur/Gorillaz musician perform with a string quartet. The video is the first in a series of short films titled Sublime Boulevards – Performance Films directed by Transgressive Records founder Toby L. There will be additional clips from the album that will be released in this fashion. Check out the performance of “Polaris” below. [embedded content] The album was originally intended to be an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland, but the lockdown changed that. Instead, Albarn went back into the studio and redeveloped the music to take a l...
Damon Albarn never rests. He took a break from Gorillaz to record a solo album, The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows which is out in November on Transgressive. Albarn said that he finished that album in February. But that’s not all. Since then, he’s “been working on carnival-themed music with Gorillaz with a lot of people from west London,” Albarn told NME. “We’re really going back to the spirit of the first record.” Gorillaz fans, rejoice. But like a TV infomercial, that’s not all – there’s more! Albarn also hinted at a possible Blur reunion. No, your eyes don’t deceive you. He spoke about the prospect with drummer Dave Rowntrees, but it seems it hasn’t even lifted off from the ground just yet. “Well, we did have a chat recently, but we haven’t really progressed further tha...
Damon Albarn, frontman of Blur and Gorillaz, has signed to Transgressive Records as a solo artist. Upon his signing, the label announced on Instagram that he’s putting the finishing touches are being put on his upcoming album solo album, which will be a continuation of his 2014 solo debut, Everyday Robots. On Transgessive Record’s official site, Toby L of the label states, “We have had the great pleasure of collaborating with Damon over the years via the incredible Africa Express project, which has introduced many gifted artists to the Transgressive world.” Speaking of Albarn’s new music he added, “Truly prolific, his latest solo work is amongst the finest of his career. We really couldn’t be more honoured to welcome Damon and his phenomenal team at Eleven Management into the Transgressive...
Paul McCartney ended up having quite a productive lockdown, or in his own words, “rockdown.” He made an album by his lonesome, the aptly titled McCartney III that was released in December. Now? He’s upped the ante quite a bit! The ex-Beatle has personally enlisted an all-star group of artists to contribute their takes on a fresh version of the LP titled McCartney III Imagined. Phoebe Bridgers, St. Vincent, Josh Homme, Anderson .Paak, Damon Albarn and Massive Attack are just some of the big-timers who lent their talents to the collection with either a new performance or a remix of the original tune. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width...
With all the social restrictions and now, a month-long lockdown in England to prevent COVID-19 cases from rising further, Damon Albarn has opened up about how the ongoing pandemic has not only hurt the live music industry but also the overall well-being of people. “It’s a medical emergency but an existential one as well,” Albarn told Sky News over the weekend. “You’ve got to allow music to continue… We are trying to preserve everyone’s health at the moment so passionately, we mustn’t ignore live music in that prescription.” He added, “If people are willing to perform, they should be allowed to, no one should be forced to do anything but if people are willing then somehow we can make it work so everyone can feel comfortable and participate.” And while he understands that these restrictions ...