Dec 23, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Here we go again, racing to December’s finish line, eager to put another chaotic year in the rearview and nervous about what the next 12 months have in store for us. More

Jun 30, 2023 By Mark Redfern (with Kat Ramkumar and Caleb Campbell)

Welcome to the 23rd Songs of the Week of 2023. This week our writers and editors Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Celine Teo-Blockey, Mark Moody, and Scott Dransfield all weighed in which songs were best and we came up with the stacked list below. We settled on a Top 14 this week, with lots of honorable mentions. More

Jun 29, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Britpop icons Blur are releasing a new album, The Ballad of Darren. Now they have shared its second single, “St. Charles Square,” via a music video. More

May 19, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 18th Songs of the Week of 2023. We have a strong Top 4 this week, even though it wasn’t the most active seven days for new tracks. More

May 18, 2023 By Mark Redfern

Britpop icons Blur have announced a new album, The Ballad of Darren, and shared its first single, “The Narcissist.” More

Feb 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern

The WAEVE—a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon—have released their self-titled debut album today via Transgressive. Now that it’s out you can stream the whole thing here. More

Dec 13, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has announced the U.S. release of his memoir, Verse, Chorus, Monster!, which will be out on February 21, 2023 via Faber Books. More

Nov 22, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a new single, “Tape Measure.” It is the latest release from his forthcoming debut solo album, Radio Songs, which will be out on January 23, 2023 via Cooking Vinyl. More

Oct 28, 2022 By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)

Welcome to the 38th Songs of the Week of 2022. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week because we were turning our new print issue into the printer last Friday. So this week’s list encompasses songs released in the last two weeks and is thus a slightly supersized Top 13 list. More

Oct 24, 2022 By Mark Redfern

The WAEVE—a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon—are releasing their self-titled debut album February 3, 2023 via Transgressive. Now they have shared the album’s second single, the atmospheric and epic slow-burner “Drowning.” More

Oct 24, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a new single, “HK.” It is the latest release from his forthcoming debut solo album, Radio Songs, which will be out on January 23, 2023 via Cooking Vinyl. More

Oct 10, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a video for his latest single, “Devil’s Island.” Rowntree’s forthcoming debut solo album, Radio Songs, will be out on January 23, 2023 via Cooking Vinyl. More

Sep 27, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has announced the release of his debut solo album, Radio Songs, which will be out on January 23, 2023 via Cooking Vinyl. He has also shared a new single from the album, “Devil’s Island.” More

Sep 06, 2022 By Mark Redfern

The WAEVE—a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon—have announced their self-titled debut album and shared a new song from it, “Can I Call You,” via a video for it. More

Jul 05, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a video for his debut solo single, “London Bridge.” The song was produced by Leo Abrahams. More

Jun 09, 2022 By Joey Arnone

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has announced the release of a memoir, Verse, Chorus, Monster!, which will be out on October 6 via Faber. More

May 06, 2022 By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)

Welcome to the 18th Songs of the Week of 2022. There were lots of strong contenders this week, including a new supergroup, two songs from a new album that featured no advance singles, and tracks from artists across the globe (including Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and England). We’ve got 11 songs this week, since one artist has two different songs on the list. More

May 05, 2022 By Mark Redfern

The WAEVE is a new duo consisting of Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon. The project was announced last month and now they have shared their debut song, “Something Pretty.” More

Apr 21, 2022 By Mark Redfern

Rose Elinor Dougall has teamed up with Blur guitarist Graham Coxon to form the new band The WAEVE. The duo have shared a teaser trailer for the project and announced that The WAEVE’s first single, “Something Pretty,” will be out May 5 via Transgressive. They have also announced their first show, which is on May 4 at the Lexington in London. More

Oct 14, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz is releasing a new solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, on November 12 via Transgressive. Now he has shared its fifth single, the horn-backed “The Tower of Montevideo.” He’s also shared a separate video where he performs the song live with his backing band. Also, Albarn recently performed a show at London’s iconic Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and has shared a video from the show of him playing Blur’s “This Is a Low,” from the band’s 1994 album, Parklife, as well as “The Moon Exalted” from his 2012 album/opera soundtrack Dr Dee and “Royal Mountain Blue” from the new album. More

Sep 01, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz is releasing a new solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, on November 12 via Transgressive. Now he has shared its third single, the haunted ballad “Particles.” He’s also shared a separate video where he performs the song live with his backing band. More

Aug 31, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Duran Duran are releasing a new album, FUTURE PAST, on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG. Now they have shared another song from it, “ANNIVERSARY.” More

Jul 09, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Welcome to the 26th Songs of the Week of 2021. The American music industry pretty took Monday off due to Sunday’s July 4th holiday, so we expected slimmer pickings this week. It was not to be, thanks for some exciting album announcements. We settled on a Top 11 this week. More

Jul 06, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz is releasing a new solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, on November 12 via Transgressive. Now he has shared its second single, “Polaris.” He’s also shared a separate video where he performs the song live with his backing band. More

Jun 22, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz has announced a new solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, and shared its title track. More

May 20, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Duran Duran have announced a new album, FUTURE PAST, and shared its first single, “INVISIBLE,” via a video for the song (which features Blur’s Graham Coxon on guitar). More

Nov 08, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

Welcome to another Songs of the Week. The last three weeks we could only come up with a Top 8, instead of our customary Top 10, but this week’s choices were surprisingly much stronger once we did some deeper digging. More

Mar 12, 2019 By Christopher Roberts

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen released their long-awaited sophomore album, Merrie Land, last November via Studio 13. Now the band has shared a video for “The Truce of Twilight.” The band features Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz), Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, Paul Simonon (of The Clash), and Simon Tong (of The Verve). Simonon directed the video. More

Jan 31, 2019 By Stephen Axeman

San Francisco-based indie/electronic songwriter Micropixie (née Neshma Friend) has shared a new single, “The Universal,” and we are pleased to premiere it. The track is a cover of the Blur song by the same name from their 1995 album The Great Escape and will be featured on Micropixie’s forthcoming album Dark Sight of the Moon, which is due out on March 8 (International Women’s Day). More

Nov 16, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

This the closest we’ve come in awhile to skipping Songs of the Week due to a lack of truly worthy songs. But we were able to at least come up with a Top 7 (as opposed to our usual Top 10), even if it includes two covers and two album tracks. One thing that saved it was our #1 song, which was released this morning. More

Nov 16, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen released their long-awaited sophomore album, Merrie Land, today via Studio 13 and it’s our Album of the Week. More

Nov 16, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen have released their long-awaited sophomore album, Merrie Land, today via Studio 13. Now that the album is out, you can stream the whole thing here. More

Nov 09, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

There might still be nearly two months left in 2018, but 2019 album announcements have been coming hard and fast of late. The Top 10 of this week’s Songs of the Week is packed with first and second singles from albums due out next January or February, although not our #1, that album is due out next week. More

Nov 05, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen are releasing their long-awaited sophomore album, Merrie Land, on November 16. Now they have shared another song from the album, “Gun to the Head,” via a video for the song that features a man pretending to be a puppet as he sings the song. The band features Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz), Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, Paul Simonon (of The Clash), and Simon Tong (of The Verve). More

Oct 23, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

The Good, The Bad, & The Queen have announced their long-awaited sophomore album, Merrie Land, and shared its title track. The band features Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz), Afrobeat legend Tony Allen, Paul Simonon (of The Clash), and Simon Tong (of The Verve). More

Jan 18, 2018 By Christopher Roberts

Blur guitarist and solo artist Graham Coxon has done the soundtrack to The End of the F***ing World, the new dark comedy series from Netflix and Britain’s Channel 4 based on Charles S. Forsman’s comic book series for Fantagraphics (which had the uncensored title of The End of the Fucking World). More

Nov 30, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur recently announced a new documentary/concert film entitled New World Towers. The film chronicles the making of the band’s long-awaited new album, The Magic Whip, which was released earlier in the year by Warner Bros. and also features performance footage from both a June show in London’s Hyde Park and another concert in Hong Kong. More

Nov 11, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur recently announced a new documentary/concert film entitled New World Towers. The film chronicles the making of the band’s long-awaited new album, The Magic Whip, which was released earlier in the year by Warner Bros. and also features performance footage from both a June show in London’s Hyde Park and another concert in Hong Kong. More

Oct 21, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur played Los Angeles’ iconic Hollywood Bowl last night for their rendition of “Parklife,” the title track to their 1994 Britpop masterpiece, they brought out a special guest Damon Albarn simply referred to as “Fred.” Of course it was none other than Portlandiastar/co-creator (and ex-Saturday Night Live cast member) Fred Armisen. More

Oct 19, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur have announced a new documentary/concert film entitled New World Towers. The film chronicles the making of the band’s long-awaited new album, The Magic Whip, which was released earlier in the year by Warner Bros. and also features performance footage from both a June show in London’s Hyde Park and another concert in Hong Kong. More

Sep 08, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur have shared a video for “I Broadcast.” It features a bunch of footage and home movies shot by their fans. The video first played behind the band when they performed the song at their June show in London’s Hyde Park. More

Jun 26, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz has already composed two operas (Dr Dee: An English Opera and Monkey: Journey to the West), but now he’s set his sights on a musical. More

Jun 15, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur have announced a pair of U.S. shows for October and they are big ones. On October 20 they will be playing the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and on October 23 they will be playing Madison Square Garden in New York. Also, last Friday the band performed 13 single “Coffee and TV” on a special 20th anniversary episode of the British TV show TFI Friday. More

Jun 03, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur’s mainly animated video for “Ong Ong” is inspired by such classic video games as Super Mario Bros. and Pong. It features the bouncing ball from the “Go Out” video who is in a video game world out to save his lover and at the end of each level must face off against a character representing a different member of Blur. Blur show up dressed as the characters in live action segments that bookend the video. More

May 04, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur’s been in the news a lot lately. It’s no surprise, considering their first album in 12 years, The Magic Whip, came out last week. More

May 04, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Blur’s long-awaited new album, their first in 12 years, came out last week. Now the beloved Britpop veterans have released an album making of documentary titled The Magic Whip: Made In Hong Kong. More

May 01, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Last night, making their first U.S. television appearance in 15 years, Blur were welcomed as the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. More

Apr 28, 2015 By Christopher Roberts

Britpop legends Blur are releasing their long awaited new album, The Magic Whip, today via Warner Bros. In honor of its release the band has announced a free concert to take place this Friday (May 1) at Music Hall of Williamsburg (66 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY). More

Apr 27, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Due to release their long-awaited new album The Magic Whip stateside tomorrow, Blur recently paid a visit to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 where they performed acoustic takes of their singles, “Lonesome Street” and “Terracotta Heart.” More

Apr 21, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Next week Blur return with The Magic Whip, the revered band’s eighth studio album and first LP since 2003’s Think Tank. More

Apr 20, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Adding to the list of shared tracks from their forthcoming new album The Magic Whip, including “Go Out,” “There Are Too Many of Us,” and “Lonesome Street,” Britpop veterans Blur have premiered one more with “My Terracotta Heart.” More

Apr 02, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Blur have premiered a brand new music video featuring their single “Lonesome Street.” More

Mar 25, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Returning with their brand new album The Magic Whip on April 28, last week Blur performed the entirety of their record at an intimate gig in London to an audience of just 300 fans. More

Mar 23, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Following last week’s track premiere of “There Are Too Many of Us,” Blur have offered up another new song titled “Lonesome Street” from their forthcoming record The Magic Whip. More

Mar 20, 2015 By Mike Hilleary

Returning with their first album since 2003’s Think Tank, Blur have premiered a brand new track from their forthcoming LP The Magic Whip. More

Feb 19, 2015 By Laura Studarus

On April 28, Blur will release The Magic Whip. More

Jun 30, 2014 By Mike Hilleary

Celebrating 20 years of Britpop’s influence, the BBC will be releasing a new best-of compilation this month called Britpop at the BBC. More

Feb 27, 2014 By Mike Hilleary

Damon Albarn‘s “Lonely Press Play” marks the second single from Blur frontman and musical polymath’s upcoming solo debut Everyday Robots. More

May 28, 2013 By Mike Hilleary

Britpop veteran Damon Albarn has revealed plans to release his first proper solo album sometime this year. More

May 07, 2013 By Mike Hilleary

Britpop icons Blur may potentially lay down some new material for an upcoming album, according to frontman Damon Albarn. More

Apr 21, 2013 By Laura Studarus

April 19 marked the second weekend of Coachella’s 2013 run. We sent photographer Helen Boast down to cover the action. More

Mar 25, 2013 By Mike Hilleary

Over the weekend a number of Britain’s musical finest came together to perform for the Teenage Cancer Trust at London’s Royal Albert Hall. More

Nov 21, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

As previously reported this coming Dec. 3 Blur will release Parklive a five-disc CD/DVD set capturing the band’s Hyde Park performance earlier this summer coinciding with the Olympic’s closing ceremonies. More

Nov 14, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

On Dec. 3 Blur will release Parklive a five-disc CD/DVD set capturing the band’s Hyde Park performance earlier this summer during the Olympic’s closing ceremonies. More

Oct 08, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

After deciding to stick around a bit longer, Blur have confirmed two more festival appearances in 2013: Barcelona’s Primavera Sound on May 24 and Porto’s Optimus Primavera Sound on May 31. More

Oct 05, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Well that didn’t last long. After all kinds of conflicting reports and admissions that their Olympic Games performance in Hyde Park would be their last, Blur have announced that they will serve as headliners for next year’s Rock Werchter Festival, taking place in the Belgian village of Werchter July 4-7. More

Aug 14, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Over the weekend as part of the closing celebration of London’s Olympic Games, Blur gave a live performance in Hyde Park that may very well have been their last. More

Aug 13, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Last night at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games the evening was filled with a wide-ranging mix of British musical talent, including a headlining performance by The Who, and appearances by the Spice Girls, Muse, Fatboy Slim, Ray Davies, and Liam Gallagher. More

Jul 23, 2012 By Laura Studarus

On July 30, Blur will release a 21-disc retrospective boxset. Ahead of that, today the band made a complementary iPhone/iPad app available to their fans. More

Jul 09, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Releasing their much-anticipated new songs “Under the Westway” and “The Puritan” last week, Brit-rock veterans Blur recently debuted a music video for the former track. More

Jul 03, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

As promised, Blur properly debuted two new tracks yesterday via Twitter broadcast from an undisclosed London rooftop. More

Jun 25, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Other then their scheduled performance in Hyde Park celebrating the closing ceremonies of the Olympic games, Blur have made it near impossible over the past few months to make sense of their own are-they-aren’t-they/will-they-won’t-they existence as a band. More

May 23, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

In yet another mixed signal about the future of Blur, Damon Albarn has reportedly halted work on the band’s current recording sessions. More

May 14, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Before potentially playing their last live show ever during the closing ceremonies of the London Olympics, Blur have announced a select number of warm-up dates throughout the UK. More

Apr 19, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Blur have announced the upcoming release of Blur 21, a career-spanning retrospective box set that will include all seven of the band’s albums in two-disc, deluxe edition formats, four discs of rarity tracks, three DVDs of previously unreleased footage, a collectible 7’’ of the rare but popular song “Songman,” unseen photographs, and last but not least, a massive book featuring interviews with the band. More

Mar 07, 2012 By Cody Ray Shafer

Last year, Damon Albarn wrote and starred in the opera Dr. Dee, and will be releasing the music in its entirety on May 8. Dr. Dee is based on the life of 16th century scientist and advisor to Queen Elizabeth, John Dee. More

Feb 22, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

After debuting a brand new song at a charity performance and announcing that they’d be headlining a closing ceremony concert for the 2012 Olympics, Blur took the stage at the Brit Awards yesterday to accept the evening’s award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. More

Feb 21, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

As evident in the incredibly awesome poster pictured, Blur is scheduled to perform at the 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert in London’s Hyde Park on Aug. 12. More

Feb 20, 2012 By Mike Hilleary

Recently confirming to The Daily Record that a new Blur album is in the works, Graham Coxon joined bandmate and frontman Damon Albarn last night at a War Child benefit show in London and debuted a brand new song called “Under the West Way.” More

Nov 03, 2011 By Laura Studarus

Are Thom Yorke and Damon Albarn having some kind of “who can get mentioned the most in the indie press” contest? Well, if so, point to Albarn. Today the busy musician (see, Rocket Juice and the Moon, The Good the Bad and the Queen, Gorillaz—and probably a few to be named later) announced he’s been palling around with old band, Blur. More

Jul 20, 2011 By Margot Cooper Gruen

The Onion’s A.V. Club is doing a project called the Undercover Series. More

Jun 30, 2011 By Margot Cooper Gruen

Blur frontman and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn has created Dr Dee: An English Opera in collaboration with director Rufus Norris. Check out the new song from the opera, “The Reigning Queen.” More

Apr 09, 2010 By Laura Studarus

After last year’s Hyde Park reunion shows, hopes were high that Blur would return with new material. As reported by The Guardian, hopes have come to fruition as the band has reunited once again for an exclusive Record Store Day single. More

Mar 15, 2010 By Kyle Lemmon

Massive Attack‘s new music video for their Damon Albarn collaboration “Saturday Come Slow” is more like a short film. The main topic discussed is the usage of ear-splitting music as a torture device in detention camps such as Guantanamo Bay. More

Jan 22, 2010 By Michele Yamamoto

Oxfam has put up unique music memorabilia on the auction block to raise money for Haiti, including a song written just for you by Gorillaz’s and Blur’s Damon Albarn. More

Nov 20, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto

The London Times will be releasing a free Blur CD with this coming Sunday Edition. The CD will feature tracks from this past summer’s live reunion shows. More

Oct 16, 2009 By Laura Studarus

On November 3rd, David Bowie and Blur will be joining the ranks of Rock Band luminaries The Beatles and Nirvana…with one small difference. More

Sep 24, 2009 By Mark Redfern

Damon Albarn, he of Blur and Gorillaz, is in the running to be the artistic director for the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, according to the British newspaper The Independent. Albarn has had preliminary discussions with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog). He is one of several people in the running for job. Oscar-nominated film director Stephen Daldry (The Reader, Billy Elliot) is also a strong contender for the position. Locog has also considered having four different artistic directors for the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympic Games. It could take up to six months for an artist director or artist directors to be chosen. More

Jun 29, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto

Upcoming Blur reunion shows in Hyde Park are set to be recorded professionally and released within a week of the performances. More

Jul 20, 2023 By Michael James Hall

The Ballad of Darren is an exceptional album, though not at all what the Blur adherents of the ’90s might expect or even want. More

May 29, 2023 By Dom Gourlay

Blur played the third of their four Wembley warm-up club shows last Friday and Under the Radar were in Wolverhampton to see it. More

May 08, 2015 By Dan Lucas

Discussing Blur a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine posited that they were always the most progressive of the big Britpop bands. More

Jan 04, 2013 By Hays Davis

As the 1994 album Parklife was stirring America’s earliest interest in Blur, it blew up into what came to be seen as a for-the-ages classic in Britain. More

Aug 09, 2012 By Dan Lucas

At the time of this writing, the 2012 London Olympics are just around the corner and, despite this release fairly coinciding with the announcement of the Team GB athletics squad, most of the talk on these shores still seems to center on how the opening and closing ceremonies will showcase the best of British culture. Blur will headline a closing ceremonies concert in London’s Hyde Park, and to celebrate, they continue to consolidate their status as the band that matured post-Britpop with a new single. More

Jul 30, 2012 By Frank Valish

It’s been 21 years since Blur released its debut, 1991’s Leisure, an album that picked up where The Stone Roses left off and represented the first step in a career that both defined and shaped what we know as Britpop. With this anniversary of sorts, the band decided it was a great time for a career-spanning box set. More

Sep 17, 2009 By Frank Valish

In 2000, Blur released The Best of Blur, an 18-song set that represented the band’s ‘90s peak, with all the hits included. Midlife, released in conjunction with the band’s U.K. reunion concerts, totals 25 tracks and avoids some of the hits that were represented on The Best of Blur (“There’s No Other Way,” “Country House,” “Charmless Man,” “End of a Century”). But forgiving these omissions, Midlife is a stellar compilation. Excitingly, 1993’s “Popscene” is included, despite its being left off the 2000 comp. More