Blur by Reuben Bastienne-Lewis
Blur announcing a brand new album and news from Glastonbury‘s Park Stage were among our biggest headlines last week.
Add a brand new studio album to Blur‘s 2023 return.
The Ballad Of Darren will be released on July 21st, right in the midst of their comeback touring which was due to take in an intimate hometown gig in Colchester last Friday night(May 19th).
“The older and madder we get, it becomes more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and intention,” Graham Coxon opined. “Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”
The death of Andy Rourke has been announced by his Smiths bandmate Johnny Marr.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer,” Marr wrote on social media.
“Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time.”
The National have announced the artists who’ll be joining them at this year’s Homecoming Festival between September 15th-16th.
With the host band headlining both nights once again, Patti Smith, Pavement, Arooj Aftab, Bartees Strange, The Walkmen, Weyes Blood, Snail Mail and Julia Jacklin are among those on the line-up for Smale Park.
“When we launched Homecoming in 2018, we were overwhelmed by the response from the community and by our renewed sense of connection to our hometown,” they said. “It was such an exciting, memorable weekend and we’ve long hoped to bring it back. We’re honored to return to Cincinnati five years later and be joined by so many of our favorite musicians and friends.”
Glastonbury Festival in 2022 (Photo: Richard Bowes)
Fever Ray, Fatboy Slim and alt-J have been revealed as the Park Stage headliners for Glastonbury Festival 2023.
Sparks, Alison Goldfrapp, Weyes Blood and Los Bitchos are some of the artists who’ll be a part of a stage which has delivered some of the old festival’s most memorable moments in recent years – not least of which Idles in 2019.
“As Joe Talbot regularly and endearingly informs us, this show is the highlight of their career so far and they play like their lives depend on it,” our review reads.
Róisín Murphy has confirmed the details of her new album Hit Parade.
It’s the result of years of back and forth remote collaborations with DJ Koze, and is to contain 13 tracks including the latest single The Universe.
“The studio in this case was imaginary, in the airspace between Hamburg and London. That meant we were both in a personal, private place when working on the songs,” Murphy said.
Genesis Owusu has confirmed the details of his second album Struggler.
“The struggler runs through an absurd world with no ‘where’ or ‘why’ at hand,” he wrote. “Just an instinctual inner rhythm, yelling at them to survive the pestilence and lighting bolts coming from above. A roach just keeps roaching.”
The album was recorded across locations in the US and Australia with producers Jason Evigan, Mikey Freedom Hart, Sol Was and previous collaborators Andrew Klippel and Dave Hammer helping to bring a variety of genres to the final product.
