While the world collectively wrings its hands anxiously, waiting for Ke$ha‘s new album to arrive, there is some slight relief today, pop pickers —  a snippet of new song said to be called “Woo Hoo” has arrived! In addition to declaring that she lives her life like she’s been “raised by wolves,” Ke$ha also interpolates Blur’s ’90s classic “Song 2″ into her song’s chorus.

The dollar-signed one demurely chirps the following atop a stomping beat: “Woo hoo, if you’re ready to throw down, woo hoo, like we’ve never been allowed / woo hoo, if you just don’t give a fuck, throw ‘em up, throw ‘em up, e’erybody throw ‘em up!”

Marvel at the poetry below!

So is this what Ke$ha meant when she described the new genre she was creating as “cock pop”? Because it sounds like the stuff on her last album. Just checking.

Ke$ha's Wildest Looks

16 Photos »

Anyway, weigh in below on whether you think Damon Albarn & Co. will be hopping on one foot to Ke$ha’s tune in their living rooms or speed-dialing their lawyers.

It looks like we won’t have to go memorializing Gorillaz and Blur after all. While being interviewed by Metro UK, Damon Albarn was asked if this was really the end of his two most noteworthy bands. “No. That comes from an article which was an interesting take on a very long conversation,” Albarn said, referencing his recent interview in The Guardian. “I don’t know how we’ll feel when we [Blur] play Hyde Park. Some days I feel one way and other days I feel the other. If you don’t see something as a career but as an important part of your life, you don’t know how you’re going to feel about it. We want to put on a great performance but nothing’s been said between us about the beginning or the end.” 

All appears to be well with Gorillaz as well… just not right now. “When Jamie [Hewlett] and I have worked out our differences, I’m sure we’ll make another record.” We hope that stays a “when”, not “if”, but let’s not get too down — when asked when the biggest misconception is of him, Albarn replies, “That everything that comes out of my mouth is serious.” 

Damon Albarn, the musical mastermind behind Blur and Gorillaz, is giving his fans one hell of a bummer. In a recent interview with The Guardian, the artist confirms the end of both his groups.

When asked if Blur — who reunited in 2009 for a series of one-off shows and festival appearances, as well as one anticipated set at this year’s BRIT Awards — would record any new material, Albarn responds, “No, I don’t think so.” He also shoots down the possibility of any live performances past their gig at the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony (August 12 at London’s Hyde Park).

“And I hope that’s the truth: that that’s how we end it,” he continues. “I don’t know: you can write scripts, and they always end up going… [pause]… well, one thing I’ve learned, and I’m sure you’re exactly the same, is that everything I think I’ve got totally sorted out, and I know exactly what’s going to happen – it never works out that way…”

“So how should I put it?” asks the interviewer. “That in all likelihood, this is the end of Blur?”

“In all likelihood, I would say. [pause] Oh, God…”

It doesn’t get better, folks. Later in the interview, Albarn is asked if there will be any more Gorillaz music in the future. ”Er… unlikely,” he responds, suggesting that he and Gorillaz co-creator, animator Jamie Hewlett, had a falling out.

“I think we were at cross purposes somewhat on that last record, which is a shame. So until a time comes when that knot has been untied…”, and he trails off. 

The demise of the Gorillaz is, as Albarn puts it, “a long story”, and Albarn and Hewlett butted heads when the group toured as huge band in 2010 (including at that year’s Coachella festival). ”It was one of those things,” he says. “The music and the videos weren’t working as well together, but I felt we’d made a really good record, and I was into it. So we went and played it.”

When the interviewer asks if he and Hewlett were no longer speaking, he responds, ”Well, that sounds very juvenile, doesn’t it? But being juvenile about it, it happens. It’s a shame.”

Quite a shame. Sure, we knew “The End Is Nigh!”, but it’s saddening to hear it’s really the end. That said, that doesn’t mean Albarn won’t still be making music. “I’d like to do a record with my own name on it,” he said last September. “That’s the next one I want to make. I don’t know if I could bear to start a band from scratch again.”

Albarn also completed his first opera, Dr. Dee, and is working with another group called Rocket Juice & The Moon. The man clearly has enough on his plate keeping him creatively fulfilled. 

Still… sigh. Forgive us for feeling a little melancholy. 

Though the big winner of the 2012 BRIT Awards was clearly Adele’s middle finger, the 21 singer and Ed Sheeran walked away with the most awards, with two each. Coldplay took home Best British Group, Bruno Mars scored International Male Solo Artist, and Lana Del Rey nabbed International Breakthrough Act. While accepting her award for International Female Solo Artist, Rihanna thanked all her fans “who continue to support me no matter what… at times when I feel misunderstood, my fans always remind me that it’s okay to be myself.” (Is it just us, or is she slyly referencing the “Birthday Cake” controversy?) Head below for the full winners list.

2012 BRIT AWARDS WINNERS

British Male Solo Artist: Ed Sheeran
British Female Solo Artist: Adele
British Breakthrough Act: Ed Sheeran
British Group: Coldplay
British Single: One Direction (“What Makes You Beautiful”)
British Album of the Year: Adele (21)
International Male Solo Artist: Bruno Mars
International Female Solo Artist: Rihanna
International Group: Foo Fighters
International Breakthrough Act: Lana Del Rey
Outstanding Contribution to Music: Blur
Critics Choice: Emeli Sande
British Producer: Ethan Johns

Watch performances from the awards show here.

Adele and Jessie J are the leading ladies at this year’s BRIT Awards after nabbing three nominations apiece, while 20-year-old Halifax, West Yorkshire native Ed Sheeran got the most nods of all, with four. Sheeran’s 2011 UK hit “The A Team” will compete with nine other songs in the British Single category — including Adele’s “Someone Like You”, Jessie J’s “Price Tag” and The Wanted’s “Glad You Came”.

Ed Sheeran — ”The A Team”

Adele is also up for British Female Solo Artist and British Album Of The Year, the latter of which also garnered nominations for Florence + The Machine’s Ceremonials, Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto, PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake and Ed Sheeran’s +.

American acts who stand to win at the BRITs include Bruno Mars, Bon Iver and Ryan Adams, who are up for International Male Solo Artist, and International Female Solo Artist nominees Beyonce and Lady Gaga.

Likewise, Foo Fighters, Jay-Z and Kanye West (known together as The Throne), Maroon 5 and Lady Antebellum were recognized in the International Group category, while the International Breakthrough Act pool (Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey, Foster The People, Aloe Blacc and Bon Iver) is entirely comprised of acts from the States. (Well, technically, Minaj wasn’t born in the States, but she was raised here after the age of 5.)

As previously announced, Emeli Sande will be the recipient of this year’s Critics’ Choice Award at the BRITs. She’ll also compete with Jessie J for British Breakthrough Act.

Damon Albarn’s pre-Gorillaz band Blur have been singled out for Outstanding Contribution To Music this year. The 32nd BRIT Awards will be held on February 21.

2012 BRIT AWARDS NOMINEES

British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran
James Blake
James Morrison
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Professor Green

British Female Solo Artist
Adele
Florence + the Machine
Jessie J
Kate Bush
Laura Marling

British Breakthrough Act
Anna Calvi
Ed Sheeran
Emeli Sandé
Jessie J
The Vaccines

British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Chase & Status
Coldplay
Elbow
Kasabian

British Single
Adele, “Someone Like You”
Ed Sheeran, “The A Team”
Example, “Changed The Way You Kissed Me”
Jessie J feat. B.o.B, “Price Tag”
JLS feat. Dev, “She Makes Me Wanna”
Military Wives/Gareth Malone, “Wherever You Are”
Olly Murs feat. Rizzle Kicks, “Heart Skips A Beat”
One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
Pixie Lott, “All About Tonight”
The Wanted, “Glad You Came”

Mastercard British Album of the Year
Adele, 21
Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto
Ed Sheeran, +
Florence + The Machine, Ceremonials
PJ Harvey, Let England Shake

International Male Solo Artist
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Bruno Mars
David Guetta
Ryan Adams

International Female Solo Artist
Beyoncé
Bjork
Feist
Lady Gaga
Rihanna

International Group
Fleet Foxes
Foo Fighters
Jay Z & Kanye West
Lady Antebellum
Maroon 5

International Breakthrough Act
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Foster The People
Lana Del Rey
Nicki Minaj

Outstanding Contribution to Music
Blur

Critics’ Choice
1st – Emeli Sandé
2nd – Maverick Sabre
3rd – Michael Kiwanuka

British Producer
Paul Epworth
Flood
Ethan Jones

Next year, the UK will issue a series of stamps dedicated to the art of the British album cover. The Stones’ Let It Bleed, New Order’s Power, Corruption, and Lies, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, and Blur’s Parklife will all be honored in this 10-stamp issue. If the US had a similar stamp issue, I wonder what albums would get the nod? You’d think Thriller would be a no-brainer, and Madonna’s True Blue would look kinda dynamite, but after that… ? (First person to shout “Merriweather Post Pavilion!” is fired.) The full issue of stamps after the jump.





Haha, Coldplay. Oh, you Brits.


Design Classics: Classic Album Covers – 7 Janaury 2010 [Norvic Philatelics via NME]

If you’re awake and reading this right now, you probably missed this weekend’s Glastonbury Festival–and Blur’s fest-closing reunion set last night. Thanks to the Internet, though, MP3s of the performance are out there! Well, for now, anyway. [Deaf Indie Elephants / Pic via slint4587]

Blur’s career retrospective Midlife comes out in the UK today, and to celebrate that fact–not to mention their upcoming shows around that country–the band has decided to surprise everyone with a show at an undisclosed location in London today. According to Blur’s official site, the first 170 people to show up at the Brixton Academy box office would get tickets to the gig… although the queue for these tickets started at 11 a.m. local time, so they’re probably long gone by now. But!


There were rumors that the show would be at the famed record store Rough Trade, but those rumors were quickly scuttled. But 170 seems like an oddly… precise number of tickets to give out, doesn’t it? Now, I don’t live in the area, but traipsing around Google reveals that there’s one London music venue with both a 170-reveler capacity and an opening on the calendar for 15 June: The Buffalo Bar, which is conveniently located near the Tube and which hosted a tribute to the band earlier this month. Aw, so cute!


Mornin all [Graham Coxon via Drowned In Sound

Blur’s first concert since 2000 is happening in London this Saturday, and to whet peoples’ appetites–and make Americans who don’t have the type of spending money to jet across the Atlantic to see Blur for a weekend insanely jealous–they’ve posted footage of themselves rehearsing three songs online: “Song 2,” “For Tomorrow,” and “Death Of A Party.” But as many astute YouTube observers noted, lead singer Damon Albarn is wearing a backpack during the test run of “Song 2.” Why would that be? Are there weights in there to help him get in shape for what might be a hyperactive performance of the most unlikely jock jam? Is he hoping to bring back raving? Did he really not want to lose his keys? So many mysteries. Video after the jump!





Blur post rehearsal footage of 3 songs [YouTube via Music Radar]

The three-disc Britpop-of-the-’90s compilation Common People–named after the Pulp song, of course–comes out in June, and it will come packaged with liner notes written by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley. While the track listing does have more than its share of gems, the absence of feuding NME titans Blur and Oasis will no doubt cause lots of message-board handwringing, perhaps even more than the presence of Gay Dad. Get ready to argue over what songs were missed by checking out the full tracklisting after the jump!


CD1
The Auteurs – ‘Lenny Valentino’
Elastica – ‘Stutter’
Gene – ‘Be My Light, Be My Guide’
The Stone Roses – ‘Love Spreads’
James – ‘Laid’
Dodgy – ‘Staying Out For The Summer’
Saint Etienne – ‘You’re In A Bad Way’
Dubstar – ‘Stars’
Black Grape – ‘In The Name Of The Father’
Duffy – ‘London Girls’
Marion – ‘Sleep’
These Animal Men – ‘Speeed King’
S*M*A*S*H – ‘Shame’
Cast – ‘Alright’
Bluetones – ‘Slight Return’
Perfume – ‘Lover’
The Boo Radleys – ‘Wake Up Boo!’
Menswear – ‘Daydreamer’


CD2
Pulp – ‘Common People’
Supergrass – ‘Alright’
Sleeper – ‘Inbetweener’
Echobelly – ‘Great Things’
Powder – ‘Afrodisiac’
Northern Uproar – ‘Rollercoaster’
Paul Weller – ‘Thechangingman’
The Divine Comedy – ‘Something For The Weekend’
Babybird – ‘You’re Gorgeous’
My Life Story – ’12 Reasons Why’
Denim – ‘It Fell Off The Back Of A Van’
Kula Shaker – ‘Tattva’
Mansun – ‘Wide Open Space’
Salad – ‘Drink The Elixir’
Placebo – ‘Nancy Boy’
Longpigs – ‘She Said’
Ocean Colour Scene – ‘The Riverboat Song’
Shed Seven – ‘Chasing Rainbows’


CD3
Super Furry Animals – ‘God! Show Me Magic’
Suede – ‘Trash’
Kenickie – ‘In Your Car’
Theaudience – ‘A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed’
Catatonia – ‘Mulder And Scully’
Space – ‘Female Of The Species’
Embrace – ‘All You Good Good People’
Gomez – ‘Whippin’ Piccadilly’
Geneva – ‘Into The Blue’
Rialto – ‘Monday Morning 5:19′
The Seahorses – ‘Love Is The Law’
Hurricane #1 – ‘Step Into My World’
Monaco – ‘What Do You Want From Me’
Spearmint – ‘Sweeping The Nation’
Lodger – ‘Always Round Here’
Earl Brutus – ‘SAS And The Glam That Goes With It’
Stereophonics – ‘The Bartender And The Thief’
Gay Dad – ‘Oh Jim’

Pulp, Elastica, Supergrass for “Common People” Britpop compilation [NME]

Video footage of Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon performing “This Is A Low” at last night’s NME Awards in London—their first live appearance together since 2000—has finally surfaced, and man is it making me hope that Blur announce at least one Stateside date. The person who put it up disabled embedding on the clip, unfortunately, but I won’t be too mad at you if you click away. [YouTube]

xOasis, Alex Turner, MGMT, and Muse were the big winners at tonight’s NME Shockwaves Awards in London, which also doled out awards to the Killers (Best International Band), the Jonas Brothers (Worst Band and Worst Album), and YouTube (Best Web site) in between performances by half of Blur, Franz Ferdinand, and the Cure. Also honored and dishonored: newly minted U.S. President Barack Obama, who won Hero Of The Year honors, and recently departed Commander-In-Chief George W. Bush, who was named 2008′s villain. Full list of winners after the ump.

Best British Band: Oasis
Best International Band: The Killers
Best Solo Artist: Pete Doherty
Best New Band: MGMT
Best Live Band: Muse
Best Album: Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night
Best Track: MGMT, “Time To Pretend”
Best Video: Last Shadow Puppets, “My Mistakes Were Made For You”
Best Live Event: Glastonbury
Best TV Show: The Mighty Boosh
Best Film:
Best Dancefloor Filler: Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris, “Dance Wiv Me”
Best DVD: Arctic Monkeys, At The Apollo
Hero Of The Year: Barack Obama
Villain Of The Year: George W. Bush
Best Dressed: Alexa Chung
Worst Dressed: Amy Winehouse
Worst Album: Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer
Worst Band: Jonas Brothers
Sexiest Male: Matt Bellamy
Sexiest Female: Hayley Williams
Best Website: YouTube
Best Venue: London Astoria
Best Album Artwork: Muse, HAARP
Best Band Blog: Noel Gallagher
Godlike Genius: The Cure
Phillip Hall Radar Award: The Big Pink
Outstanding Contribution To British Music: Elbow

Shockwaves NME Awards 2009 [NME]

Damon Albarn

and Graham Coxon reunited onstage at the NME‘s annual awards show tonight, where they played an unplugged version of “This Is A Low.” It was the first time the two had shared a stage since 2000. There’s no video/photo evidence of the performance online yet (the pic attached to this post is actually 12 years old), but apparently Pete Doherty was filming the whole thing with his cell phone so perhaps he’ll be buoyed enough by his Best Solo Artist gong to get his old YouTube channel up and running again. [NME]

Well, the former Suede guitarist and producer of Partie Traumatic didn’t say that exactly. But he did tut-tut at the spate of Britpop-era bands that have been giving one last show a try lately, saying that such attempts at mining nostalgia fiends’ dollars had “no relevance to what’s going on at the moment.” Which means that you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up for a Suede reunion tour anytime soon—although to hear Butler tell it, no one’s been interested! Wait, what?

“I’ve never had an offer to do anything as Suede.

“I’m obsessively opposed to nostalgia. I hate the idea of it. It doesn’t work. And it doesn’t interest with me at all.

“What’s important is not what I did last week, it’s what I’m going to do next week. I made great records – I love them. My kids play them now. But that’s for them and everyone else.”

Of the raft of current reunions, he said: “I know it’s good fun and everything and sure, you can’t deny someone a good night out but personally I just feel uncomfortable with nostalgia.

“If I could dedicate six months of my life to one thing, would it be somebody who’s doing something that’s interesting and totally new, or something that reflects something I did 15 years ago?

“You couldn’t possibly be a human being and be motivated by that.”

This burn-down-the-past sentiment is kind of a strange one to come from the man who produced Duffy’s Rockferry, but I guess the difference there is that he wasn’t the one who engineered “To Sir, With Love”?

Suede star attacks revival trend [BBC]

Damon Albarn is guest DJing on Radio 1 right now (he’ll be on through 4 p.m. ET), and apparently there are some new Gorillaz demos on the docket. Plus, you know, he probably has some news to share about other activities he’ll be engaging in over the course of 2009. [BBC]

Yes, it’s true! Or it may be sorta on the table anyway. The Mirror has a source and a quote and everything! “Coachella is huge and Blur know it’d bring them back with a bang,” this unnamed person says. Take it with whatever size grain of salt that a story with a related link to “Robbie Williams to be comeback kid of 2009 after support from Sir Tom Jones” requires and get accordingly excited. [Mirror; HT moomintroll]

Perhaps realizing that breaking new artists in the music-stuffed, nostalgia-mired world of now was impossible, many a band that made their mark on the world back in the 1990s got back on their collective horses and rode the wave of “remember when?” this year, from Stone Temple Pilots to My Bloody Valentine to Ben Folds Five to even Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. As you might expect, results were mixed overall, although they were probably better than those that would be realized by any new endeavors by the parties involved.

Thanks to missing the My Bloody Valentine gigs in the States, most of my ’90s nostalgia jones was satisfied at Coachella, where I saw the Breeders, the Verve, Portishead, and Swervedriver; all of them put on wholly satisfying sets, and were received warmly by the crowds. Still, there’s something sort of sad and grinding-to-a-halt about all of these reunions coming at this point in time; on the one hand, the rest of Coachella’s bill was full of acts that would probably be as ephemeral today as the Primitive Radio Gods were back then, but on the other hand, what would happen if those acts broke beyond the world of blogs and into some sort of Alternative Nation mass-dissemination that doesn’t really exist anymore? Would we be spending time on a 2018 year-end countdown discussing the glut of reunions from The Hype Machine Era?

Either way, the decimated prominence of the music business and the ever-diminishing likelihood that an album could sell enough to actually break even a not-all-that-new artist resulted in quite a few bands hitting the nostalgia circuit while the VH1 clip show iron was still hot. And what with there being a dearth of rock bands who can reliably sell out a shed right now, and concert promoters being more skittish than ever about the ever-fragmenting pop landscape, there’s even more to come in ’09, when we’ve got “we’re back” shows by the likes of Blur and Phish and No Doubt to look forward to. Not to mention the ever-tantalizing possibility of Scott Stapp and Creed drinking from the twice-removed-grunge well once again! See you at Bonnaroo, everybody!

80 ’08 (and heartbreak)

Apparently reeling from lousy ticket sales for last year’s Glastonbury Festival—which had Jay-Z and Kings Of Leon as headliners—the organizers of the muddy British weekend have reportedly snagged Blur, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen for the top of the 2009 fest’s lineup. You have to wonder if the people in charge of booking the festival wanted to get Blur & Oasis to share a bill, if not a steel cage, for a big blowout battle of the bands that would set the nostalgia phasers of most of the Brits in the crowd to total effing freakout, but then had to “settle” for Neil and Bruce instead. [The Sun]

There was a whole lot of ’90s nostalgia this year (no, this is not the last time 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak) will be addressing it), and it’s fair to say that the recent spate of one-hit ’90s alt-rockers penning memoirs of their times in the major-label alternative trenches (almost called this one “Indie-Rock Memoirs” until I remembered my own modest proposal from a while back) isn’t exactly new. In fact, Jacob Slichter, drummer for Semisonic (“Closing Time,” No. 1 Modern Rock, 1998), kicked it off in 2005 with his wry So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star.

The baton was taken up again in 2007 with three more books. Published in the UK only (and out in the US this year in paperback) was Bit of a Blur, by Alex James, bassist for the just-reunited Blur (“There’s No Other Way,” No. 5 Modern Rock, 1991; “Girls and Boys,” No. 4 Modern Rock, 1994; “Song 2,” No. 6 Modern Rock, 1997). Yank-wise we saw Everything I’m Cracked Up to Be by Boston singer-songwriter Jen Trynin (“Better Than Nothing,” No. 15 Modern Rock, 1995), which earned wide praise, and Petal Pusher by another Minneapolis rocker, Laurie Lindeen of Zuzu’s Petals.

The trend continued apace in 2008. The two already extant by Minneapolis band members are now balanced out by a second Boston singer-songwriter’s memoir: When I Grow Up, by Juliana Hatfield (“My Sister,” No. 1 Modern Rock, 1993), which I’ll probably devour it if I ever lay hands on a copy—though the fact that I haven’t yet probably means I won’t for a while. (Unless someone wants to present a case in the comments—one that doesn’t involve the Truth About Evan, please.)

The one I did read, and rather enjoyed, was Dean Wareham’s Black Postcards. That’s not surprising: I’ve long loved Luna (and preferred them to Galaxie 500), not least because while his lyrics in that band often veered into whimsy, Wareham has always struck me as a good storyteller, and on the page he is.

But the major reason is that Wareham’s got the best, or anyway most dramatic, story to tell. Not about his career or his dealings with major labels or his humble origins—about falling in love with Britta Phillips, who joined Luna in time for Romantica (No. 15 Independent Album, 2002), while still married to the mother of his son. Wareham lays out the tale with clipped aplomb, sticking to the facts and not sensationalizing—an instinct that seems to be at the heart of these books coming out all at once. That, of course, and ’90s nostalgia.

80 ’08 (and Heartbreak)

This week’s NME leads with the revelation that Blur is planning to reunite, news that’s been speculated over ever since, well, the day they took a break from putting out music together. So far Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree are only lined up to play one gig—next July in London’s Hyde Park—but already rumors that a Glastonbury appearance is in the cards are thick as well. “It just felt it was right again,” Albarn told the NME. “It somehow feels like there’s something for us to do again, we’re not completely useless or pointless, we’ve got a reason to exist.”

Maybe more than one reason to exist, actually. Did I mention that these shows are being put on by Live Nation, a company that isn’t afraid to wave fans of cash in the direction of superstar acts? Tickets go on sale Thursday for people who have signed up for Live Nation’s e-mail list, and Friday for the marketing-averse.

BLUR SPEAK: ‘We are reuniting for Hyde Park gig’ – exclusive [NME]
Britpop Band Blur Back Together [Sky]
Blur – Parklife [YouTube]