Confirmation

NME has confirmed two important things for me just now.

One:

"Blur are certainly going to rehearse and see if we're into it," quoth Damon Albarn.

Happy times!

He says that all of the band's members, including Graham Coxon, will be working together in the coming year. Albarn then sat down among the performers at a BBC Radio Theatre rendition of Monkey: Journey to the West in London.

Read the article, here.

Blur - London Loves (mp3)(buy)

Two:

Franz Ferdinand has released the cover art for their third album, Tonight, coming out January 26th.

Oh no! Not Bob!

I absolutely love it! A similar approach was taken for the image on the Ulysses single.

Oh no! Not Alex!

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses (mp3)(buy)

Paul Thomsom, Ferdinand drummer, told NME:
"We shot it just after midnight behind the Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow. We wanted to get a Weegee vibe – that famous New York crime scene photographer from the '40s and '50s."

Read more, here, or pick up the latest issue of NME for a full interview with the band.

Gorillaz: Journey to the West

I've been neglecting my blog duties for a long time now. But this was just too W-T-F to ignore. I can't believe I only heard of this today.

Gorillaz' Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have come up with another unlikely musical conquest. This time, they've decided to take a stab at Chinese opera, using the epic Monkey King/Journey to the West folktale as their base.

Monkey: Journey to the West will begin it's run in London, England come November.

Here's a documentary following Albarn and Hewlett's Journey to the West (har har har I make a pun).

Damon and Jamie's Excellent Adventure


And here's a Video that Hewlett directed from their opera's album.

Monkey Bee: A Short Film


Goodness. Makes me go W-T-F a little. Not that that's ever a bad thing.

Two questions:
1) Is there anything these guys can't do?
2) They really like monkeys, don't they?

Monkey - Monkey Bee (mp3)(buy)
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. (mp3) (buy)