Listen: Damon Albarn – ‘Lonely Press Play’

With his solo album Everyday Robots due out in April, Damon Albarn has been steadily dripping new material out into the public domain.

There’s been a live version of ‘Lonely Press Play’ doing the rounds, after the Blur/Gorillaz/lots-of-other-projects frontman debuted it at the Sundance Film Festival, and now there’s a stripped-back acoustic version of the track available for your listening pleasure.

Albarn performed ‘Lonely Press Play’ during his appearance on Radio 2 this weekend – check it out below:

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This Week’s New Single Releases (16th February 2014)

My A-Z round up of the new singles available for digital download this week.

A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera – ‘Say Something’
Here’s a slow-paced piano-led ballad that is programmed to pull at your heart-strings and certainly feels like the post-Valentines come down. ‘Say Something’ is a song that you really want to go somewhere but it doesn’t quite build on its initial concept; a huge chorus never really appears. The verse is touching and well balanced between the vocals of the main singer and guest artist Aguilera over some swelling strings and it finally brings a bit more power in the final third. It’ll fit nicely over the touching end of a television drama but not sure how strong it is on its own, but it’s a well meaning tear-jerker if you’re in the right frame of mind. (6.5/10)
Watch the video

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everyday robots

Watch: Damon Albarn – ‘Everyday Robots’

As reported yesterday, details of Damon Albarn’s upcoming solo album were leaked online by his US label Warner Music. Predictably today has seen the Blur/Gorillaz polymath officially reveal all about the album – which is called Everyday Robots and is due for release on 28 April on Parlophone. The album will be preceded by the […]

Coldplay

25 albums to get excited about in 2014

First things first: Happy New Year! Now that’s out the way, let’s get stuck into the serious business of looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us all. After a pretty impressive 2013 for big albums – Bowie, My Bloody Valentine, Daft Punk, Jay Z, Kanye, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire, Beyonce to name […]

Damon Albarn solo

Damon Albarn will release his first solo album in 2014

It’s no secret that Damon Albarn has been working on a solo album. He released details earlier this year about him and XL Records’ Richard Russell recording together, but details of the project have been kept under wraps. Today though Albarn released the below video proclaiming ‘DAMON ALBARN FIRST SOLO ALBUM COMING 2014’, which is […]

Africa Express album

Damon Albarn confirms new Africa Express album to be released next month

Last month we got news that Damon Albarn had been in Mali with a host of musician friends working on a new album for his Africa Express project. Today it has been confirmed that Transgressive Records will be releasing Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes on 9 December. As well as working with a new […]

Damon Albarn Mali album

Damon Albarn is working with Brian Eno, Ghostpoet, Idris Elba, Nick Zinner and Holy Other on Africa Express album

Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn is back in Mali and recording a new album featuring local musicians and a host of international stars including producer Brian Eno, The Wire/Luther star and DJ Idris Elba, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, Ghostpoet and Holy Other. The album is part of the Africa Express project Albarn […]

Teenage Cancer Trust gigs line-up announced…

The Noel Gallagher-curated line-up for the 2013 series of Teenage Cancer Trust gigs has been announced today – with a few surprises mixed in with some more obvious acts. The most surprising inclusion on the line-up is Noel’s former Blur ‘enemies’ Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon, who will be playing on the same night as […]