Blur Announces New Album 'Magic Whip' with Mysterious Ad and Zane Lowe-Hosted Press Conference [TRACKLIST]

A strange advertisement in The Sun gave a wonderful announcement to alternative rock fans who can read Mandarin this morning: Blur announced, albeit cryptically, that it would be releasing a new album titled Magic Whip, it's first new album in more than a dozen years.

The advertisement featured a neon ice cream cone and neon Mandarin text as well. In English it reported that the image was the album art for a "massive band, more than a decade after their last full release." Those who could translate the neon text quickly deciphered that it read "Blur Magic Whip" (according to NME). The band's Facebook has also been a flurry of activity, with five new posts in the last hour, culminating in the confirmation that the new album would be dropping during April.

Not much else is known about the new record. Frontman Damon Albarn had hinted at a new record in the recent past, noting that the group had recorded enough music for a new album during 2014. However he's also been hinting at a new Gorillaz record in recent months so no one could really nail him down for anything.

The band ended up making the formal announcement at a Chinese restaurant in London, with Zane Lowe serving as emcee.

Blur's last release was 2003's Think Tank, but the band has been performing together again since 2009.

Here's the full track list for Magic Whip (from SPIN):

01) Lonesome Street

02) New World Towers

03) Go Out

04) Ice Cream Man

05) Thought I Was A Spaceman

06) I Broadcast

07) My Terracotta Heart

08) There Are Too Many of Us

09) Ghost Ship

10) Pyongyang

11) Ong Ong

12) Mirrorball

Keep your ears out for new singles in the near-distant future.

Tags
Blur, Damon Albarn, Zane Lowe
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