The Magic Whip is released on April 27

Damon Albarn has said that Blur may never finish the album they began working on in 2013. Albarn recorded new music with his Blur bandmates in Hong Kong in May last year. However, in an interview published in this week's NME which is on newsstands tomorrow (July 30) and available digitally, Albarn says that because he likes to work in shorter, more concentrated periods of time he fears that he may never return to the tracks the band made while in Asia.

Blur will release a recording of their 1995 gig at The Budokan in Tokyo this August. The album, titled Live At The Budokan, will come out on August 11. The album artwork can be seen above while a live version of 'Yuko And Hiro' can be heard via the video at the bottom of the page.

Damon Albarn has played "Song 2" live for the first time without his Blur bandmates – watch footage of it below. The singer is currently touring the US supporting his solo album, Everyday Robots. While Albarn has been playing Blur material on the tour, with tracks including "Out Of Time" and "This Is A Low", last night's gig at Royale, Boston, was the first time he has played "Song 2" and the first time ever without his Blur bandmates.

As Damon Albarn prepares to release his debut solo album, Everyday Robots, on Monday, and 20 years since the release of Parklife is celebrated, we delve back into the Uncut archive (July 2009, Take 146) and go behind the scenes of the sessions that produced Blur’s classic albums and reveal the conflicts that nearly destroyed the band… Interviews: Nick Hasted

Damon Albarn, who collected the Award For Innovation at the NME Awards 2014 with Austin, Texas last night (February 26), says Blur have recorded 15 new songs for a new album, but they won’t see the light of day for years.

Blur's Alex James has reportedly applied to use the name Britpop for a new drink.

Damon Albarn has reportedly confirmed that the band will record a new album following the release of his forthcoming solo LP.

Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz has confirmed that he and Damon Albarn will release another Gorillaz album – but not before Blur put out their new material.

Alex James has revealed that Blur's recent recording sessions in Hong Kong went "very well". Onstage in Hong Kong last month (May), Damon Albarn told the crowd that the band were heading back into the studio. "So we have a week in Hong Kong, and we thought it would be a good time to try and record another record," he said at the time.