As we have told you in the past, Graham Coxon’s talents go well beyond plucking the strings of his guitar. The former-now-current Blur guitarist is also an artist and has been known for designing his album artwork. But for his latest single “Sorrow’s Army”, due out later this month, Coxon will be doing things a bit differently; exclusively releasing a limited number of original Coxon-designed prints alongside the digital download.

We can attest to the fact that Graham Coxon is a cool guy, which is why it doesn’t surprise us that the release of “Sorrow’s Army”, which is due out May 18, will not come as a physical record, but instead released in a series of limited (1000 to be exact) hand-numbered, original art prints (pictured above) that will come with a unique code to access to the downloadable track. Prints can be pre-ordered online or purchased at select indie record stores.

Alongside the release of his new single and album, The Spinning Top, Coxon is also playing a number of solo U.K. dates, as well as playing a number of shows with his recently reunited band, Blur, later on this summer.

We just caught Graham Coxon playing at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort — where we got to speak with the former-now-current-again Blur guitarist. Now we’re excited to announce he has released the new artwork for his upcoming album, The Spinning Top, which is due out in mid-May. 

Coxon just revealed the cover art, which is a drawing of a distorted, spinning woman (above), exclusively to NME. The cover was drawn by Coxon himself, but this isn’t the first time the singer/songwriter has designed an album cover. Coxon has made all of the artwork for his solo albums, as well designing the sleeve for Blur’s 1999 record, 13. 

The Spinning Top will be released on May 11, and was produced by Stephen Street, who is known for his prior work with Blur. Coxon and the rest of the guys from Blur will be reuniting later this spring for a stint of summer shows as well, including a headlining gig at the Glastonbury festival in late June.

When I heard Graham Coxon was playing the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, I knew he was someone I had to interview. Besides having a new solo album set to drop in May, he’s touring with Pete Doherty and getting back together with this little band called Blur too. All were up for discussion on this warm, first day of Spring in Austin, Texas.

We know you’ve all been planning your TX days and nights without worrying about the Levi’s®/FADER Fort, because you already knew that it’s all day, every day from Wednesday, March 18 through Saturday, March 21. And we know you already had planned to be there regardless, you were just waiting to hear where it is and who would be there. Well, now you know.

This year we’ll be holing up at a new Fort, on 1101 E. 5th Street (between San Marcos & Waller), and the only way to get in is to RSVP. The Tripwire day is Friday, March 20, but you can check out the full lineup and additional sponsors below. And this year, anytime you want the latest info, text the word “FORT” to FADER (32337) to get Levi’s®/FADER Fort updates sent to your mobile device. Because we’re technical like that.

The Levi’s®/FADER Fort: 1101 E. 5th Street (between San Marcos & Waller)
RSVP

Wednesday, March 18
1:30 – 1:55 American Princes
2:15 – 2:40 Let’s Wrestle
3:00 – 3:25 The Strange Boys
3:45 – 4:10 Esser
4:30 – 4:55 Post War Years
5:15 – 5:40 Abe Vigoda
6:00 – 6:25 Graham Coxon
6:45 – 7:10 Micachu and the Shapes
7:30 – 7:55 B.o.B.
8:15 – 8:45 Little Boots

DJ’s sets by DJ Ceeplus Bad Knives, DJ Kayper, Rezound

Thursday, March 19
1:30 – 1:55 Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head
2:15 – 2:40 Handsome Furs
3:00 – 3:25 Janelle Monae
3:45 – 4:10 Amazing Baby
4:30 – 4:55 The Hot Melts
5:15 – 5:40 Francis & The Lights
6:00 – 6:25 Late of the Pier
6:45 – 7:10 Lissy Trullie
7:30 – 8:10 Tricky
8:30 – 9:00 The Warlocks

DJ’s sets by Disco Shawn and Oro 11 (Bersa Discos), Jokers of the Scene, DJ Diabetic, Egg Foo Young aka Michna

Friday, March 20 (The Tripwire Day)
1:00 – 1:20 The Kidz in the Hall
1:40 – 2:05 The Love Language
2:20 – 2:45 Coupleskate
3:05 – 3:30 Solid Gold
3:45 – 4:10 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
4:30 – 4:55 We Have Band
5:15 – 5:40 Women
6:00 – 6:25 Hatcham Social
6:45 – 7:15 Tinted Windows
7:45 – 8:45 Peter Bjorn & John

DJ’s sets by Round Table Knights, The GrooveLayers, Holy Ghost!, Flosstradamus

Saturday, March 21
1:30 – 1:55 Blank Dogs
2:15 – 2:40 Wavves
3:00 – 3:25 Theophilus London
3:45 – 4:10 Maluca
4:30 – 4:55 Popo
5:15 – 5:40 Major Lazer
6:00 – 6:25 Rick Ross
6:45 – 7:10 Jadakiss
8:30 – 11:00 Good Music with Kid Cudi, Big Sean, GLC, Consequence, Really Doe, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson and special guests

DJ’s sets by Brick Bandits / Ghetto Division, Nick Catchdubs, Paul Devro (Mad Decent), WE MAKE IT GOOD with Pretty Titty, Chris Devlin, XXXChange & Blaqstarr, Green Lantern

Additional sponsors: East Village Radio (EVR), Guitar Center, Skull Candy, Xbox, Ray-Ban, ShockHound, Budweiser, Budweiser American Ale, Southern Comfort, Pepsi, Ace Hotel.

If you happen to see Pete Doherty today, you should wish him a happy birthday. The former Libertines frontman turns 30 today and he’s celebrating by releasing his first solo album, Grace/Wastelands. We’ve got the first single, “New Love Grows on Trees.”

In the last year of his 20s, Pete managed to sell out his show at London’s Royal Albert Hall and exhibit artwork in Paris. Grace/Wasteland, the first major endeavor of his 30s, features his Babyshambles bandmates as well as Blur’s Graham Coxon, who Doherty said ended up playing on most of the tracks.

[Grace/Wasteland cover]

Pete Doherty – “New Love Grows On Trees”

A while back Pete Doherty made it known that The Libertines had been offered in upwards of £2 million to reunite for festival season, and bandmate Carl Barat pretty much immediately put the kabash on anything of the sort. But then the two seemed chummy at the NME Shockwave Awards, and now Pete “Publicity Machine” Doherty is back at it again, saying The Libertines reunion will definitely happen. What’s different now, Petey?

We’re going to have to wait to find out. In an interview with NME Radio, Doherty outlines his plan to get Carl and the rest of the gang back together. He also discusses his upcoming solo tour (and plans to bring along Graham Coxon) and his recent falling out with Wolfman.

On The Libertines reunion, Doherty told Neil Cole “it’s going to happen. It’s unfinished business, isn’t it?” You can listen to the full interview, airing tomorrow at noon GMT (7 a.m. EST) and again on Saturday.

As we told you earlier in the week, Bruce Springsteen is confirmed as a headliner for the Glastonbury Festival this year, but now the newly reunited Blur have confirmed they too will be playing the festival this year.

After rumors ran rampant about the band possibly performing at the festival, Blur frontman, Damon Albarn, confirmed to the Daily Mirror that they would surely be performing this year. “Yeah we’re doing Glasto this year. We were asked last year, but we turned them down.”

The band is also playing at Hyde Park in the U.K. on July 3, which was supposed to be the bands big reunited debut before they announced their Glastonbury confirmation.

Albarn and Graham Coxon gave us a taste of what’s to come at Glastonbury, at the Shockwaves NME awards, which was their first performance together in nine years, but we are hoping we will be hearing even more from the band before then. Albarn tossed around the possible idea of the band playing a few gigs before the festival saying, “We need a few more warm-up gigs to get back into it, ready for the big one. Glastonbury’s great.”

The Glastonbury festival will take place on June 24-28, and is known for hosting a wide range of performers. Last year’s festival included the likes of Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, and The Verve among many other performers.

Noel Fielding wants Robert Smith to guest star in the upcoming Mighty Boosh film, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon shared the stage for the first time in a decade and Pete Doherty said he has ways of convincing Carl Barat to reunite The Libertines. Yes, it was all going down at the NME Shockwave awards. But, honestly — can you expect any less from a program that sends its winners home with a giant bronzed middle finger?

The award categories in last night’s ceremony ranged from the standard stuff (Best International Band went to The Killers, while Best British Band went to Oasis) to the slightly more whimsical (the award for Godlike Genius went to Robert Smith and The Cure) to the completely out of place (Villain of the year for the sixth year running was George W. Bush, with Hero of the Year going to President Barack Obama, because apparently even the British would’ve Baracked the vote, had they been allowed the opportunity).

But in between giving out top honors for wardrobe choices, both best (Alexa Chung) and worst (Amy Winehouse), there were some notable happenings. The most notable, of course, was the on-stage reunion of Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. Their first time playing together in nearly a decade, they performed a stripped-down version of “This Is a Low.” Albarn said the preparations for the impending Blur reunion are going well, and that they’re “taking it really easy …. just doing it once a week and enjoying it — playing every album, every song.”

But they weren’t the only ones talking reunions — not shockingly, Pete Doherty still has dollar signs (or probably pound signs, really) floating in front of his eyes and is determined to cash in on a Libertines reunion. Doherty took home the award for Best Solo Artist last night, and told NME that he will convince Carl Barat to get the band back together. The two did a joint interview in which Barat didn’t seem as adamant as he was before that a reunion was out of the question. Doherty said he would twist his arm. Literally.

It was also a big night for The Cure, with the band taking home the award for Godlike Genius (presented by Tim Burton, for no other discernable reason than that he looks eerily like Robert Smith), and Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh declaring his desire to have Robert Smith play his uncle in the upcoming Mighty Boosh film. The show won the award for Best TV Show.

And then there was Dizzie Rascal, who proved you can actually be completely unaware you were nominated for an award and still take one home.

Finally, it must be said: any award show that a.) has categories for the worst band and worst album of the year and b.) gives both of those awards to The Jonas Brothers, is a-okay in our book.

The infamous Pete Doherty kicked off his solo UK tour last night at a sold-out Shockwaves NME Awards show in London last night. Doherty was joined by a plethera of guests, including Graham Coxon, once-again of Blur, who also plays guitar on Doherty’s new solo album Grace/Wastelands. Doherty was also joined on stage by his Babysambles‘ mates, Drew McConnell and Adam Ficek, as well as esteemed music producer Stephen Street, singer Dot Allison, and guitarist John Robinson.

Doherty, formerly of The Libertines, played a wide variety of classics for the star-packed audience, (Attendees included Roger Daltrey of The Who), ranging from Libertines’ hits like “What a Waster”, “Time for Heroes”, and “Music When The Lights Go Out”, where his Babyshambles band mates played along as a string trio. Coxon also aided Doherty as he played acoustic renditions of songs off his up and coming album, which is due out March 9, and was recorded with Stephen Street last fall.

Since we’re now in the business of reporting rumors, let’s get the ball rolling on a Libertines reunion at Coachella this year too. I mean, if Pete Doherty’s going to start acting like a working musician again, can cracking US Immigration laws be far off?

Revealed exclusively this morning on NME, the album — the title of which the Babyshambles man is yet to decide — will be released on March 9, with a single, “Last Of The English Roses”, to be released on March 2.

According to NME, The album was recorded with producer Stephen Street in London’s Olympic Studios in autumn last year. Blur guitarist Graham Coxon plays guitar on all songs apart from “Broken Love Song”. Singer Dot Allison performs co-vocals on “Sheepskin Tearaway”, while Doherty’s Babyshambles band mates Mik Whitnall, Adam Ficek and Drew McConnell also play on the album.

Pete Doherty’s solo album track listing
01. Arcadie
02. Last Of The English Roses
03. 1939 Returning
04. A Little Death Around The Eyes
05. Salome
06. Through The Looking Glass
07. Sweet By And By
08. Palace Of Bone
09. Sheepskin Tearaway
10. Broken Love Song
11. New Love Grows On Trees
12. Lady, Don’t Fall Backwards