And live dates too...

Damon Albarn has revealed the first tentative details of the new Blur EP set for release before the end of 2005.

Albarn described the new material as â€œaggressively laid backâ€ and explained that there wonâ€™t be a lot of coverage around the release.

He told XFM: â€œI think weâ€™re gonna do an EP first, sometime by the end of this year,â€ he confessed, â€œBut you probably wonâ€™t know about it. Itâ€™ll just â€˜come outâ€™. Itâ€™ll be so, sort of, underplayed. Itâ€™ll come out but you wonâ€™t know itâ€™s us as itâ€™ll be so, well, not us.â€

Albarn added: â€œWeâ€™ve got the songs but weâ€™re gonna record them in a few hours and just be very laid back about it. But not musically laid back. Itâ€™ll be aggressive. Aggressively laid back. Itâ€™s the total opposite of Gorillaz.â€

While fans may be excited by this release Albarn warned them not to expect a full blown album anytime soon, he said: "I canâ€™t really make another Blur record thatâ€™s a big landscape sort of thing, due to my very basic guitar ability. Cos I want to sing and play so it has to be three chords. I can only do three chords and not look at the guitar.â€

Albarn also went on to say that there are no plans to replace Graham Coxon and that Blur may play some live dates soon, saying theyâ€™d: â€œProbably do a couple of pubs round Christmas. To be honest with you, itâ€™ll be nice.â€