my earliest exposure to blur was the video for 'boys & girls.' i hated it, i thought it was annoying, and i was a 12-year old little snot. ever so slowly, blur has become one of my most favourite acts, as their songs picked their way into my brain. if i were somehow forced to make i list of my top 100 pop songs, i think i would have about 5 blur songs on the list: beetlebum, there's no other way, coffee & tv, ambulance, and clover over dover. perhaps more.
i was obviously sad when blur decided to call it quits, and happy when they reformed recently, but i have since become mightily impressed by damon albarn's various side-projects. 'the good, the bad, and the queen' is a wonderful album, and i think people may have been scared off by the 'supergroup' stigma attached to it. take a look at the performance embedded below. i hope they do another album together soon.
as the weather warms, i find myself unable to resist the newest gorillaz album, 'plastic beach.' like many blur albums, it could use some editing, but has some really amazing songs. have a gander at 'stylo' below. it's simple and fun, like previous gorillaz singles, but there's something intangible about it that brings it to near-perfection.
about a month ago, damon albarn turned 47. there are few artists who can keep turning out interesting material for decades - many seem to drift into folk-pop or 'classic rock' territory and camp out there for awhile - but albarn keeps throwing himself into unfamiliar genres, and succeeding. after listening to 'plastic beach' over the last couple of months, i'm hoping for an electro-pop solo album, or perhaps a movie score, but i'm sure he'll surprise me with something completely different.
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