The Magic Whip

As one of the few Blur fans not fervently salivating at the prospect of a reunion and a new album I have to question whether I am a Blur fan at all. So I sat down to The Magic Whip with an appropriate degree of intrigue for someone who knows... maybe ten Blur songs.  


You know the one with Phil Daniels talking about the "pigeons and sparras"? Haha. WOOHOO.
Coming about via a stroke of luck bit of downtime between dates in China/Indonesia, their first album with the original contingent since 1999 and 13 was written and recorded in Honk Kong - Asian influence is apparent particularly in the back half of the collection (and the album artwork...).

So, here is a short commentary on a few favourite tracks on the album, from the viewpoint of a Albarn layman not versed in the Tender intricacies of the London (almost) quartet. The opener, Lonesome Street, is definitely a Blur track. An upbeat morning skip along to rolling guitar work and synth accentuating vocal hoohooing. It's a nice nostalgic nod to the britpop early days from where Blur began their dynasty and has enough mood changes to be an advocate of the album to come - as the Blur catalogue seems to come with an equal share of fast and Mellow Songs.

Go Out is the first track I heard from The Magic Whip, seen played live on Jools Holland. The performance had all the energy and swagger expected from a group of forty-somethings trying their best to pretend the last fifteen years had not aged them at all - Alex James still pouts like he is twenty. That said, Go Out is a bolshy plod with the chaps and is one of my favourites on the album.

The role of 'mid album statement track' must belong to Thought I Was A Spaceman - also performed on Jools. The journey through space and electronic synth mastery was only ever going to draw comparisons with Bowie, but is worthy of this praise - though I do feel it lacks real crescendo and therefore could do with being a minute or two shorter.  I have read content comparing this album respectfully to an amalgam of all things Albarn, and this track definitely had a Gorillaz feel about it. Next, I Broadcast brings the pressure back up as one of the faster and more fun songs of the album and is again reminiscent of the few older and rockier songs I know and like.

Did you know that There's No Other Way was one of Kurt Cobain's favourite songs when he died. so there's a thing.

My Terracotta Heart is just lovely. a really delicate pluck through the high end of the fretboard - though no doubt Coxon looks his usual gormless self during performance. There Are Too Many Of Us has been included as a not subtle political commentary about overcrowding (in London perhaps) and mirrors Albarn's need to spread his wings and get away East. This makes the step to Ghost Ship practically seamless as he makes it to Hong Kong (its all in the lyrics). Ghost Ship might the song of the album for me - a funky fairground foray that I could happily listen to on repeat as a bob around the house in my pants. I'm not though, honestly.

From this point on the album, as many do, takes a more sombre turn towards denouement. Pyongyang and Ong Ong suggest pictures of the perfect eastern paradise at dusk. This is usually the point I would get bored listening to a fifty minute album, but there is something captivatingly resilient about this section of the album. The splashy ride cymbal is companion to rounding layers of vocals and keys as Pyongyang fades away.

It is clear from the first listen (though I enjoyed the second listen more) that the eagerly awaited LP is packed full of nostalgia and there are songs on it that sound like they could slot into other Blur age. So in that sense, it is a successful return release for the Mockneys that I am sure has left those thirsty Blur zealots satisfied. I would love to hear your opinions. 

I think I might be a Blur fan - its not too late is it?

I wonder when Blur met Dr House?

24.5

In the last few months, the thing I have been most excited about enthusiastic about is the digging, filling and populating of our new pond. Not sorry.

But I am coming up to 24 and a half, and I have started to feel like I might be getting old.

These days I would rather wander/cycle/run around outside than most other indoor pastimes previous, which is a far cry from my boxroom outlook no longer than two years ago. I am completely content right now getting some fresh air and planning what I can get up to outdoors next weekend.

I bought a bike on a whim. It’s a lovely bike. Though incidentally I am shit scared of cycling on the road – I’ve seen all the adverts. 

Last year I completed my first 10k run for charity, and this year I pushed that further and completed the Surrey half marathon (happy with my 2 hours 8 minutes) and am keen to do it again – as well as considering the a marathon a real possibility in the next couple of years.

I actually enjoy going to the gym and trying to eat healthily now as well!

Is this growing up?

I want to go fishing.

I want to buy a skateboard (a nostalgic plunge).

I want to climb a mountain. Or three.

Learn a foreign language.

Start a ‘dad rock’ covers band.

Take photos of myself pulling silly faces next to everything.

After a couple of trips to major American cities last year;  New Orleans, Nashville, Atlantic City, New York and Orlando, I now have a list of potential holiday and city break destinations as long as my arse - I guess I'll just need to find someone to go with me...

I immensely enjoyed the ‘lads holidays’ to Tenerife and Ibiza with 14 of my closest mates but I just cannot imagine taking this sort exhausting trip again – until potential nostalgic stag weekends in years from now.

Does make me an old man (my old man?!) to look forward holidays I will take with my family in ten/fifteen years time?

To think about the music room I am going to have in my house, and what instruments my sons are going to learn (at an early age), and what my garden might look like.

Am I going to suddenly interested in politics and current affairs? I kinda hope so.

It doesn’t really worry me that I have suddenly switched allegiances to the idea of exploring the world and forward thinking. If anything I think I am more comfortable away from my sofa/bed/house than I ever have been. Maybe I need to take the plunge and do something unexpected and scary.

At the end of the day, all I keep thinking is when will I get to dig my own pond?

Some anticipated releases of 2015

For the first time in a good while there are some musical releases on the horizon that I cannot wait to sink my teeth into. I have found myself in somewhat of a wilderness with my listening in the past few months, often just replaying my favourite albums over and again - and not necessarily engaging in anything current.

But my morning drives to work and a recent decision to switch to XFM breakfast show has put me back on the right track. John Holmes' hilarious listener interaction caught my ears and the music he plays kept me going back.

One song that featured as XFM's song of the week is the first single off Everything Everything's 2015 album, Distant Past. Not a band in was previously aware of, this track is a fun and funky furore into resurgent  electronic indie. The video is a bit of fun as well. The new album is out in June and I can't wait to check it out.

Muse are also back with a couple of new singles as an introduction to their upcoming politically commentary concept album 'Drones'. Psycho is excellent - it has powerful guitars and Matt Bellamy's ever present waving shriek. The commando shouting sampling is a bit over the top but it does set the scene for the album's themes. This said, the second song they have released, Dead Inside, is far more anticlimactic. Whereas Psycho sounds like roots Muse, Dead Inside shares more with their offerings of the last few years - and is a lot harder to get involved with. This paradox of genre between the two close singles sparks an intrigue into Muse' new album and the direction it will go in. Drones is also out in June.

Django Django are also back with more of the same funk- First Light and Reflection are from the upcoming album Born Under Saturn out early May.

The band that wrote one of my favourite ever songs and music videos (Dashboard) are back with a new album - Modest Mouse. The front man's vocals unlike any other, return with the excellent single Lampshades on Fire  and shows they have not lost their edge, and the album titled Strangers to Ourselves is sure to be a bit of fun.

Along a very different line, I keep hearing  of a Childish Gambino and Chance The Rapper collaboration - though nothing released yet and Gambino speaking of putting it on hold, two of my favourite hip hop artists working together on a surely innovative album/EP is one deserving of the buzz.

So there's an idea of what I'm listening to and what I'm anticipating at the moment. I'm happy to be listening to the radio again and extending my recently less eclectic music library. Any suggestions are always well received.

I have been wondering - will we see new Arctic Monkeys or QOTSA albums any time soon?

alright?