If the genius of a guitarist is really measured in what they don’t play, then 'Think Tank' is Graham Coxon’s greatest work. After all the high profile fall outs (Albarn’s hair, and lifelong pal Graham have both departed), the band’s seventh LP is a genuine pleasure to behold.
It’s taken them a while to achieve it, but where 'Blur' and '13' were full of jump-start arrangements and fractured experimentalism, much of 'Think Tank' is lush in melody, flowing in windswept electronica with a myriad of bombastic orchestral backing one minute, before retracting into cocoons of melancholic and clustered acoustics the next.
Gorillaz has seemingly expelled most of Albarn’s desire to create simple, instant radio-pop, and
thankfully 'Think Tank' is cheese free. There’s a clutch of wistfully confessional heartbreakers which
bleed the same beauty as such favourites as ‘Bettlebum’ and ‘This Is A Low’. New single
‘Out Of Time’ is content to swoon around the string-laiden waves of its own longing beauty, but only reveals its full worth after repeated visits.
‘Good Song’ and ‘Sweet Song’, the album’s graceful standout, recount familiar Britpop themes of being lost in pop music and TV. The latter’s mild guitars and understated vocals luckily eschew Norman Cook’s
regular production techniques in favour of a more technically satisfying country-led direction than on previous records.
They haven’t dispelled with guitars all together though. 'Think Tank'’s nod to MTV2 and the American
market comes in the shape of ‘Crazy Beat’, (the album’s ‘Song 2’) and ‘We’ve Got A File On You’, a throwaway re-hash of ‘B.L.U.R.E.M.I.’.
Alex James and Dave Rowntree step out of their shadows as being solely ‘the fanciable one’ and ‘the alcoholic’ respectively with the classy funk moments of ‘Brothers And Sisters’ and hypnotic tribalism of ‘Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club’. The inevitable stench of Damon going through his Mali photo album doesn’t prove as gagging as Graham obviously found it.
When Coxon does finally appear, it’s on the mesmerising piano led finale ‘Battery In Your Leg’. The cosmic feedback of the dearly departed’s whirring guitars are a blissful complement to Damon’s vocals which you feel could crack at any moment.
A ballad that sounds like the old Blur playing something off 'OK Computer': it’s a tear-jerking
conclusion that feels like a heart gently freezing and crumbling beyond the stars.
'Think Tank'’s greatest asset, aside of its ability to move you with its mature beauty, is Blur’s natural progression. An organic and emotional ride, it may show label mates Radiohead that you don’t necessarily need to try so hard to move on from your heyday and keep your appeal.
Blur - Think Tank
And I'm not just saying this because I hate you either.
KPxx
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You hate me? Haha. Join the queue, princess. You sure you're not just PMSing?
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of course if i want some wouldbe "artistic" mumbly chinstroking noodling from a charmless bunch of characters whose illustrious leader sings like a [very] poor man's david bowie that very clearly just wants to be seen as the grand high magus of musoland, and whose records are about as far from the realm of "depth and wonder" as Count Grishnackh is from receiving an award to services to humanity, then i spose the new blur record'll be right up my street really.
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blur are really touching because they're not afraid of sounding foolish or camp at times, nor of a good melody. damon's got 10x as much soul as say, the Doves.
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as for sounding foolish or camp - i sincerely wish they would, it'd make for more interesting listening. right now their music is colourless.
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are you aware of how much of a cunt you sound?
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Oceansize might make a nice noise, but they're ultimately hideously dull to watch. Damon Albarn may be a bit too concerned with saving Africa, but at least he's got some kind of personality. It's pretty idicative of the way things are that no one's stepped to replace the likes of him. WHat's the lead singer from Oceansize called again? The only known figurehead we have now is Chris Fucking Martin, in his sweatshop made 'Free Trade' tshirts. Call Albran a camp Bowie rip-off, but everyone knows who he is. This counts for something. It's all so very easy to dis something just because it's popular. That unfortunately is the nature of much of this site, though.
Comparing Blur to Tool is utterly pointless. There may be a lot of depth behind Tool's records, but the main point of interest in Think Tank is the lush and simple melodies, and its achingly pure emotion. See also the new Durutti Column LP 'Someone Else's Party' and 'Rose' by Maximilian Hecker that Sean reviewed.
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Anyway, this isnt about you sneering at every band we champion and thinking your opinion is the voice of authority, as you always seem to. I am not "dissing" Albarn because he's "popular". Blur have had plenty of brilliant tracks and Coxon's a genious. Fact is, in their desperate plea to seem oh-so-more mature and like the wisened lords of pop/indie, they've forgotten to actually write and TUNES. Woopsie!
Anyway, don't you have your own website to be sounding off on?
KPxx
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I like Oceansize as much as the next Biffy fan, but on Monday at the Underworld they were boring however, and the few people that were still there left.
If it's all about 'tunes' - humn us all an Oceansize song then.
If you want some cool, inspired new music that has nice tunes, pick up the King Geedorah LP. Alternative, cross-over hip hop.
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i want to see them again.
the king geedorah track i heard last night didn't grab me particularly - reminded me of dj shadow but sounded a bit half-arsed. if the point you were making about blur was that the songs they make are accessible [judging by yr dismissal of the tool/blur comparison, i assume it was] and not "pretentious" [bollocks are they not..], venus hum make gorgeous, heartstopping and ridiculously accessible, hummable, memorable and addictive songs - and being as they're on a major, they might actually get some money ploughed into them, which would be nice. well worth checking out.
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Oceansize are just a band you have to REALLY listen to for the full effect I think. There's so much going on in their songs it's kinda sit-on-your-own-and-listen-and-get-lost-in-it kinda music.
KPxx
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Oceansize are not a pop band like Blur. They're really nothing alike. And yes they have tunes. They have big sweeping walls of swirling sound and delecate sparkling lulls in contrast. Their music is powerful and emotive - it makes me FEEL something. It takes the mind somewhere better. And to me, thats a large part of what music is.
Each to their own and everything, but I think Oceansize are far from boring. Unlike the new Blur stuff. And unlike your snotty, pretentious, condescending attitude.
KPxx
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The most 'radio friendly' of the King Geedorah stuff does sound a bit Shadowy, but like RJD2's debut LP, much of it is made up of really great beats, some sleek melodies and really cool samples.
Mew are fucking wondrous - sure to be a much better Coopers tour support than Oceansize and Biffy, eh?
Let's also hope Venus Hum don't get left on the BMG back benches.
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i'll think about it closer to the time.
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If you work at the NME I'm sure you regard having anything to read as gold dust don't you? What with the NME now reduced to being a photo mag with interchangeable writers writing interchangeable puff-piece guff to accompany the pages and pages of interchangeable photos of interchangeable bands.
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www.drownedinsound.com
With NME spending so much time sucking Aussie ass and licking Detroit dick, DiS has officially become the only legit info source re: new Brit bands." - rollingstone.com
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In one post you've encapsulated everything about how the UK music 'press' is still falling down the toilet, DIS vs NME, two 'organs' of varying useful/lessness: can you just fight each other to the (joint) death, while the scant good writer at each sneaks off unnoticed and unharmed (though frankly those scant few, by and large, write for & save their best work for other publications/sites at the moment, as it is)?
and Rolling Stone! Yeah!! They've had their finger on the fucking pulse since, oh....forever!!!
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Who are you anyway Mr NME Freelancer?
Haven't NME got rid of all the writers they used to have, instead its now written by the same uninformed twats who read it. Don't see Swells there any more. NME reads like a styless cross between heat and a student paper, without any passion or grit in the writing and without anything interesting to really say.
How many new bands have you gone out and found dare I ask?
Don't NME freelancers just have to follow slave style to their pyramid system? The one with the Strokes at the top and the datsuns underneath.
THis is the same NME that cares so much about good new music its saying it wont cover any bands featured in Bang or X-Ray. Kerrang got the Darkness first, ever wondered why you've never seen em in there?
The White Stripes doing the same thing for four albums hardly counts as 'new music' does it?
And the comment about DIS people arguing is bullshit too; do you seriously reckon everyone at NME sucks off the Vines/Libertines like particular individuals?
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The dead wood is long gone. Swells was monotanously "controversial"
and never seemed to like the music he was covering. Anyone around the age of forty (hello Mr Sutherland) should be working for a youth orientated magazine, thus thats why NME has seen an influx of new writing talent recently. As for the bands we cover - ok, Kerrang got The Darkness, but who brought you The Strokes, The Hives, The Stripes, The Vines way before anyone else?
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WHo are you then Mr Freelancer?
The fact remains though, that people don't care about those bands. Their just fads. When they're no longer cool, the NME won't cover them. They haven' written any songs that will last beyond their 'moment of cool'. It's indie disco music at best, and that's the point.
People long for the hey day of the mid-nineties because the indie stuff that the Maker and NME covered wan't just 'cool' it was actually good. People bought it (literally) because it was real. Who's actually bought a fucking Libertines record? Who gives a flying fuck about seeing the Vines bloke 'smash' his guitar into a bunch of emptu Marshall stacks.
NME is far too concerned about having a rigid structure of what is 'cool' - (the Pyramid Strcuture is well known), writing about complete nonsense ('Liam Farts Onstage', 'Vines Bloke Drunk On Stage') and focusing on the same few bands to really grasp the same credibility which made it what it is.
Swells aside, the NME, save writers like Louis Pattison, Beaumont and James Oldham, is boring as fuck to read. The whole set up needs a major rethink, or the last remaining establishment of the British music press will continue to wheeze and slowly die.
Let's hope IPC's record company owndership part with the Melody Maker brand, and maybe that can be revived.
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BUT recently, it has actually become just plain shit. There's literally nothing to read in there.
The NME didn't bring us The Stripes. I'd heard of them back in 2000 when De Stijl cam out (check out the pennyblackmusic.com reviews archives and it's there). They didn't BRING us the strokes - that was a combination of NME, MTV2, Lamacq's show and Mojo.
Out of my friends, the hard-core music fans don't read NME, the fashionable trend followers do sometimes but ignore it, the rockier - cooler people read Kerrang! and Rock Sound. The NME's audience is really based around one group, beer boys who want to find out the latest news on Oasis and who moan about 'fuckin' manufactured pop bands clogging up the charts'. A paper for those types of people is never going to be for me. sorry
oh, yeah, havent heard the blur album. my brother really likes it!
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(Starsailor's manager or something similar, lest we forget, back at the time when NME were hyping them up as the next big whatevers, printing huge gushing page-long reviews of them of his own, etc...)
And Mark Beaumont??? That feeble wannabe Swells, easily as at home at Melody Maker in its vile last days as anyone there was?
Oh, dear. Dick
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shut UP!
what is this thread about
just everyone go home
Biffy are always going to be where they are now
They'll probably never even sell out the Astoria
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The sooner you guys drop with all the meaningless descriptions and get a reality check on these shit indie bands that offer fuck all to the rock starved masses of Miss England the better we'll all be.
Long suffer Biffy Clitoris.
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Sure, his solo output might be hit and miss, but Graham always kicked Damon's pretentious art school side into touch.
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(no i havent got a clue either)
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blur were nobodies as well then
nice one John D
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Blur - Think Tank
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and i've seen a 4* and a 5* review so far? which magazines do YOU read?
Think Tank
I'm glad Coxon's gone as well. I know Albarn's a grade A twat but that joyless snob really did my head in.
NME
Re: NME
piers martin good
tony naylor enthusiastic
the rest generally dull trend followers
except for me
i am an arse
Re: NME
Tim Jonze
Dan Martin
James Jam
Rick Martin
Pat Long.
I'm never wrong, trust me.
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Re: NME
If there was any recompense for the fish...
‘Concencus’ sounds like some Latin American variation of the cucumber (look at those lovely pips). NME’s been going down the dumper for a long time, moving to Toronto gives me an even bigger excuse not to buy it, being that it’s three or four quid here in Mooseland. It’s even shitter than Rolling Stone which is saying something. RS is a fucking joke, self-congratulating itself for being so ‘left-wing and radical’ and then plastering every cover with some young blonde nymphets (witness in the last six issues the Olsen Twins, Britney and Jessica Simpson). The Britney article in particular was slavering, some shot of her oiled up with a suggestive finger sliding down her panties that should have been headlined ‘She wants your cum boys’. Is it possible to be left-wing and degrading to women at the same time? Of course it is and Jann Wenner’s crew do it with style and consummate élan. At least NME hasn’t gone down that track yet. I felt it went for the spurious young angle way too much, the official IPC site blurb about ‘making its readers feel fashionable’ rather typified that. It’s called ‘restriction of audience’, the UK singles market does that by focusing on younger schmunger types and look how fucked that is.
Who needs magazines anyway? There’s a shitload of websites out there offering reviews. Crucially there’s a load of band sites offering you tracks to listen to and come to your own concencus (sic).
Incidentally, I see Malik Meer is now Features Editor. Look at that CV…
“Malik has extensive journalistic and editing experience and has worked across a host of leading mens’ music and style titles including The Face, Arena, I-D, Loaded and Smash Hits. He was also former commissioning features editor on Ministry Magazine and acting music and news editor on Mixmag, prior to taking over as editor of IPC’s dance title, Muzik. Since the closure of Muzik in June this year, Malik has been working on development projects internally for IPC.
Malik says: “NME is without a doubt the best music magazine on the market today and I am thrilled that I can now be a part of such a dynamic editorial team. I’ve got loads of ideas that I can’t wait to put into practice, which I know NME readers will love.”
Conor adds: “Malik’s rock music credentials are top-notch. He’s the final piece in the new NME editorial line-up and confirms the magazine as having the best editorial team of any modern music title in the country.”
(from the beautiful IPC website)
Is Conor going to get a whole battalion of little danceniks from fucked magazines in there? Malik’s credentials for ‘rock music’ are top notch courtesy of working for Mixmag, Ministry and Muzik? No more so than mine are top-notch through working for Stillwater Trout Angler magazine.