Tag: Dave Rowntree

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Albums

Best albums of 2023: #2 Blur “The ballad of Darren”

I trust you’ve all had a restful and joyous Christmas holiday, those who celebrate it anyway. Mine was spent with my wife and family, eating lots of good eats. My itinerary for Boxing Day today is to head out to support some independent record stores (avoiding the big shopping malls) and seeing if I can score some records at deal prices. But before I do, I thought I’d drop this little post here on my second favourite album of the year.

Ah yes, Blur.

The London-based quartet has seen a lot of mentions on these pages, appearing in a good number of my Best tunes lists, at least one Best albums list so far, and a special post highlighting my top five favourite tunes by the group. In every single post, I’ve mention that I’ve been a big fan of the group for years, inferring that I know their discography intimately. I saw them a couple of times in the early 90s, both on two separate legs of tours supporting 1994’s “Parklife”, and have often thought it would be great to see them again. So, yeah, I was quite excited when news broke late last year of plans for more live shows, an excitement that grew when a new studio album was also announced this spring, but as of yet, none of their shows have come close enough to my neck of the woods to be financially viable to procure tickets*.

I picked up a copy of Blur’s 9th album on vinyl the first chance I got, having only heard the first single, “The narcissist”. I figured that even if it wasn’t as good as their previous work that I would want it on my record shelves next to the rest of their albums. Luckily for me, “The ballad of Darren” is very good indeed, surprisingly so, and there’s no fear that it will become a dust collector. I’ve already put it through the paces a number of times on my turntable.

Written for the most part by frontman Damon Albarn while he was on tour with Gorillaz in 2022, it is considered by the group to be the most like their earlier work because it was recorded very much collaboratively as they did in their early days. For me, it is like a return to their Britpop haunts but viewed through the dusty and musty time machine windows. It is by far their shortest ever record but this doesn’t mean we feel short-changed. This is very much Blur but not a Blur we’ve heard before. They’ve reverted back from the art rock that has informed much of their last three and yet it hasn’t completely left the room. Indeed, “The ballad of Darren” feels like the culmination of everything Blur. It is a band playing music together and for themselves, loose and free from expectations and in so doing, exceeding them all.

This 9th album doesn’t feel like a climax, or like a swansong, and yet, if this does turn out to be the last Blur record, I don’t think we’d have any cause at all to complain. If you haven’t yet given it a chance, there’s ten great tracks here worth you time. If you’re still unsure, these three picks for you are a great representation of what you would find within.

“Goodbye Albert“: Track seven continues the trend that strings throughout, taking its cue from the album title, a mellower tone that didn’t frighten me at all. I’ve always loved Blur’s ballads and this one is typically Blur and so unlike a traditional ballad. The drumming is understated but complex, Dave Rowntree restraining himself but still putting on his stamp, while Alex James is doing the same with his heavy bass backbone. Graham Coxon plays guitar hero here yet again, dancing around the arpeggios one moment and flailing out grunge feedback the next. And Damon Albarn is seemingly realizing his pivotal moment, saying goodbye to what once was but hesitating with all the finality. “We crossed the world, we disappeared, and no one looks to see if we are coming back soon. I was not ready yet… Let it go.”

“Barbaric”: “I have lost the feeling that I thought I’d never lose. Now where am I going? At what cost, the feeling that I thought I’d never lose? It is barbaric.” If you thought it was all going to be mellow and low-key, this one proves it wrong. It’s peppy and catchy and quite jubilant despite obviously being about a surprise breakup at an inopportune time. James feels like the star with a bass line that bounces around and carries a lively presence and our wonderful drummer Coxon keeps pace with a nod of the head, a wink, and a jaunty smile. This one feels like a fan favourite in the making. Classic Blur and if it weren’t so late in the game, high hopes for future Blur.

“The narcissist”: As mentioned above, this is the one we all heard first and the one that convinced us all that “The ballad of Darren” would be an album worth our collective times. “I’ma shine a light in your eyes (in your eyes). You’ll probably shine it back on me, but I won’t fall this time. With Godspeed, I’ll heed the signs.” Though it sounds quite different, “The narcissist” reminds me a lot of their surprise single from 2012, “Under the westway“. It’s wistful and mature, looking back at what made Blur great but doing so with years of experience and the same amount of time to reflect on everything. It effortlessly fits alongside some of the band’s best work, getting deep into your bones and stuck in your head, and making you think about worth and existence and what’s waiting around the next corner. So, so, so, so good.

*And recent comments by Albarn suggesting it might be time wind up the group again make me think seeing them this time around is becoming increasingly unlikely.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #1. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”
9. Boygenius “The record”
8. Depeche Mode “Memento mori”
7. The Clientele “I am not there anymore”
6. Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”
5. Pale Blue Eyes “This house”
4. The Reds, Pinks and Purples “The town that cursed your name”
3. The Veils “…And out of the void came love”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Playlists

Playlist: New tunes from 2023, part one

Well folks, it’s that time again. It’s time to share part one and the first twenty-five tracks of my annual multi-part playlist of new songs of the year. The beginning of 2023 in music.

Personally, I didn’t get a great start to 2023. I started to feel under the weather on New Year’s Day and it developed into a real nasty cough. Like most, I’m sure, I hadn’t gotten sick much over the past few years, what with social distancing and other health measures during the pandemic, so this one hit me really hard. The cough was so bad most nights that it kept me from sleeping. The eventual trip to the doctor landed me a chest x-ray appointment to screen out pneumonia (negative, thankfully) and a puffer to help keep the airways clear. Still, the cough stuck with me for almost two months.

Then, my workplace started returning back to the physical office in March. I know many had returned much earlier so I’m not likely to get much sympathy here but I had been working strictly from home for three years and the return has been a bit of a shock to the system. Packing a lunch and putting aside clothes from the night before, and setting the alarm for 5am have all been a re-learning process and of course, public transit has been more ugly than good. Still, I try to look at the positive side in that it’s only two days a week so far. Just another new normal to get used to.

2023’s not been all bad though. I’ve been in relatively good health since surviving that monster cough and have been eating very well. With the warmer weather, I’ve been getting out for walks in the fresh air as much as possible. I spent a weekend at the cottage with my some old friends that I hadn’t seen in over a year. And with spring arrived and summer on the horizon, here’s looking at more of these.

But let’s get back to the task at hand.

This will mark the fifth year running that I’ve done this exercise and I’ve found it enjoyable to go back every once in a while to see what I was listening to at various points and see which songs have held up and which have not. For the first year or two, I broke the playlist down into three-ish parts and it wasn’t necessarily as structured, but of late, I’ve done one for each quarter of the year and have somehow managed to put together a hundred songs by a hundred different artists for each of the last few years. This first part here is made up of twenty five songs from albums released between January and March and all things being equal, you should see twenty-five more songs from the spring months at some point in late July.

So without further ado, I’ll present the music that has helped keep me going over the first three months of 2023. Highlights include:

      • The near eight minutes of “The golden age” by Molly, which is as dreamy as dreamy can be
      • The debut solo album by Blur drummer Dave Rowntree was a very pleasant surprise and “Downtown” is just a great groove
      • Samia is lovely and brutal and honest on “Kill her freak out” and she might just have you singing along
      • It’s been seven long years since the last album by New Zealand’s The Veils and “No limit of stars” and the rest of the new double album is exactly what we’ve been missing
      • “Colossal waste of light” is the title track off an album by Eyelids, a group of Portland-based indie veterans that I checked out simply because of the involvement The Decemberists’ John Moen and discovered a heck of a lot to like in their brand of jangle pop
      • “Ghosts again” is my favourite track by synth pop legends Depeche Mode since 2005’s “Precious” and this latest record is quite possibly my favourite since 1993’s “Songs of faith and devotion”
      • The highly anticipated and perfectly titled debut full-length by indie supergroup, Boygenius, has joyously lived up to the hype and “$20” is a prime, rocking example of what to expect

Here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it:

1. “When the cynics stare back from the wall (feat. Tracyanne Campbell” Belle & Sebastian (from the album Late developers)

2. “The golden age” Molly (from the album Picturesque)

3. “When you stop” July Talk (from the album Remember never before)

4. “City of angels” Ladytron (from the album Time’s arrow)

5. “Downtown” Dave Rowntree (from the album Radio songs)

6. “Kill her freak out” Samia (from the album Honey)

7. “My blood runs through this land” Black Belt Eagle Scout (from the album The land, the water, the sky)

8. “Sinatra Drive breakdown” Yo La Tengo (from the album This stupid world)

9. “Odd to even” Amber Arcades (from the album Barefoot on Diamond Road)

10. “Unglow the” Pearla (from the album Oh glistening onion, the nighttime is coming)

11. “Fingers of steel” Shame (from the album Food for worms)

12. “Magic powers” Death Valley Girls (from the album Islands in the sky)

13. “Oil (feat. Stevie Nicks)” Gorillaz (from the album Cracker Island)

14. “The people say” Steve Mason (from the album Brothers & sisters)

15. “No limit of stars” The Veils (from the album …And out of the void came love)

16. “Colossal waste of light” Eyelids (from the album A colossal waste of light)

17. “Come back” Frankie Rose (from the album Love as projection)

18. “Meshuggah” Unknown Mortal Orchestra (from the album V)

19. “Baby snakes” Death and Vanilla (from the album Flicker)

20. “Cut the cord” Black Honey (from the album A fistful of peaches)

21. “Right here” Emiliana Torrini & the Colorist Orchestra (from the album Racing the storm)

22. “Ghosts again” Depeche Mode (from the album Memento mori)

23. “Too late for an early grave” The Reds, Pinks and Purples (from the album The town that cursed your name)

24. “Sixers” The Hold Steady (from the album The price of progress)

25. “$20” Boygenius (from the album The record)

Apple initiates or lab rats can click here to let me know if this link works to sample the above tracks as a whole playlist.

And as always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe and continue to be well. Above all, enjoy the tunes.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1993: #12 Blur “Chemical world”

<< #13    |    #11 >>

Back when I was in university, I still listened to commercial radio relatively often, but for me, the only station worth listening to had become Toronto’s CFNY 102.1 (these days called The Edge). I loved the morning show with Humble & Fred, the weekend live-to-air shows by Chris Sheppard and Martin Streek, Alan Cross’s Ongoing history of new music on Sunday nights, and of course, the all request nooner on weekdays. The nooner was music “as chosen” by the listeners. I was a regular listener and tried often enough to put in requests but I think my songs only made the show once or twice.

The one time I can say for absolute certainty that it happened for me was when I requested they play Blur’s “Chemical world” just a few days before the band was due to play The Phoenix in Toronto in September 1994. Back then, requests couldn’t be made by webform, email, or tweets, they had to be called in by landline telephone. The phone lines opened 30 minutes to an hour before the show was due to start and some intern or other answered the calls, and if we’re being serious here, they were the ones that really decided which songs were going to be played. After dialling, getting the busy signal, hanging up, and hitting the redial button a number of times, I actually got through to a live person! The guy asked what I wanted to hear, hesitated briefly at my response, and then said “yeah, I think we can play that for you.” He recorded me giving the song an intro and let me go so he could take the next call. I sat by the radio for the next hour in my basement apartment while I ate my lunch and got ready to head in to the university for an afternoon class. Just at the end of the hour, I heard my groggy voice croak the intro and my request was played.

“Chemical world” was the second single released off of Blur’s sophomore release, “Modern life is rubbish”. It’s one of the songs the band recorded when they were sent back to the studio by their labels after initial recordings for the release did not yield any singles. It definitely fits the definition of single without straying far from their new aesthetic. After their debut couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be baggy or shoegaze and it (and their performances) couldn’t find foothold with the US markets, they decided to record the antithesis of the grunge music that was taking over in North America. “Modern life” would turn out to be one of the initial albums to fly the Britpop banner and in the process, influenced a host of other like-minded bands.

“Chemical world” was the only track from the sophomore album to crack the US charts and it was one of the few songs I would hear by the band on occasion, even on alternative radio, at the time. It’s still one of my favourites by Blur and came in at number three when I counted my five favourites by the group a few years ago*. Dave Rowntree is pounding away at the drums, violent but tame, Graham Coxon is ripping away at his guitar like he’s been hanging with John Squire, Alex James’s bass line is holding it all together tightly in muscular arms, and Damon Albarn is once again bashing out against modern life and modern Britain and how it cannot be escaped, even if it was wanted.

“It’s been a hell of a do
They’ve been putting the holes in, yes, yes
And now she’s right out of view
They’ve been putting the holes in, yes, yes
Well, I don’t know about you
They’ve been putting the holes in, yes, yes

Until you can see right through”

*In that post, I told a shorter version of the story detailed above.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1993 list, click here.