BLUR Guitarist GRAHAM COXON About This Day’s Music
23 July 2027
Hey Graham, to be honest Blur‘s new album (‘The Ballad Of Daren) sounds embellished and polished too. It’s definitely not a turd, but too cleanly produced for my liking.
Blur
Former Britpop Heroes BLUR Have Their New Melancholic Album ‘THE BALLAD OF DARREN’ Out Now
21 July 2023
Today Brit-pop-rock icons BLUR launched their
9th LP, baptized The Ballad Of Darren. Their first
in 8 years (The Magic Whip came out in 2015).
Pre-order info here.
The artwork depicts a photo of the Gourock Pool
in Renfrewshire (Scotland) by British photographer
Martin Parr.
NME says: “Their brilliance continues The band’s joyous reunion only gets more emotional with this tear-jerking, soaring epic. Unlike many of their peers, there has never been a timelessness to a Blur album – that’s a good thing. When you listen to ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ now, you can feel disdain for the culture that surrounded them, or the raw confusion of heartbreak on 1999’s ‘13’; they have a way of transporting you to a precise moment or emotion. It’s why ‘The Ballad of Darren’ is so memorable and touching: you can feel it, everything, in every line sung or note played. Speaking to NME last week, Rowntree says that when they were recording, “everything we tried, worked”, and that “magic was in the air”. It is keenly felt here; may it never fade away.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
TUTV: Lots of slow ones, lots of reflective musings, lots of romantic ballads (including Darren‘s one), lots of melancholia. They only rock out on the punked-up St. Charles Square.
To be honest, a surprisingly intimate record but it grows on you slowly but surely.
Singles/clips: The Narcissist / St. Charles Square
– THE NARCISSIST –
– ST. CHARLES SQUARE –
See you next month.
WOOHOO!
TURN UP THE VOLUME’s JUKEBOX 2023 – 10 New Tracks Added Every Week
Every week 10 new rad tracks added
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2023 playlist.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
LOST COUSINS (Canada)
.
BLUR (London, UK)
.
100 GECS (NYC)
.
HOLLOWS (Manchester, UK)
.
NOTHING BUT THIEVES (Essex, UK)
.
THE BREEDERS (US)
.
BETWEEN FOREST AND BEACH (Detroit, US)
.
HANGING FREUD (Scotland)
THE TUESADY NIGHTERS (Canada)
.
BENJAMIN ESTERLIS (Israel)
.
ALL TOGETHER
Stream to Spotify and stream.
.
See/hear you next week, music junkies
TUTV: Blog – Facebook – Instagram
Waking Up With… Britpop Legends BLUR Rockin’ Out Big Time On New Single Titled ‘ST. CHARLES SQUARE
Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant
30 June 2023
Album artwork
Early this year London‘s Britpop legends BLUR announced
several massive shows in and out of the UK, but no hint at
new music.
But that changed last month when they announced their 9th LP, named
The Ballad Of Darren, and planned to be released on 21 July.
Pre-order info here.
The artwork depicts a photo of the Gourock Pool in Renfrewshire (Scotland)
by British photographer Martin Parr.
Following last month’s first single, Blur-esque pop tune The Narcissist we get a 2nd appetizer ST. CHARLES SQUARE. A different kind of beast. Graham Coxon (confirmed
by Albarn, see below) can/may riff and rock again on a Blur track.
Albarn about it: “I was just really relieved it went this way in the studio. I mean, in my demo it sort of alluded to it because of the chords that hold in the chorus — it’s got that chug to it — but Graham [Coxon] really went with it … It’s got an amazing atmosphere. Everybody’s playing really well on that thing.”
Woohoo!
TURN UP THE VOLUME JUKEBOX 2023 – 10 New Tracks Added Every Week
Every week 10 new rad tracks added
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad tracks
added to this rad 2023 playlist
(total of 195 tracks so far).
1. ‘Bulletman’ by PARIS TEXAS (Los Angeles)
2. ‘Mercury’ by SMALL MIRACLES (Wales)
3. ‘Rango’ bySCARS FOR DAVID (Belgium)
4. ‘Second Hand’ by NIXER (London)
5. ‘Out Of The Window’ by HARKER (Brighton, UK)
6. ‘The Eyes Of Portland’ by JOHN MELLENCAMP (USA)
7. ‘Dummy’ by PORTUGAL. THE MAN (Portland, US)
8. ‘The Narcissist’ by BLUR (London)
9. ‘I Thought I Understood’ by THE UNDERGROUND YOUTH (UK/Berlin)
10. ‘Surviving Pessimism’ by NECRØ (Portugal)
Go to Spotify and stream/steam.
.
TUTV: Blog – Facebook – Instagram
Waking Up With… Britpop Legends BLUR And Their Brand New Single ‘THE NARCISSIST’
Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant
19 May 2023
Album artwork
Earlier this year London‘s Britpop legends BLUR announced
several massive shows in and out of the UK, but no hint at
new music.
And now out of the blue comes the news that they have a new album,
their 9th, named THE BALLAD OF DARREN, ready to be released on 21 July.
Pre-order info here.
The artwork depicts a photo of the Gourock Pool in Renfrewshire (Scotland)
by British photographer Martin Parr.
Damon Albarn (frontman): “It’s an aftershock record loaded
with reflection and comment on where we find ourselves now.”
Graham Coxon (guitarist): “The older and madder we get, it becomes
more essential that what we play is loaded with the right emotion and
intention. Sometimes just a riff doesn’t do the job.”
And here comes the first single titled THE NARCISSIST.
A melancholic Blur-esque pop tune that sticks instantly.
Great guitar work by Coxon.
Listen.
SUPERGRASS (1995) And BLUR (1994) Scored No 1 Album In The UK
Back in time
15 May 2023
Band: BLUR (London, UK)
Active: 1988–present (hiatuses: 2004–2008, 2016–2022)
Album: PARKLIFE – their 3rd LP
It topped the UK Album Charts this day in 1994.
Four times platinum.
The album was originally going to be entitled London and the album cover shot was going to be of a fruit-and-vegetable cart. Albarn stated tongue-in-cheek, “That was the last time that Dave Balfe was, sort of, privy to any decision or creative process with us, and that was his final contribution: to call it London“. The cover refers to the British pastime of greyhound racing.
TOP SINGLE
FULL ALBUM
.
BLUR: Bio – Discography
Band: SUPERGRASS (Oxford, England)
Active: 1993–2010, 2019–2022 (on hiatus now)
Album: I SHOULD COCO – their debut LP
The title of the album is cockney rhyming slang for “I should think so”.
The LP’s front cover is a painting based on three separate DIY photos
of band members Coombes, Goffey, and Quinn. It topped the UK Charts
this day in 1995.
TOP SINGLE
FULL ALBUM
.
SUPERGRASS: Bio – Discography
Amazing Album Artwork From The Past – Cover Of ‘THINK TANK’ By BLUR Released 20 Years Ago Today
5 May 2023
20 years ago today, on 5 May 2003, BLUR released their 7th,
critcially praised album THINK TANK. It topped the UK charts.
Artwork: The cover was stenciled by the British
graffiti artist and political activist Bansky.
Despite Banksy stating that he normally avoids commercial work he later defended
his decision to do the cover, saying: “I’ve done a few things to pay the bills, and I did the
Blur album. It was a good record and the commission was quite a lot of money.
I think that’s a really important distinction to make. If it’s something you actually believe in, doing something commercial doesn’t turn it to shit just because it’s commercial. Otherwise you’ve got to be a socialist rejecting capitalism altogether, because the idea that you can
marry a quality product with a quality visual and be a part of that even though it’s capitalistic
is sometimes a contradiction you can’t live with. But sometimes it’s pretty symbiotic, like the Blur situation.”
SINGLE
ALBUM
.
BLUR: Instagram – Facebook
Quote Of The Day – NOEL GALLAGHER Revealed His Favorite BLUR Song
Nice call, Noel.
This is the one.
Picked By TURN UP THE VOLUME – 10 Big Albums Turning 30 In 2023
Back in time
11 December 2022
Artist: PJ HARVEY
Album: RID OF ME
Her second LP
Released: 4 May 1993
Pitchfork said: “The brilliance of Rid of Me is in the vividness and detail with which it captures that Boschian panorama using only blues rhythms, loud-quiet-loud dynamics, Harvey’s voice.”
TUTV Pick: Rid Of Me
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: THE AFGHAN WHIGS
Album: GENTLEMEN
4th longplayer
Released: 5 October 1993
Pitchfork wrote: “This major-label debu is a harrowing song cycle chronicling the death
throes of a relationship. That cycle implies a romantic fatalism, as though every relationship is doomed to end painfully. Gentlemen is both personal and unknowable, cocksure yet deeply troubled.”
TUTV Pick: Debonair
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: SUEDE
Album: SUEDE
Debut LP
Released: 29 March 1993
BBC Music: “Suede’s main sources were Bowie (in Anderson’s wonderfully fey delivery) and
the Smiths. Ironically, Mike Joyce of the Smiths was a member for a short spell, but their bleak chronicles of urban dysfunction, modern love and sexual confusion were never a million miles away from Morrissey’s home ground.”
TUTV Pick: Animal Nitrate
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: THE BREEDERS
Album: LAST SPLASH
Second longplayer
Released: 30 August 1993
AllMusic: “Its best moments — and the Deal sisters’ megawatt charm — end up
outweighing its inconsistencies to make it one of the alternative rock era’s defining
albums.”
TUTV Pick: Cannonball
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: BLUR
Album: MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH
Second LP
Released: 10 May 1993
Rolling Stone wrote: “Blur‘s second LP is their secret classic. Coming between the pop-psych shimmer of 1991’s Leisure and the cool Britannia of 1994’s Parklife, the brittle jangle and bitter observations on Modern Life Is Rubbish were near-career-killers.”
TUTV Rick: For Tomorrow
Stream the album HERE
Band: RADIOHEAD
Album: PABLO HONEY
Debut LP
Released: 22 February 1993
NME: “One of rock’s brightest hopes.
British teenagerhood has never been grumpier.”
TUTV Pick: Creep
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: MORPHINE
Album: CURE FOR PAIN
Second LP
Release: 14 September 1993
AllMusic said: “With their cult following growing, Morphine expanded their audience even further with their exceptional 1994 sophomore effort, Cure for Pain. Whereas their debut, Good, was intriguing yet not entirely consistent, Cure for Pain more than delivered. The songwriting was stronger and more succinct. Cure for Pain was unquestionably one of the best and most cutting-edge rock releases of the ’90s.”
TUTV Pick: Buena
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: NIRVANA
Album: IN UTERO
Third LP
Release: 21 September 1993
Rolling Stone wrote: “The album is a lot of things – brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful, most of them all at once. But more than anything, it’s a triumph of the will.”
TUTV Pick: All Apologies
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: THE VERVE
Album: A STORM IN HEAVEN
Debut full length
Released: 21 June 1193
GuitarCom said: “A Northern Soul may have more choruses, Urban Hymns may have shifted 10 million copies and made them Wigan’s only global superstars, but Verve‘s (the ‘The’ came later) celestial debut A Storm In Heaven is the guitarist’s choice. Nick McCabe’s enveloping waves of reverb and tape delay, in turn soothing and savage, moved producer John Leckie to conclude “To some extent, A Storm In Heaven is his record”.
TUTV Pick: Slide Away
Stream the album HERE
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Band: MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Album: GOLD AGAINST THE SOUL
Second LP
Released: 21 June 1993
AllMusic said: “The rage is more articulate and the sound is stronger,
making Gold Against the Soul a flawed but worthy step forward.”
TUTV Pick: La Tristtese Durera
Stream the album HERE