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Blur

Reviews 5

Blur

The Ballad Of Darren

Blur

The Magic Whip

Blur

21

“Still A Deeply Political Act Of Listening & Love”: Pulp Live

Dr Dee: Damon Albarn’s Magickal Mystery Tour Fails To Become Gold

Articles 30

A Quietus Interview

Peer Reviewed: Graham Coxon Interviews Rose Elinor Dougall… And Vice Versa

Singer Songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall has formed a musical project called The Waeve with Graham Coxon of Blur. Here they ask each other the kind of questions they wish always cropped up in interview
Books

“Blur Are Shite”: Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite Recalls That T-Shirt

In an exclusive extract from his new book, Spaceships Over Glasgow, Stuart Braithwaite recalls dressing up as an alien with the Super Furry Animals and telling the world exactly what he thought about the music of Blur
Anniversary

Super Apes: Gorillaz’ Self-Titled Debut, 20 Years On

Damon Albarn could have floated out with the tide after Britpop, but he was too canny, he had too much creative energy, and he had a great deal more to offer. David Bennun salutes a remarkable second act that began with Gorillaz
Black Sky Thinking

Letting The Days Go: Nostalgia In The Time Of Coronavirus

As the UK relaxes its Coronavirus lockdown, Eleanor Morgan asks what prompted the nationwide frenzy of organising CDs, records and bookshelves of these recent strange months of confinement
Anniversary

Originality Be Damned: Elastica’s Albums Reappraised

On the 20th anniversary of The Menace, Luke Turner looks back at what made Elastica tick
Anniversary

Legislated Nostalgia: Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish, 25 Years On

Blur's vision of Britain in 1993 was only a hair's breadth away from that of John Major, says Luke Turner, as he revisits the band's least terrible album 25 years on
Black Sky Thinking

Axis of Tweeville: Mawkish Brit Food Culture V The Glory Of Keith Floyd

In the year of Brexit, Harry Sword examines sinister twee nationalism in food culture - and wishes Keith Floyd were here to sort it out.

Film

Death Of A Party: Blur – New World Towers Reviewed

Tom Duggins reviews a new documentary based around the recording sessions of Blur's latest album, The Magic Whip
A Quietus Interview

Who On Earth Are Blur? An Interview By Jude Rogers

Will the real Blur please step forward, asks Jude Rogers after speaking to them (individually) recently. Portrait by Linda Brownlea
Black Sky Thinking

Join The Chant? Pop’s Endlessly Problematic Relationship With Politics

As senior columnists and musicians complain that younger generations are no longer both musically and politically engaged, David Stubbs argues that rock and pop have never been the defiantly countercultural revolutionary corps that many claim
Black Sky Thinking

This Is A Low: Blur, Asia & Cultural Appropriation

In claiming their new album The Magic Whip to be 'Asia-inspired', Blur have become the latest in a line of Western musicians to boil down the diverse cultures of the most populated region in the world into one nonsensical mishmash, says Sandra Song
Anniversary

A British Disaster: Blur’s Parklife, Britpop, Princess Di & The 1990s

Taylor Parkes marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Blur's Parklife by exploring the album in the context of the huge changes wrought on British life in the mid to late 90s by Britpop, Blair and the death of Princess Diana. Chips photo by David Moats
Anniversary

Boss Tunes: Pulp’s His ‘N’ Hers 25 Years On

Our man in Orange County Ned Raggett once more offers the American perspective; this time on the album that signposted Pulp's ascendency to the outsider pop throne
Black Sky Thinking

Modern Life Isn’t Rubbish: The Trouble With Britpop Nostalgia

The mainstream media are currently engaged in a collective misty-eyed throwback to the 'glory days' of the mid 90s. Luke Turner, who was a teenager at the time, argues that the current canonisation of Britpop is as musically and socially conservative as 1960s nostalgia
A Quietus Interview

Leytonstone To The Bone: Damon Albarn Interviewed

Jude Rogers takes Damon Albarn on a trip from the East London of his childhood to the West London of 2014. All photographs courtesy Linda Brownlee
Black Sky Thinking

Martin Amis, Geezer-Prat, & His Unfortunate Clichés Of Britishness

With the release of cynical new novel Lionel Asbo: State Of England, argues Alex Niven, Martin Amis continues the patronising run of form that helped install the pernicious and cliché-ridden notion of 'Cool Britannia' and ultimately Boris and Dave's Big Society
A Quietus Interview

“I Can Fend For Myself”: The Inimitable Mr Tony Allen Interviewed

To many people who make music, including Brian Eno and Blur’s Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Afrobeat innovator, is simply the greatest drummer alive. After talking to the Nigerian living legend, John Doran finds it hard to disagree
Black Sky Thinking

Council House Music: Exploiting Local Authority Architecture

Josh Hall looks at how musicians such as Damon Albarn and David Guetta exploit London tower blocks and housing estates. Thanks to Arthur John Picton for Heygate photograph
A Quietus Interview

“I’m Sort Of English Melancholy”: Damon Albarn Interviewed

With an upcoming Blur show and a number of albums set for release in the coming months, Damon Albarn's 2012 looks set to be as packed as ever. He sat down with Stephen Dalton to talk Doctor Dee, the future of Blur, the Olympics, David Cameron and Alex James' cheese
Beyond The Hits

Blur: The Sound Of The Essex Boys Beyond The Hits

As Blur win a lifetime achievement gong, Ian Wade, Charlie Frame, Mic Wright, Mof Gimmers, Jeremy Allen, Wyndham Wallace, Joe Kennedy, Scott McKeating, Tom Hawking, Ben Myers, Stevie Chick, Jamie Bowman, Tim Burrows and Luke Turner select their finest b-sides, rarities and album tracks
Black Sky Thinking

Blur, The Olympics & The Never-ending 1990s Hangover

Blur's presence at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics is part of the legacy of New Labour, the '90s and the Millennium Dome, argues Luke Turner
Black Sky Thinking

Leveson Inquiry II: Alex James In A Web Of Fries & Evil!!

Samuel Herlihy is a human being god dammit! He is as mad as hell and he is not going to take this any more!

A Quietus Interview

A New 90s Part Two: Burning Up With Disco Inferno

In the second of his new series on under-regarded groups from the decade before last, Neil Kulkarni speaks to Disco Inferno
Anniversary

Revisiting Blur’s Leisure, Two Decades On

Leisure was released 20 years ago tomorrow, and Jim Keoghan argues that in its marrying the sounds of northern and southern indie of the time, Blur's debut is an underrated LP

Strange World Of...

The Strange & Frightening World Of: PULP

As Pulp prepare to take to the stage at the Primavera Festival, Luke Turner looks back at their long rise to mid-90s triumph, and selects some of the milestones along the way
Black Sky Thinking

Reformation Culture In 2010: Why We Should Welcome Returning Heroes

Think reunions are inescapable, undignified and generally a bad thing? Noel Gardner disagrees, as long as you welcome them with the right spirit
Film

Blur Doc No Distance Left To Run Reviewed

Jeremy Allen takes a look at Blur documentary _No Distance Left To Run_, with reference to _Spinal Tap_
Rock's Backpages

A Pavement Interview: Terror Twilight, Radiohead, & Going Overground

As Pavement announce their reunion, Rock's Backpages and the Quietus revisit Barney Hoskyns' 1999 feature, written during the recording of final album _Terror Twilight_
Black Sky Thinking

As Blur Hit Hyde Park, We Assess The Reunion Deluge

Julian Marszalek suggests that the current crop of reunions will only be justified if the artists knuckle down and write some new material
Black Sky Thinking

(Business) Parklife: Blur’s Reformation Is Part Of A Depressing Corporate Trend

As Live Nation's tills ring, Tim Burrows asks if the constant trend for reformations isn't a corporate ploy to keep the music fan in dumb adolescence

Baker’s Dozen Appearances 2

Baker's Dozen

Time Portals: Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Favourite Albums

After cheering up the nation with her lockdown kitchen discos, Sophie Ellis-Bextor takes Fergal Kinney through her 13 favourite albums, from Blur to Madonna, Paul Simon and Fleetwood Mac and musicals
Baker's Dozen

Music Is My Saviour: Melanie C’s Favourite Albums

Melanie C guides Emma Garland through 13 favourite records in Bakers' Dozen stories from being blessed by Keith from the Prodigy to stage invading a Blur gig, with love for Madonna, Oasis, Fiona Apple and much more along the way

News 29

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