Blur – “Think Tank” (2003)
A Stylus review from Sept. 1, 2003 by Sam Bloch of the final Blur album to date…
An offbeat rhythmic synapse that nearly collapses into itself begins the album. Heavy electronic drums. A flash. A kick. At first, it’s really hard to believe that this is a song, functioning on its own. The beat needs crutches to stand upright. As a low, thunderous bass enters your speakers, the whole thing slowly grows. Distinctive African percussion is leisurely incorporated into the bass overtone — it’s the darkness in a thunderstorm, the pure, simple fury that comes before a glorious lightning streak.
And then you hear the falsetto. As saxes barely pop their heads in over the entangled rhythm and multiple voices, Damon Albarn claims:
I ain’t got nothin’ to be scared of / no I ain’t got nothin’ to be scared of, no / No I ain’t got anything to be afraid of / ‘cause I love you.
As the last line is wistfully dropped from Albarn’s lips, the gates suddenly open, and an illustrious, otherworldly wave of synthesizer floods the song’s Read the rest of this entry »
Mark Richardson – “Pitchfork Interviews Brian Eno” (2010)
A November 1st, 2010 interview with the ever-fascinating Brian Eno, from the Pitchfork website…
Brian Eno’s impact on music over the past four decades can be easy to overlook because it reaches into so many different areas. As a solo artist, he essentially invented the idea of ambient music and changed the way that people thought about electronics. As a collaborator, he was a catalyst for brilliant work by Roxy Music, David Bowie, Cluster, Harmonia, Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay. His dual role in experimental and popular music is without precedent, and his influence on the music scene as a whole is difficult to overstate.
In the past couple of years, we’ve been hearing about Eno mostly through his collaborative work. There was the fine 2008 album with David Byrne, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, his work with Coldplay and U2, and the apps “Bloom” and “Trope”, created with designer Peter Chilvers, which allows you to create generative music on your iPhone. This year, the big news from the Eno front was a new solo album, an instrumental record called Small Craft on a Milk Sea, created in collaboration with keyboardist Read the rest of this entry »
Jimi Hendrix – “Black Gold”
And true kings of this earth.
1.
So I say it’s up to us to straighten
Out this mess…
We got to go through hell…
And then that’s the last of this
Miserable test…
2.
Black must be bold
Because it’s gold and true
Kings of this world…
So let them go to the moon.
Yes let them go to mars.
Because deep down inside
They’re really from the stars. Read the rest of this entry »
The Beat Patrol 