I've been a huge fan of Blur since I first heard "Girls & Boys" off the album "Parklife." I became an even bigger fan after they released the self-titled disc that included "Song 2." I got the chance to see them live for the accompanying tour, when they stopped in San Diego and took up residence at `Canes in Mission Beach. Yes, the same venue that only holds about 500 people. Here was a band that routinely sells out venues like Wembley or The Budokahn playing in a dingy little beachfront club. And it honestly was one of the best shows I'd ever seen. Anyway, when Damon Albarn took some time off to work on various side projects; well I was a little miffed. How could he produce anything as wonderful as what Blur had already committed to tape? Well, the answer of course was Gorillaz. Their eponymous debut album was in constant roration in my house, car, laptop, and any friend not keeping a close eye on their stereos. And what a kooky idea to have it fronted by a bunch of cartoons, expertly drawn by Jaime Hewlett of "Tank Girl" fame. So, with a new album coming out in June and a new video currently making the rounds online, I have to say I'm quite jazzed to hear what the new disc will sound like. If this is any indication, we're in for a wild ride. This new track, Feel Good, Inc. features De La Soul and is mixed by DJ Dangermouse of The Grey Album fame.

Very, very sweet new video from the animated band, Gorillaz

(link via Chris Diclerico )


Via Said The Gramophone :

2004's Frames release, Burn the Maps, is a tough one. After the intimacy of For the Birds, it's jarring to come up against such an alienating record, one so sparse with its hooks and its catchy. I've heard it compared with Kid A, but I think Amnesiac is a much better touchstone. Electronics have been mixed into the band's folk and rock, but unlike Kid A, where the bleeps seemed the most human thing about it, on Burn the Maps and Amnesiac the electronics are confrontational, splintering, intimidating. (Of course, let's not go overboard: The Frames don't exactly play drill-and-base, they don't even get as noisy as Wilco on Ghost is Born, and everything's always pretty mellifluous.)

The Frames - "Trying".


Sorry, it had to be done:

They've not fed Terri Schiavo for 13 days, but she's
still surviving. And let's just consider that
this whole fiasco boils down to the irony of
religious wingnuts trying to forcefeed a woman
whose coma was caused by her bulimia.

STOP THE PRESS: Sorry, she's just died. Oh well. At least that means we won't have to listen to
jokes like this any more:

Michael Schiavo goes out for dinner after a day at his wife's bedside and orders a steak.
"Very good sir", says the waiter, "and for the vegetable?" "Oh", replies Michael,
"she's not hungry."