Posts Tagged Damon Albarn
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January 17, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
RNZ Feature: Damon Albarn – A Life In Notes
I’m usually on RNZ once a month to have a chat about some new albums. But now and then I present features on the show too. Most recently I got to talk about George Harrison’s music for almost a whole hour! And then the team behind the summer programming asked me along to chat about Damon […]Archive
April 24, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
Brett Anderson: Coal Black Mornings
Coal Black Mornings Brett Anderson Little, Brown [This review originally appeared at The Spinoff] We are drawn, so often, to music memoirs for the clichés of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. The very best ones, however, ignore these tenets. Think Patti Smith’s Just Kids or Bob Dylan’s Chronicles. They also exist for both the mouth-breathing, moisty-palmed […]Archive
April 6, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Five Songs For Friday: # 11 – Five Favourite Cover Versions
Many years back – a decade ago at least, I reckon, the editor of the then-Real Groove magazine asked me to compile a list of five favourite cover versions; he never ended up using it but wrote back to tell me he thought my list was weird but cool. I liked that. You hardly ever […]Archive
January 17, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 591
Gorillaz, Gorillaz (2001) I remember the song Clint Eastwood and loving it straight away. (And I’ve never got sick of it). But I wasn’t straight away sold on Gorillaz. See, I wasn’t at all a Blur fan and I wasn’t that into Damon Albarn. Wasn’t sure if he was any sort of real deal, or […]Archive
November 24, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Vinyl Countdown # 604
Blur, The Story of a Charmless Man [Single] (1996) I was never that much of a Blur fan – not at the time. My interest in their music started after, when Damon Albarn started doing (more) interesting things outside of the band. I then went back and listened to the music of Blur through that […]Archive
January 9, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Africa Express: Presents Terry Riley’s In C Mali
Africa Express Presents Terry Riley’s In C Mali Transgressive Records It’s been fifty years since Terry Riley’s magical/important/influential In C and here we have a fresh spin on it via Africa Express’ recreation/tribute/rendition. It takes the concept, the mood, the mode and places it in an African context – or places an African context around […]Archive
November 14, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Tony Allen: Film of Life
Tony Allen Film of Life Jazz Village If you already know Tony Allen’s work – as master African drummer behind Fela Kuti, co-creator of Afrobeat, then you won’t be surprised to know that he’s still soldiering on and, at 74, making music as good as anything he’s offered in the past. But if you’ve heard […]Archive
November 12, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 18 – Gorillaz, Auckland, 2010
I had to go up to Auckland for Gorillaz – had to, as in wanted to, because, you see, I had a really good interview with Damon Albarn. So good, that The Guardian tried to pass it off as their own work pretty much. And it went all around the world quoted in various places […]Archive
July 31, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
V/A: Africa Express Presents Maison Des Jeunes
Various Artists Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes Transgressive Records Damon Albarn hasn’t hit it out of the park with every project he’s been involved in since Blur but it’s pretty close – the strike-rate is impressive and here, with Maison Des Jeunes Albarn overseas/spearheads an album that was put together after a week-long trip […]Archive
May 8, 2014 by Simon Sweetman
Damon Albarn: Everyday Robots
Damon Albarn Everyday Robots Warner Bros. It took a long time to get to any sort of grips with this. I’m talking underwhelming for the first half-dozen+ listens; disappointingly – brutally – underwhelming. I think part of the issue was in the billing of this as Albarn’s first full solo album. Creates too much hype. […]Archive
March 2, 2014 by Simon Sweetman