Blur (band)
Blur [ blɜɹ ] is a British rock band, which was one of the most important representatives of the 1990s Britpop. The band took on a musical several changes during the 1990s. Stand their debut album, still under the influence of shoegaze and Madchester movement, so it came to pass after three more influenced by British pop albums for indie rock and penetrated with their last three albums in the border area between rock, electronic and experimental music before.
Band History
Originally called the band Seymour, but was changed in 1990 at the request of their new label Food Records in Blur. Your biggest successes were the singles There's No Other Way (1991 ) Girls and Boys (1994 ) Country House (1995), Beetlebum, Song 2 (1997) and Coffee & TV ( 1999) and the albums Parklife, Blur and 13.
During the 1991 released debut was still strongly oriented to the then fashionable Manchester Rave, already marked the second album Modern Life is Rubbish (1993), a musical realignment, which was successfully continued with the third album Parklife 1994: Your explicit reference to the British pop music tradition ( Kinks, The Beatles ) and its clearly stated rejection of prevailing in the early 1990s American rock music (grunge ) ensured that Blur were proclaimed by the music press to the creators of the modern Britpop. The high point of the media hype associated with the release of their fourth album in 1995, when the " bourgeois " musicians from Blur were stylized by British newspapers to antagonists of the " working class " band Oasis.
But with her fifth and sixth studio albums, the group embarked on a completely new way. You gave up the horn arrangements, forced the rock elements and eventually switched producers. Instead of the long -time colleague Stephen Street sat originally from the field of electronic music originating William Orbit on the mixer, who had already contributed to Blur's double EP Bustin '& Dronin ' a remix of Movin 'On. With the successful in the USA Song 2, the musicians now managed international breakthrough, after her success had been limited mainly to the UK and some European countries. The 1999 released album 13 was indeed somewhat less commercially successful, but was received very positively by critics and contained the song Coffee & TV at least a minor hit.
Even during the recording of Think Tank, however, lead guitarist Graham Coxon then left in 2002, the group due to artistic differences. Therefore its participation in the album is limited to the last piece ( Battery in Your Leg ).
Already quite early made Damon Albarn clear that he return Coxon about the band and wish will be working with Blur rest up to this point. In January 2007, bassist Alex James was then announced that the chances of a reunion stood relatively well, although as yet no notifications were found. The end of 2008, the band then two reunion concerts in the cast with Graham Coxon in London's Hyde Park announced. The performances took place on 2 and 3 July 2009. Already 28 June 2009 Blur had appeared in the original cast at the Glastonbury Festival.
2010 appeared in the cinemas documentation No Distance Left to Run. In April of the same year came a new vinyl single, titled Fool's Day out, which could be downloaded a few days later for free from the website of the band. Then it was Damon Albarn of pages, he wanted the medium definitely working on more recordings with Blur. In fact, since a recording session with the English poet Michael Horovitz took place, but to date, remained unpublished. 2012 was producer William Orbit hinted on Twitter to work with the band on new material, a little later Albarn and Coxon surprised at a charity concert with the acoustic version of the new Blur - piece Under the Westway, and end of February 2012 occurred Blur at the BRIT Awards on. In February 2014, however, Albarn announced that there was new material for Blur that will, however, elapse be postponed indefinitely because of the many side projects of the band members until they could complete it and publish, so that at this stage was not to be expected with a new album.
Other projects
Singer Damon Albarn is also the head of the Gorillaz, the world's three successful studio LPs so far brought out: Gorillaz (2001), Demon Days (2005) and Plastic Beach (2010). Another project is the Trans-African cooperation Mali Music, which led in 2002 to a record production and Albarn also employed in the subsequent period. In January 2007 he published together with the drummer Tony Allen, Paul Simonon ( former bassist of The Clash ) and the former The Verve guitarist Simon Tong an album together under the name The Good, the Bad & the Queen. On 28 June 2007 his first opera Monkey was at the Manchester International Festival: Journey to the West premiered. Damon Albarn's second opera Dr Dee. An English Opera staged by director Rufus Norris, and was also part of the Manchester International Festival, July 1, 2011 premiere at the Palace Theatre.
Graham Coxon published since 1998 solo albums on his indie label Transcopic (since 2002 distributed by Parlophone / EMI). The eight previously released albums are: The Sky Is Too High (1998), The Golden D ( 2000), Crow Sit on Blood Tree (2001), The Kiss of Morning ( 2002), Happiness in Magazines (2004), Love Travels at illegal Speeds (2006), The Spinning Top ( 2009) and A e ( 2012). Furthermore Coxon since 2009 irregular part of the solo performances of Pete Doherty and accompanied it to the guitar.
Alex James has been involved in the short-lived groups Me Me Me and Fat Les. Me Me Me, which consisted of James, The Lilac Time Stephen Duffy singer, Justin Welch ( Elastica ) and Charlie Bloor, published in 1996, a UK top 20 single ( Hanging Around ). Fat Les, in turn, was a project in which James, the controversial artist Damien Hirst - an old classmate of Blur band members - and the actor Keith Allen participated. Their single Vindaloo in 1998 reached number 2 in the British charts. James ' latest project is called WigWam.
Dave Rowntree is since 2006 a member of The Ailerons and calls the computer graphics company Nano Mation his own. For several years he has been involved in the London local politics for the Labour Party. In the local elections in May 2007, he stood as a candidate in his home district of Westminster for Labour and finished second in the traditionally conservative constituency Marylebone High Street in third place behind the candidate of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.