Blur - The Magic Whip Review

Despite Blur's beloved back catalogue, the band has never stuck to a distinct sound. Starting off as plastic Madchester before offering a critique of the influx of American grunge with Modern Life is Rubbish before creating the southern England dose of Britpop but then embracing the American Indie scene and letting Graham Coxon take near full control and finally, for twelve years, settling for what has become the standard of Damon Albarn; world music.

It raises the question of why Blur became one of the biggest bands of the nineties? Was it the fact that in the midsts of Britpop that Blur was the thinking man's contender as opposed to the lumbering but reassuring oaf called Oasis? 

Was it Damon Albarn who was capable of telling stories with his lyrics instead of trying to simply finding words that rhymed? Was it Graham Coxon, one of the most underated guitarists trying to break out? Was it the sum of all parts for that magic period of a year with Modern Life... and Parklife?

Or maybe they were simply consistently good and the decade long absence has made the heart grow even more nostalgic for the whatif? What could Blur do next and can it top everything they've done before it?

Sure, we've had some sprinklings of new music in the gap between the band's 2009 reunion and The Magic Whip's release, all rekindling what made Blur so enjoyable in the first place but the question remained, how well can an entire album twelve years after a split possibly be? 

Doubly so because one of the more influential members was absent for then final album Think Tank? How does this change the dynamic and what kind of album could be crafted in this new world of music?

A Few Words on... Villagers - Darling Arithmetic

The third album for Villagers, Darling Arithmetic was not only on my radar as a potential album of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to it, {Awayland} grew on me far more than my original 7/10 ranking would indicate so I was looking forward to what direction the band would take and bits and pieces in my life made Conor O’Brien’s dark introspection seem oddly comforting.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) Review

With recent life events, I've been thinking about my childhood and the events and programming that moulded me into the guy I am today. Ask my four year old self what I wanted to be and, apart from telling you I don't talk to strangers unless bribed, I'd likely tell you I wanted to be a Ghostbuster when I grow up.

Needless to say, this didn't inspire me to get into the pest control business, much like that no matter how much I loved the eighties cartoon adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Hero Turtles in the UK because the word 'Ninja' was deemed too violent) I didn't turn out to be a ninja (although I do eat far, far too much pizza).

Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase. Review

I hate to bring up the subject of Porcupine Tree within a review like this, considering they've been gone for years now, but the band made such an impact to me, that every time founder and frontman Steven Wilson releases or produces an album, I find myself wishing for a grand reunion before returning to normality and the grim reality that it probably never will happen.

Why 2015 is the Year You Shouldn't Buy a Wii U

*Copypasta first four paragraphs from previous post*

However, the system has some, shall we say, quirks and Nintendo's practices from the last generation have come back to bite them hard.

This post will look at the various reasons why you shouldn't slap an indeterminate amount of monies on Nintendo's current generation release and perhaps stick with your old console...or new console...or a gaming PC.

Why 2015 is the Year You Should Buy a Wii U

Haha, the Wii U. Look at it, with it's second screen, it's lack of graphical prowess, it's a last generation console that thinks it's a current generation console. How we laughed when the shovelware reared it's head in the form of NintendoLand , how companies dropped support when they realised selling 3rd party titles simply didn't happen and how the everything was falling apart at the house of Mario.

I've given Nintendo's black or white box of tricks and tablet controller a hard-time in private, although on the blog, it's mostly boiled down to how little an appearance the console has made on my E3 posts since it's inception.

However, like the monstrous hypocrite I am and like every console generation I've been alive for, I always end up coming around, although it took far less persuasion than the Wii.

Album Rankings for 2014

Whilst a lot of you will look at 2014 as a miserable year, mine was pretty damn special.