Glenn Richards, songwriter and vocalist with Australian band Augie March, writes exclusively about an album that changed his life: ‘Blur’s album 13 [1999] was made after the mayhem and celebrity of Britpop had subsided, but I think it’s a better album than mega-hits like Park Life and The Great Escape. The record opens with Tender pairing a majestic gospel choir alongside Damon Albarn’s languid vocal (for much of the record he ditches his familiar nasal whine in favor of a brave and affecting monotone); the song has an optimistic tone but this doesn’t last long and overall it is a moody and reflective work. There is so much colour in this album. At first a lot of it sounds garish and the mix unbalanced, but after several listens (and preferably with headphones) the method in the madness emerges and this band’s gift for complex musical textures is revealed. Graham Coxon’s guitar work is particularly inventive. 1992 is one of the best tracks: a repetitive and unorthodox chord progression spins around and around like a sad carousel before being consumed in a rising inferno of white noise. Trailer Park has great guitar and electric piano riffs that circle each other and occasionally collide in cacophony. Battle has a sci-fi feel, Mellow Song verges on country and western. The variety and experimentation on 13 reawakens you to the infinite possibilities of pop music. It’s a pity they only managed one more record after this one. [see also Little Barrie on The Stone Roses; Broken Social Scene on Slayer; and Dappled Cities Fly on the Bee Gees]
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Also by ZOLTON
Designed by artist Lise Lefebvre, this reformed vintage wool Persian style carpet gives you a once in a lifetime opportunity to walk all over a grizzly. Just don’t practice on the real deal.
Hmmm, hmmm. Cake Pops are creative little vignettes of sweet, sweet goodness, and they’re springing up faster than all good mouths can eat them. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Slater said | 27 July, 2007
I don’t see the Blue at all. I see Travis; the Posies, maybe Wilco. Either way, I like it. Nice that it’s coming to the States.
HAVE YOUR SAY
This beautiful necklace was handmade in Italy by Anna Lodi, who designed each original necklace from original Italian sheet music. She has adopted a paper-mache technique to create each bead, which is encapsulated by transparent glass-based resin.
Ok, so that’s me up there on the right. Yup, rocking out in the 55DSL tee and feeling a little pleased with how it’s all going down. Well, actually, a disclaimer: it’s not … quite … me. I mean, I’m wearing the same shirt right now as he is, and I’m kinda the same height. But he isn’t the same person. We aren’t one. But I love this 55DSL shirt in the same way that he … ummm … loves himself. So I guess that we’re both damn happy. Read more
It’s a fact, people who don’t like clutter don’t collect plush and vinyl toys. The myriad of sizes, shapes, colours and textures in any collector’s display would put any minimal loving layman into a tizzy. Read more
Dammit. This song is stuck in my head. The dual vocal part with the man and the horse is actually really good. Does that make me really lame?
Kirk brings Molly to meet his family for a pool party but she doesn’t have her swim suit. Kirk, an average Joe, can’t believe his luck when gorgeous babe Molly falls for him even though he’s the first to admit She’s Out of My League. In cinemas April 1.
These twin sixty-story towers to be built in Malaysia feature a combination of ‘continuous, flowing, double-curved perforated surface with a flickering, crystalline, transparent single-curved surface that is triangulated on an enormous scale’. The design by New York-based architectural firm, Asymptote, includes a 400,000 square foot retail section and the Penang Performing Arts centre.
Haunts is one twisted, skewered, pulsating, gyrating disco tune. Seriously. Jacob Safari, aka Bark, Bark, Bark, sure knows how to take a dirgey chord progression and dress it up in layers of disjointed, unsettling noise.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
German painter Armin Rohr’s works look like stills from Stan Brakhage films, all acid-washed, scratched out, and ethereal like a sudden flood of memories. Read more
Amazing cake designs by Charm City Cakes
Baltimore company Charm City Cakes produces the most innovative wedding and party cakes on the market. Inspiration for these creative bakers comes from everywhere: art, fabric, furniture, architecture, landscapes, science, and music, and each cake is individually designed to match your personality, and the theme of the occasion you are celebrating. Don’t miss these cakey engineering masterpieces. Read more
Scanners’ new single Salvation
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.
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French installation artist Baptiste Debombourg made this mural of Icarus using 35,000 staples as a comment on American power. Read more
This medium size leather handbag from Novella Royale, with large stud detail all over, was made from vintage leather jackets. Fun, huh? Read more
The new Runaways movie looks at the formation of the seminal girls’ group which spawned Joan Jett’s career. We have a Runaways prize pack to give away, including Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits CD, the film’s soundtrack, and Joan Jett’s photobook with Todd Oldham. To enter, just leave the name of the city you live in! Read more
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Michael H said | 16 November, 2006
Interesting selection from Glenn. You wouldn’t really spot the Blur influence in Augie March’s music. But then, they seem to be a band that stand apart from others anyway. Nice to read his take on an album which has been on constant rotation on my stereo since I bought it all those years ago.