Don't Be Sad For Me

We all know Damon Albarn by now, he is something of a musical phenomenon especially in the UK, fronting the 90s Indie Legends, Blur, performing in the supergroup The Good the Bad and the Queen. Creating a virtual band with his former flatmate, and he has even had time for a solo career.

In a blog post I wrote a while a go, I discussed how the Blur song 'On Your Own' became a basis for a later project, which we now know as Gorillaz, the bands name even comes from these songs lyrics

'I'm not that good, but I'm not that bad
No psycho killer, hooligan guerilla'

That was the catalyst for this band that has gone to surpass everyone's expectations, what started out as a joke in 1998 has gone on to become something quite extraordinary with 8 studio albums, an arsenal of classic songs and a list of collaborations that is unbelievable. Damon's got quite the phone book

In this post however I want to talk about something specific, on the latest Gorillaz album 'Cracker Island' away from the colobrations with Tame Impala and Stevie Nicks, is a song called 'Skinny Ape.'

A song until yesterday evening (24th March 2023) I was unaware of. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you all, I wouldn't say I am a massive Gorillaz fan, I like some of there stuff, however I am a massive Blur fan. Joe one of my friends decided to play me this track last night, and he was both excited and shocked. Excited to play it to me and shocked that I hadn't heard it!

We sat and listened to it, and it's safe to say I was blown away. It acts as almost a memoir of everything Damon has ever done in his rather illustrious career, it starts as almost 'Think Tank' and 'Magic Whip' era Blur before the drum machines hit and then the 'Gorillaz' element comes out to play, his vocal dips from his Britpop 'Parklife' and 'Great Escape' days through 'Beetlebum' and 'Song 2' era Blur and then back to 'Gorillaz' it's an amalgamation of everything he has ever done, at times you feel like it's a long lost Blur classic, and then at other times it sounds like a modern pop song. 

Then the drop hits, and that is when you realise he has also written the best dance track of 2023. Masterpiece, gets thrown around too often these days but this track is a masterpiece. It allows Damon to explore new chapters, and re visit the old ones all in 4 minutes 41 seconds. 

Please please go and listen to it.

Thank you for reading x

OH and Massive Thank you to Joe

I owe you a pint! x