My Street’s All Pop Music And Coke

Damon Albarn “Gotta Get Down With The Passing Of Time” – This is taken from the new super-limited edition record of Damon Albarn demos and song fragments, DemoCrazy. This particular song is sort of mediocre, but it is by far the most complete piece of music on the record. Most of the tracks are one minute doodles meant to capture a musical idea, but unlike, say, PJ Harvey’s Four Track Demos, almost nothing here is complete enough to even be successful on its own merits. This record gives Blur fanboys some vague insight into Damon Albarn’s songwriting process, and nothing more.

I’m not sure why Albarn would choose to release this particular set of demos – judging by this demo version of Blur’s “Sweet Song” from the Observer Music Monthly, Albarn certainly could put out far more realized demoes of previously released songs, which may give the listener a more linear idea of Albarn’s process since they could compare it to the finished product.

DemoCrazy is a curious record, mostly because it is mystifying to me why it even exists. Blur have been courting a cult audience since the beginning, mainly by releasing dozens of b-sides and Japanese-exclusive records for the obsessive fans to hunt down, but this record is the kind of barrel-scraping exploitation that usually only comes after an artist is long since dead and there’s nothing left to release. Why did Albarn think his fans needed to hear this? Is he embracing the Pollard Impulse?

Something You Really Ought To Read

If you have any interest in the process of manufacturing records, you should check out Woebot’s article about record mastering.