Blur changes focus

Blur reviewed

By DAVE VEITCH
Calgary Sun

BLUR
Blur
(Food/EMI C21S 42876)
 
 They're both largely influenced by The Beatles, but the two leading purveyors of Brit-pop have very different reputations: Oasis is seen as a drunken, brawling rock band; Blur the clever, art-school pop fops -- which, until now, has been reasonably accurate.
 
 But Blur's fifth and latest release might change this perception. Though the quartet stills craft ultra-catchy melodies, they're surrounded by cacophonous and often unsettling noises: I'm Just a Killer For Your Love is Sly and the Family Stones meets Black Sabbath over a simmering trip-hop beat; Theme From Retro is horror-movie music meets Jamaican dub in an echo chamber; Chinese Bombs and Song 2 show a growing interest in the lo-fi movement with their wildly distorted vocals and smudged guitars; and Essex Dogs ends the album on an appropriately disturbing note, with shards of guitar noise slicing through a backdrop of droning synths, mumbled, spoken-word vocals and a lethargic drum-machine beat.
 
 Blur is obviously in an adventurous mood; not everything works but almost everything is fascinating.