think tank

• gunlerdir kulaklarimdan eksik olmayan blur'un en bir yeni albumu. siradan hicbirsey icermeyen, her sarkisi bile birbirinden farkli ve dinlenesi olan, eski ile hatta yeni ile alakasi olmayan, ticari olmaktan fersahlarca uzakta olan album.
  
  albumun 3 sarkisi'nin kaydi fas'ta yapilmis, bu sarkilar : 2. single olarak yayinlanan crazy beat, moroccan peoples revolutionary bowls club ve graham coxon ile beraber yapilan son blur kayidi olan battery in your leg..
  
  album icin ben hiller'in disinda william orbit ve norman cook^** gibi isimler de produktorluk yapmis..
  
  albumun kapagini yapan kisi ise bir graffiti sanatcisi olan banksy..
  
  kendine yakisani yapip, her riske ragmen degisebilen blur'un takdir edilen albumu, tipki bir radiohead, bir depeche mode gibi. sevdigimiz gruplar bunlar..
  
  ayrica (bkz: out of time)
• soyle bir metin gecti elime, paylasmak isterim. ama tercume etmek istemem, biraz usengeclikten biraz da trajedi olmasin diye.
  
  gorillaz review the blur album.
  
  murdoc: he took his time didn’t he.
  russel: well, you can talk.
  2d: they’re just trying to cash in on the gorillaz success!
  russel: well to be honest this album sounds like a great combination of a lot of damon’s recent stuff. the work he did with us, and in mali and also his blur band.
  2d: not much melodica on this album.
  russel: they've managed to combine an acoustic feel with a sequenced vibe and still make it sound soulful and organic. that's hard to do. most attempts fail. this is grown up without sounding jaded and it still feels like they’re enjoying making music. there’s a lot of genuine expression on this album and you get a real warmth and soul from the accoustic instruments that you can't fake or programme. you’d never get this on pop idol.
  murdoc: well, they're too old to even be one of the judges.
  russel: you gotta appreciate most bands after seven albums are in a rut of self-parody or are so deep in experimentation that what they produce is impenetrable, unintelligible or elitist. this album manages to combine a love of melody with an uncynical, childlike experimentation. sounds fresh! a lot of attention to percussion and rhythm. a fantastic soundclash of jamaican, malian, american, british, moroccan, spanish, dub, rock, hip-hop, funk, folk and underground club music. it's educated. in the true spirit of lovers of adventure and music. a gentleman's and a musician's album.
  
  ambulance
  murdoc: christ! this sounds like they were just setting up.
  russel: that’s old school beats. this is a beautiful sentiment; “i was born of love. it’s the only way to come into this world.” any criticism is made redundant by a line as simplistically resonant as this.
  murdoc: you’d get a smack in the chops for singing stuff like that round my way!
  russel: no man that’s a great opener. it moves from a gentle-giant wave of crashing melody to an outro of funk and falsetto combination. like “what’s going on” by marvin gaye or like a stevie wonder outro. he’s got a real feel for a song.
  noodle (translated from japanese): a simple sentiment sung simply. good!
  
  out of time.
  russel: i dig the african kora under the spanish guitar solo on this track. the high pitch snare sunk deep is cracking. a syncopated back beat like a neptunes track! the backing rhythm’s like a malian justin timbelake. this track glides!
  murdoc: it sounds like the gypsy kings.
  russel: lyrically basic but direct and to the point. you can’t beat that! great simple melody. his voice really excels on this and sweet song.
  2d: yeah but i still think he’s totally copying the way i sing.
  russel: you would say that! this song expresses an understanding of the darkness in the time we live, without being buried or broken by it. it’s still got a lot of strength and a real joy of other music, cultures and the world we live in. it doesn’t sound niave, blindly optimistic, or pompous and portentously grave. it cuts a balance. good shot!
  
  crazy beat
  2d: hey murdoc! that voice at the beginning sounds like you when you’ve just woken up with your vodka hangovers. sick.
  murdoc: actually, this whole track sounds like one of my hangovers
  russel: this is much more like the old blur stuff. like art-school monsters of rock. it’s cool. even in the rock songs there’s attention to rhythm.
  noodle (from japanese): teenage riot! five stars!
  2d: the “yeah yeahs” sound more like the beginning of summer than the undertones “here comes the summer”.
  russel: he loves his brothers on a saturday night!
  murdoc: yup! this one gets a thumbs up!
  2d: live, this one would eat you whole! we should do a track like this.
  
  good song
  russel: ah i’m a sucker for a good tune! it’s like the guy swallowed a melody pill.
  2d: sounds like he managed to get the beach boys in on backing vocals and maybe a little phil spector in there aswell.
  murdoc: no. phil spector’s in jail!
  russel: picking it up with a falsetto at the end again. safe!
  
  on the way to the club
  russel: a reminder of the beats from grandmaster flash’s “the message”. this track's dark and downbeat but melodically strong enough to keep it from submission. “sometimes it makes me wonder how i keep from going under” indeed! a lyrical nod to pre-britpop space-pensioner david bowie’s space oddity, “my eyes are blue. there’s nothing i can do” and a touch of the unkle or dj.shadow on the drum programming. cut and paste staccato drumfire rhythm cuts to this. underneath a great wall of harmony.
  murdoc: class!
  
  brothers and sisters
  russel: it sounds like tomorrow came today! emotionally the flipside of the procrastination sung about on “tomorrow comes today!” a cautionary soundtrack or maybe just explanatory. a vocal harmony drone mixed into a deep funk, and spy tale ambience. an admission of drug urges without admonishment. this lists the pitfalls and tools of the trade, the avenues that other bands have taken without returning.
  murdoc: that's quite a cocktail! he’ll be sick if he takes all of that lot. i speak from experience.
  2d: er…so does he. i like the pilled-out zombie vocal-choir doing the backing.
  russel: oh well. there’s a danger with drug songs to sound like you’re either preaching or advocating. at least this is saying this is what these things do. that’s the way it is. like run dmc says.
  murdoc: does he mention laxative?
  
  caravan
  russel: paints a sonic picture like a long, slow elephant ride through dusk. a tip of the hat to the malian guitarist afel bocoum in the background there, too.
  2d: first appearance of the melodica on this album.
  murdoc: carry on up the khyber!
  russel: this one has a lot of the french / african melody coupling.
  2d: with almost a second album specials feel to it.
  russel: yeah kind of.
  
  we’ve got a file on you
  russel: arabic pugilistic-punk-paranoia. the exploited vs wire on a rampage in marrakech!
  murdoc: this sounds like a cartoon punk band falling down the stairs.
  russel: certainly gives the new young rock bands a run for their money!
  murdoc: it’s the aural equivalent of your uncle nicking your skateboard and saying, "i’m still good with my feet”.
  noodle (translated from japanese): one minute of total devastation! this would fit nicely on my ipod!
  
  moroccan peoples revolutionary bowls club
  2d: a new orleans swamp headhunters funk beat, with “v2 schneider” european keyboards. a shaken snd stirred concotion of grandmaster flash, b.a.d., electro, gorillaz, african / meters style guitar riffs and vocoded robotized vocals. a total reanimation of textures. it's a mash up!
  noodle: play loud!
  russel: yeah! bring that beat back!
  
  sweet song
  russel: sweet song. i’d agree with that. he's has a really great falsetto. a lullaby up to the stars. it sounds like this comes very naturally to the boys. it’s got a genuinely soothing warmth to it. good music.
  murdoc: yeah, but i think jello biafra could have sung this better.
  russel: it sounds like a more comfortable version of sound in their earlier work. “to the end” or “no distance left to run”. he sounds a lot more at ease with himself. probably from hanging out with us for so long.
  
  jets
  russel: like kraftwerk meets ween. very european. nice guave. "wir besuchen freune".
  murdoc: sounds like they let the saxophone player from the muppets in at the end.
  russel: philistine! it’s a tip to free jazz. charlie parker, charlie mingus, sun ra. the greats!
  
  gene by gene
  russel: damon continues his love affair with the clash.
  2d: hey! no way. the clash aren’t like that!
  russel: no fool, artistically.
  murdoc: sounds like harpo marx riding round the studio at the beginning.
  russel: the chorus soars, really opens up, almost motown. a great elevating, anthemic tune. it’s good to hear something so open and positive. this is what pop songs should feel like. transatlantic.
  2d: a sunny day gliding across the sea.
  murdoc. this song sounds like a gorillaz rip off ! he even got the same producers in.
  russel: i like it. but lose the bicycle.
  
  battery in your leg
  russel: see, sometimes the feel of a real band playing together just can’t be beaten. or sequenced. sounds amazing. it’s got real feeling. it’s the sound of a band loosely falling together and falling apart. very expansive, orchestral. graham’s guitar has got a real grace to it. when you consider what this band have been through, putting this track on as a last song that they all played together has a real resonance. superb track!
  murdoc: i think it sounds like ‘father ted’.
  
  hidden track
  
  murdoc: sounds like phil daniels hasn’t left the bar since parklife.yeah this track sounds like britpop’s nasty, speed driven paranoid, vodka soaked cousin.
  russel: it's a pretty angry portrait. resentful. maybe like the culmination of the success the fame gave them basically ruined them. “darklife”.
  murdoc: phil daniels sounds pickled.
  
  the album as a whole
  
  russel: this sounds like an evolution and regeneration for both damon and blur. it’s heartening to think that you can be involved in a craft that you can progress at. people always have a tendency to look at band and say they peaked a while back. but i think this album proves that if you stay open and fresh to not only other people’s influence but also your own, you can actually improve and compound your sound. which has got to be encouraging for anyone who still wants to make music because they love it. top marks!! apart from the squeaky bicycle on “gene by gene”. it needs oiling.
  
  russel: they sound in control of their music.
  murdoc: yeah. it doesn’t sound indecisive. some bands sound amazed they’re still in a studio after seven albums.
  
  russel: it’s greater than the sum of its influences. their influences are now so diverse and scattered, their re-assembly creates something unique, original and individual. it’s encouraging and re-assuring to hear a bunch of musicians actually improving their craft, without sounding jaded, still sounding positive and relevant. still interested in making music because they love the form. a band competing with themselves and others and still improving their game rather than resting on former glories.
  
  russel: a lot of bands would be broken or at least damaged by one of their main members leaving, but they’ve taken this in their stride and managed to use this to fire their inspiration. sign of a great band entering a new era. they are in uncharted waters. instead of backing off they went forward. more power to them. it's the bomb!
  
  2d: it's wee georgie wood!
• bu albüm için kendi açımdan bir hayal kırıklığı demem lazım. albarn'ın gorillaz ve mali musicprojelerinin ardından, albarn'ın durmadan "radiohead'in kid a albümünden daha experimental bir albüm olucak" tarzı açıklamalarından, ve son olarakta ilk single'ları olan out of time'ı dinledikten sonra galiba bu albümün alınması lazım dedim kendi kendime ki çok büyük bir hata etmişim. albümün hiç bir çizgisi yok... tam bir kargaşa içinde albüm, arada bir kaç güzel şarkı var.. ama albüm genel olarak eleştirmek gerekirse bir sikimede benzememiş. yani tamam yeni elektronik sound'lar denenmiş ( fat boy slim sağolsun) veya ilkel ritimler,ezgiler eklenmiş ama oturmamış. yani bu yakalnmaya çalışılan yeni sound bir boka benzememiş. kendi kendime acaba bende mi bir sorun var deyip oturup defalarca ard arda dinledim ama olmadı albüme bir türlü giremedim. albümde bir bütünlük yok. hala çok ağır şekilde birt-pop kokan blur çıkıyor karşımıza ne kadar zorlarsak zorlıyalım. inanılmaz çok farklı tazlar zorla bir araya getirlmiş bir toplama albüm gibi bu albüm.
  bu albümü almak istiyorsanız orjinalini almaya değmez kısacası. bir kaç şarkı (özellikle ilk iki şarkı) dışında gayet vasat bir albüm.
• blur tarafından yapılmıs en garip album herhalde. iyi bir albumu ilk kez dinledikten sonra insanın icinden bazı sarkıları tekrar dinlemek istegi gelir ya ; iste o istek bu sefer karsılıksız kaldı bende. demek ki neymis ; graham'sız olmuyormus.
• (bkz: tesev)
• (bkz: think pink)
• efenim think tank denen olay bir grup kisinin(konunun formatina gore belirli normlarda ve yeterlilikte) bir araya gelerek ortaya atilmis bir veya birden cok soru uzerinde birbirlerine ket vurarak, birbirlerinin fikirlerini gudumleyerek bu soruyu cevaplama, cevabi gelistirmeleridir. sadece tv tartisma programlarinda falan karsimiza cikmadiklari gibi, reklam ajanslari, yonetim kurullari vesaire gibi olusumlarin icinde de kurulurlar. bir beynin nesi var, iki beynin sesi var mantigi ile hareket edilir.
  bu tanima gore eksi sozluk de devasa bir think tank'dir.
• (bkz: asam)
• (bkz: eksi think tank)
• orta doğu'nun amına koyulmasından sorumlu olanları vardır