13
Blur: Damon Albarn (vocals, keyboards); Graham Coxon (guitar); Alex James (bass); Dave Rowntree (drums).Additional personnel includes: Jason Cox (drums); The London Community Gospel Choir.Engineers: John Smith, Jason Cox, William Orbit.13 marks Blur hitting the 10-year mark as a band. During their first decade, the band went from being lumped in with Manchester bands such as Happy Mondays to becoming Brit-pop foils to Oasis. Their self-titled 1997 release found them inhabiting the same lo-fi neighborhood as American indie rockers like Pavement. On 13, the London based quartet joins forces with techno-pop producer William Orbit on a record whose inclusiveness manages to find room for both the gorgeous, choir-adorned "Tender" and "B.L.U.R.E.M.I.," a song that sounds like the illegitimate offspring of Wire, Devo, and Rick Dees.Blur's work with Orbit finds them plunging deep into a lake of space-rock overflowing with wondrous sounds such as the pinging, Floyd-like tinkling, and hypnotic rh