Pitchfork

After months of tinkering in the Britpop laboratory, Damon Albarn and his chums in Blur have revealed their new guitarist, and it's none other than (drumroll, please) former Verve axeman Simon Tong. Original plans to have Tong brought before a crowd of aristocrats and force him to softshoe-dance and sing "Puttin' on the Ritz" before being pelted with vegetables were scrapped when the band opted instead to perform an unannounced three-song set this past Friday, February 7th, at Parlophone Records in London, England. According to those in attendance, the band churned out a slow-paced tune, a midtempo number, and a "punky thrashy" song. That pretty much covers all the bases, then, no?

As you no doubt remember, Coxon was asked to leave the band in October 2002 due to his "antisocial behavior." But even with Tong performing live with the band and rehearsing with them for an upcoming dates in 2003, the other Blurites insist that he is not a replacement for departing guitarist Graham Coxon. Tong is establishing himself as a bit of a hired gun in the British rock scene, as he came aboard with The Verve in 1996 at Richard Ashcroft's behest as a replacement for Nick McCabe. To vote on which British guitarist you think Tong should replace next, go to www.simontong.co.uk/watchyourbacknoel Aww, you stupid Brits, we're just fuckin' around. We love you! Just stop adding the letter 'u' to everything. Seriously, please stop.

As for Blur's still-untitled new album, now expected in April 2003, a sneak preview courtesy of British music site XFM reports the album to sport a musical theme of "organic acoustic sounds married with electronica." Or was that "marred?" Well, whatever-- the first single (still untitled as well) reportedly manages to incorporate steel-string Delta Blues while maintaining a near-gospel feel. Two other tracks on the album are being produced by Fatboy Slim; god only knows what the final product will sound like.

And while we here at Pitchfork previously reported Damon Albarn's collaboration with Massive Attack on that group's 100th Window album, the other bandmembers have been shaking their groove things outside the friendly confines of Fort Blur as well. Bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Roundtree have formed Dave Davely's Jazz Confrontation, which James purports brings together musicians who "strive to play against each other, rather than with each other." Do we dare make yet another Noel Gallagher reference? How 'bout we just call off the dogs and instead say that we liked it better when it was called Spinal Tap?