J'ai chroniqué le disque pour PRESTO!. Pour votre information :
Damon Albarn
Democrazy
Honest Jon’s Records
Voici un album qui devrait donner du coeur à l’ouvrage à tous les songwriters en herbe ! Grâce à cette collection d’ébauches de chansons restées en l’état, ils pourront constater que les démos des plus grands auteurs-compositeurs ne sont pas si différentes des leurs ! Enregistré sur une bande à quatre pistes entre deux bières, histoire de tuer l’ennui, dans des chambres d’hôtel pendant la dernière tournée américaine, « Democrazy » s’écoute comme un journal intime musical dans lequel Damon Albarn nous dévoile ses états d’âme et idées du moment, d’une voix avinée et paresseuse, en s’accompagnant d’une guitare acoustique, de son mélodica et de divers objets en guise de percussion. Mais pourquoi sortir un recueil de bribes de compos aussi brutes et anti-marketing ? « Je sais, c’est une idée folle. », remarque Damon. « Mais je pensais qu’il était temps que des artistes sortent des disques de ce type parce que ça déconstruit tout ce que l’industrie musicale a échafaudé. Je n’ai rien écrit à l’avance. J’ai simplement branché le magnétophone et j’ai laissé filer ce qui me venait à l’esprit. Ce ne sont que des premières prises et c’est surprenant de voir ce que ça donne. » Damon donne ici un aperçu de la façon dont ses chansons sont enfantées. Certaines de ces 14 « démos » (c’est un bien grand mot !) ont été écrites à l’intention de Gorillaz, d’autres connaîtront une autre vie sous d’autres hospices, d’autres encore n’iront peut-être pas plus loin. Sorti en picture disc vinyle (double 10 pouces) limité à 5000 exemplaires, ce bloc-notes intimiste, honnête et sans prétention deviendra sans nul doute un collector.
Maryse LALOUX
Pour PRESTO! Fan et Webzine Rock du Grand Nord,
http://www.presto.presse.fr
Et voici ce que j'ai envoyé en Blur Fan Club, mon avis n'a pas changé depuis. (Désolée, j'ai pas le temps de traduire en français.)
My fave tracks are: The end of Democrazy, I Miss You, Half a Song, Sub Species of an American Day, American Welfare poem, Five Star Life, A Rappy Song, Gotta Get Down with The Passing of Time and Back to Mali.
I fell in love at first listen with The End of Democrazy and I Miss You and still love them the most.
I love the variety of this album. Here are my track by track first impressions:
‘I Need A Gun’ reminds me of ‘I Got Law’ and the ‘101Reykjavik’ soundtrack, a nice bit to dance to.
‘Reedz’ is an interesting instrumental with North African rhythms.
‘Half A Song’ has superb scratches on the acoustic guitar and lovely, restful vocals.
‘Five Star Life’ is likely to become a Gorillaz song.
"It’s a five-star life
And everything you do
Had better be five star.
A five-star movie
A five-star book
And if you find a five-star song
Then you gotta get treated like a five star
With a five-star life
And a five-star wife”
A nice bass line and lazy vocals.
‘A Rappy Song’ is a future Gorillaz hit. “Correct if I’m wrong, this is a rappy song…. My Gorillaz will come again. I hope you’ll like us.” I love its backing vocals: the lazy high-pitched ones à la 2-D as in New Genious, The Sounder, Ghost Train or Starshine and the very low ones that give a backing rhythm.
‘Back to Mali’ is a jazzy instrumental with a gorgeous bass line and superb scratches on the acoustic guitar. Lovely.
‘I Miss You’ is a beautiful love song with great lyrics, quiet vocals and lovely acoustic guitar.
“I miss you
I put it on my text
I miss you
But my phone rejects it
I miss you
Is it a question of the continent?
I miss you
Is it a question of where we’ve all come into now?
I miss you
I wish I had a car that travelled
I miss you
Over oceans and mountain tops
I miss you
I wish that I could be with you
‘Hymn to Moon’ is very slow. Damon sounds pissed. What this can turn into is very difficult to imagine.
‘Dezert’ is another instrumental. It sounds very weird at first. It’s got loads of muffled noises and is not a really pleasant listen. It gets better as it proceeds, though. It sounds like Damon does not really know what to do. A first try that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.
‘Sub Species of an American Day’ is a lovely quiet track, somewhere between Leonard Cohen, Graham Coxon and The Ravenous soundtrack.
“Drinking in the evening
Running in the day
Checking my heart
Stays away from the grave”
‘American Welfare Poem’ is very reminiscent of Coxon. It sounds as if a fragile Damon is writing a page of his musical diary, singing whatever comes to mind. It’s very lo-fi and lazy. It has great low vocals at the end. Another beautiful one.
‘Saz Theory book’ is another instrumental which also reminds me of the Ravenous soundtrack. I find it a bit too repetitive as it is but who knows what it can evolve into?
I love ‘Gotta Get Down with The Passing Of Time’ except for the burp at the beginning.
This one sounds like Coxon again. It has a lovely American country folk atmosphere.
“You gotta get down with the passing of time
Or one day you’ll find
Life’s unkind
….
And all it takes is something
To take you over the edge
I was at the Niagara Falls today
And they really didn’t make me want to jump in
Oh, that’s good”
‘End of Democrazy’ sounds like it’s already complete. This is my top fave. It has great lala lala’s from a busy Damon in his kitchenette or bathroom. He uses whatever he finds for percussion. It has a fantastic build-up and when he starts singing it’s pure magic.
“This is the end of Democrazy
I hope you understand I’ve been lazy
I stayed up every night singing
When I really should be sleeping”
Great Oh yeah da da da da da Oh yeah’s till the end, great hand clapping and he goes away with a multitude of See yas, So longs, and Bye-Byes while flushing his toilets! If I were Damon, I wouldn’t change anything about it, not even the toilet flushing at the end.