Music Circles

Various factors have lead me back to the very first album that I bought as a child.

I illegally downloaded (I figured it was okay seeing as I owned the cassette) Blur's The Great Escape and honestly did not know what to expect. I have not listened to the album in over ten years and much of what I listened to at a young age has been discarded as my taste developed. I really do believe that it has been a development and of course, no-one would claim that their taste is poor, I believe that I have come to enjoy increasingly creative, accomplished and well-crafted music.

The Great Escape really is still great. I can quite vividly remember lying on my bed with the cassette in my new walk-man and drifting off to sleep with it playing. I even remember buying it in the shop and the kind people working in there giving me a free box of chocolates. It really was an amazing beginning to my love of music. The album now carries this weight while still being a brilliant collection of music.

I wish that I could say such things about all of my music purchases, yet feel comfortable knowing that I had such a good foundation. I am tempted to take this opportunity to pan people (and one irritating person in particular) for their taste in auto-tuned, shallow nonsense that is surely written for children. However, my ivory tower is not so high and music is obviously related to taste.

I'm just glad that I like my music and not your music!

-The English Student

Blur versus Oasis

With the release of a new Oasis album, an age-old and epic debate has re-emerged: who is better, Blur or Oasis?

The English Student strives to place biases and tendencies to one side when writing. It is essential that one's moral principles are upheld by strong, even-handed foundations of empathy. To argue a point, one must view the argument from all sides and weigh all points fairly and equitably. This is justice, this is integrity and indeed, this is the cornerstone of these short compositions.

However, I must (temporarily, of course) step down from these lofty and pretentious heights in order to highlight an absolute truth: Oasis are terrible. They have been playing the same insipid songs for the past fifteen years and every time they release something "new", the bile rises a little higher in my gullet. Perhaps if the band had some originality or creativity, or some respect for other musicians, or even the tiniest hint of manners, I would find them less repulsive. But even then, I'm quite sure that the obnoxious scowl of Liam Gallagher would be enough to disgust me.

Fortunately, for every evil in this world, we often find a good. Moriarty had his Holmes, Ganon had his Link, Nadal has his Federer and Oasis have their Blur. In contrast to the aforementioned talentless thugs, Blur have managed to keep their music fresh and vibrant while maintaining a very high quality of production. I truly love their intricate, fun and profound music. Every album from the band shows a new side to their interesting and creative work, while side projects and solo recordings themselves trump anything provided by the rotting septic tank that is Oasis.

Comrades, rise up and be counted! We must stop pandering to these worn out hacks and finally shovel their putrid discography onto the dung heap!

-The English Student