Think Tank
Blur 2003 pioneering
art-rock world-fusion electronic-rock post-britpop experimental-rock
Blur without their guitarist and without a country: a restless globe-trotting album absorbing Moroccan music and electronic textures, bridging the gap between Britpop's collapse and Damon Albarn's world-music future.
Acoustic Profile
Production
Method: hybrid
Fidelity: polished
Moroccan field recordingsWest African percussionelectronic loop constructionambient soundscapeslocation recording across multiple countriesdub-influenced mixing
Vocal
Approach: sung
Lyrical Abstraction: 6/10
Mood & Theme
yearning introspection melancholy wonder
Territory: post-colonial-wandering, world-music-absorption, band-dissolution, geopolitical-unease
Emotional Arc: restless-wandering-to-resigned-farewell
Era & Context
Recorded largely without guitarist Graham Coxon, Think Tank found Blur absorbing North African and electronic music during sessions in Morocco, Devon, and London. Released as the Iraq War began, the album's restless globalism and geopolitical unease resonated with a fractured political moment. It paralleled Damon Albarn's growing interest in world music that would soon fuel Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
Spiritual Links (5)
Gorillaz Gorillaz (2001)
6/10 genre-destructionsonic-experimentationcollaborative-tension
Demon Days Gorillaz (2005)
5/10 political-ragesonic-experimentation
Protection Massive Attack (1994)
5/10 late-night-atmospheretextural-exploration
Abracaco Caetano Veloso (2012)
4/10 radical-reinventioncollaborative-tension
Angles The Strokes (2011)
4/10 radical-reinvention
Influences
Similar Albums (Cross-Artist)
1
Channel Orange Frank Ocean (2012)
92% 2 Before and After Science Brian Eno (1977)
88% 3 Is This Desire? PJ Harvey (1998)
88% 4 Hyaena Siouxsie and the Banshees (1984)
88% 5 The Getaway Red Hot Chili Peppers (2016)
87% 6 Comedown Machine The Strokes (2013)
85% 7 Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)
80% 8 The Rapture Siouxsie and the Banshees (1995)
80% 9 The Division Bell Pink Floyd (1994)
78% 10 Dummy Portishead (1994)
78%