Artist bio

See also: Blur

Graham Coxon came to prominence in the '90s as guitarist of the pop quartet Blur, which roosted high on the U.K. charts for its entire career. Coxon was arguably the group's finest musician, his guitar parts spicing up Blur's albums with a practiced subversiveness stemming from his influence of the American underground -- particularly the noise-addled scientific rockula of Sonic Youth and Mission of Burma.

Coxon first branched off Blur with the 1998 album The Sky Is Too High, concentrating less on his abilities with scorching riffs and more on a melancholy songwriting ethos that he would all but obliterate with a punked-out sophomore effort, The Golden D. Crow Sit On Blood Tree followed in 2001 with no U.S. release, and as an alcohol-fuelled Coxon worked on his fourth solo disc in 2002, he became increasingly estranged from his Blur teammates, who finished the recording of thier seventh album without the guitarist.

Albums by this artist

The Golden D (2000)

The Sky Is Too High (1998)

Graham Coxon

The Golden D

---

» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

Graham Coxon The Golden D Transcopic, 2000 RiYL: Sonic Youth, The Clash, Blur's 13

The second album from Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is like a workout tape for solo recording artists. Coxon plays all instruments and just seems to be having fun making whatever kind of music suits his fancy. The record ends up sounding like a grab bag of primitive recordings, but luckily Coxon has just enough personality to pull the record together with some kind of thematic consistency.

The Golden D, named after Coxon's favorite chord, goes for more of a full-band sound than his first solo record, The Sky Is Too High. Whereas that album had an amateurish, bedroom feel to it, the new record sounds more like a toss-off by a drunk band in the studio. If that's the type of album you prefer, this record is for you, but you might have to get past its inconsistencies to enjoy the individual songs.

Sludgy punk rockers dot the album, from opener "Jamie Thomas" to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it "Fags And Failure" and the off-kilter "My Idea Of Hell". But Coxon also adventures into the world of sampling on songs like "Satan I Gatan" and the annoying horn-drenched rave up "Oochy Woochy".

When The Golden D really steps up is with the instrumental "The Lake": a long, spacy, almost prog-rock piece that improves upon ideas Coxon set forth with melancholy tracks like "A Day Is Far Too Long" on The Sky Is Too High.

Coxon also includes two inspired covers of Mission of Burma songs: "Fame and Fortune" and "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (both from 1981's Signals, Calls, and Marches EP). Any questions as to why he included both are erased by listening to the final product -- they're punk temples, and Coxon does them both justice. Especially "Revolver" approaches the acute ferocity of the original, and that only one man played all the instruments on the track is quite a feat. Coxon crisply executes the drum fills and plays out the song's tension wonderfully.

Like Blur's 13, this album revels in dense sonic textures. But The Golden D doesn't need William Orbit twisting the dials to distort the pop songs. It's good enough as pure Coxon, having fun and getting some exercise in between Blur albums. It's invigorating to the guitarist and his fans that he can create entertaining music on completely different terms without relying on the pop juggernaut he usually calls home.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.