The Portastylistic: Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top (2009)

About
Graham Coxon

Graham Leslie Coxon was born on March 12 1969 in a military hospital, Rintein, near Hanover in the old West Germany.renouned as the guitarist in britpop band blur during the 90's, graham embarked upon his successful solo career in 1998. The new album called 'The Spinning Top' is released on May 11.The LP, which is primarily acoustic, follows a narrative - the story of a man from birth to death. "The album is mainly an acoustic journey although there is, of course, some explosive electric guitar action,". "I wanted to show how exciting acoustic instruments can be, how dynamic and rich and heart-thumpingly raw they can sound at a time when acoustic music seems either too cute or too soppy. Obvious influences here are the amazing Martin Carthy, the late, great Davey Graham and the late, great John Martyn. "There are some guests too! Robyn Hitchcock supplies some counter-attack guitar, Jas Singh plays dilruba and jori with his friends Gurjit Sembhi on taus and Jaskase Singh on esraj. Danny Thompson plays the legendary Victoria, Graham Fox gives plenty of swing on the drums and sizzle cymbals and Louis Vause tinkles the ivories. "My friend Lucy supplies the voice of the wife and Natasha Marsh channels the voice of the Medea-like enchantress." A single from the album, 'Sorrow's Army', is released as a single on May 18. Another track, 'In The Morning', will precede that by being released on limited edition 10-inch etched vinyl on April 18 as part of Record Store Day. The 7th album was recorded with Blur and Babyshambles producer Stephen Street in London last spring.

Graham Coxon was Blur’s guitarist until he left the band in 2002. Since then he has established himself as a solo artist playing lo-fi garage rock.

Blur (1989-2002; 2009-present)

His artistic and musical contribution is prominently featured on the band's first six albums, from 1991's Leisure to 1999's 13. The latter's cover was also designed by Coxon.

In 2002, he left Blur, following a bitter dispute with the other members. As a result, he played guitar and was credited as a writer on only the final track for the following year's Think Tank. In September 2007, Graham Coxon rejoined the band and in late 2008 Damon Albarn announced that the band will reunite 2009 for a number of shows.

He is also a critically acclaimed solo artist, having recorded seven solo albums. Four of them were recorded while member of the band. Coxon is capable of playing several other instruments, besides guitar, and is famous for recording his albums single-handedly, without much help from session musicians.

Damon Albarn has frequently said that the door is always open for Coxon to rejoin the band. In 2004 it was rumoured that he was rejoining Blur, but both sides denied this. Coxon stated that although a reunion meeting was a good one, he would not be rejoining Blur and remained firm on his decision. It seems they patched-up some differences and continued their friendship, despite the turmoil surrounding Coxon's departure. However, at the time Coxon seemed adamant and refused to rejoin the band.

After Damon Albarn's revealing that he and Coxon have rebuilt their relationship, on December 9, 2008, Blur announced that the whole band will reunite for a show at Hyde Park on July 3, 2009. ^[1] More dates have been announced and the band will play at Glastonbury, T in the Park, Oxegen 2009.

It marks Coxon’s first album away from his now-defunct indie label ‘Transcopic’.

Graham Coxon studied Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College, London

Graham Coxon - The Spinning Top (2009)

Graham Coxon releases his brand new album The Spinning Top an album recorded in London in spring 2008 and features musical contributions from Robyn Hitchcock and Danny Thompson amongst others. It was produced by Stephen Street. Graham will be performing at the Transgressive showcase at South By Southwest, as well as at selected other events within the festival. He also plays with Peter Doherty on his tour later in March. Graham will preview his album with several low key shows in May, with a full solo tour to follow in the Autumn.