''Computers and Blues'' is the fifth studio album by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner, under the music project

The Streets The Streets are an English music project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner. The project has released six studio albums: ''Original Pirate Material'' (2002), ''A Grand Don't Come for Free'' (2004), ''The Hardest Way to M ...

. It was officially released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2011. It contains 14 songs, including an appearance from British singer-songwriter

Clare Maguire Clare Rita Mary Maguire (born 15 September 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. She was signed to Universal Music Group, Polydor Records in 2009. She was rated in fifth place in the BBC Sound of 2011 list of the top 15 most promising new art ...

. Rob Harvey of

The Music The Music are an English alternative rock band, formed in Kippax, Leeds in 1999. Comprising Robert Harvey (vocals, guitar), Adam Nutter (lead guitar), Stuart Coleman (bass) and Phil Jordan (drums), the band came to prominence with the releas ...

worked closely with Skinner on the album and features on several songs. The cover photo is a close-up of the Ziggurats, Norfolk Terrace halls of residence at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

Denys Lasdun Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE, RA (8 September 1914, Kensington, London – 11 January 2001, Fulham, London) was an eminent English architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun (1879–1920) and Julie ('' née'' Abrahams; 1884–1963). Probably his ...

. The 'Blues' part of the title refers to Skinner's beloved

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Composition

In contrast to the "self-indulgent meltdown" of ''

The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living ''The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living'' is the third studio album by Mike Skinner, under the music project The Streets. It was released on 10 April 2006 in the United Kingdom and 25 April 2006 in North America. It is also the shortest The St ...

'' (2006) and the ""philosophy for beginners" approach" of ''

Everything Is Borrowed ''Everything Is Borrowed'' is the fourth studio album by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner, under the music project The Streets. Released in the United Kingdom on 15 September 2008, and in the United States on 7 October 2008, Skinner des ...

'' (2008), ''Computers and Blues'' returns to the

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

instrumentals and "everyman" presentation of real life of ''

Original Pirate Material ''Original Pirate Material'' is the debut studio album by English hip hop project the Streets, released on 25 March 2002. Recorded mostly in a south London house rented at the time by principal member Mike Skinner, the album is musically influ ...

'' (2002) and ''

A Grand Don't Come for Free ''A Grand Don't Come for Free'' is the second studio album by English rapper and producer Mike Skinner, under the music project the Streets. It was released on 17 May 2004 and is listed in the book ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. ...

'' (2004). It is primarily about

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

's control on society, such as romantic dates on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and addiction to

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

gaming. Although Skinner sometimes raps about topics typical of his earliest albums, such as drinking ("Without Thinking") and being a stoner ("Roof Of Your Car"), he also discusses issues unique to his later years, such as struggling with

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

("Trying To Kill M.E.") and seeing his daughter's

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

("Blip On A Screen"). Occasionally, the rapper references

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

writer

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

. As Skinner laments on "Puzzled By People", "You can’t Google the solutions to people’s problems."

Reception

Sean O'Neal of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' argued that despite some moments that "remind that he won't be easily replaced", most of ''Computers and Blues'' suffered from "rote rehash" in the lyrics, and "awkward nods to trends from a guy who once sought to push things forward", such as Auto-tuned hooks and references to internet lingo like "OMG".

Track listing

Chart performance

On 10 February 2011, ''Computers and Blues'' debuted at number 22 on the

Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by the ...

. On 13 February 2011 the album entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

at number 8. As of January 2012 UK sales stand at 42,000 copies according to The Guardian.

Release history

The album was released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2011, but was made available to

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Premium subscribers on 2 February. A stream of the album was made available by ''Guardian News and Media'' on 3 February 2011.Hear the Streets' Computers and Blues – Album Stream
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Computers And Blues 2011 albums 679 Artists albums Albums produced by Mike Skinner (musician) The Streets albums