Strange Transmissions from Alphaville / The Rentals meet Blur 06-01-06

Pierrot Le Fou is at it again sending us this transmission from the far corners of the universe that lays deep inside the cold streets of Alphaville. Pierrot's distant signal has made it safely through the digital landscape bringing us yet another video from the vaults of French television.

This first video was originally broadcast on the French TV show "Tarratta". The much missed Tarratta TV show gave popular groups the chance to perform a full concert on prime time television. The only catch to the show was that the group who were performing had to included at least two exclusive collaborations. And so, The Rentals main man Matt Sharp was flown in along with Terry Hall (The Specials / Fun Boy 3) to join Brit Pop icons "Blur" as special guest performers. After Mr. Hall joined Blur for a rendition of The Specials classic "Night Club" Mr. Sharp in turn joined the group for a good spirited duet of "Friends Of P.". By the show's conclusion Matt returned the favor and briefly rejoined the group for a little back up vocals and jumping around on Blur's celebratory closer "Country House".

A few months prior to Tarratta The Rentals performed the Blur single "Tracy Jacks" at their final concert supporting "Return Of The Rentals". If you look closely, I believe, you can spot Blur's suave bassist "Alex James" getting pushed off the stage and into a stage dive. Check it out as Maya Rudolph lays on her best impression of a thick cockney accent while she sings the lead vocal.

10 years before The Rentals Remix of Tegan And Sara's " Walking With A Ghost" was brought to light. The Rentals enjoyed several collaborations with Blur's creative mastermind Damon Albarn ( Gorillaz). After the "Return Of The Rentals" promotion was complete Matt and Damon came together once again along with Blur's drummer Dave Rowntree and Blur's main engineer John Smith and collaborated on a Gary Numan b-side rarity titled "We Have A Technical" for the tribute album " Random".

The Rentals sophomore effort " Seven More Minutes" includes a whirlwind of guest artists. While most of the outside contributions on the album came about in a haphazard fashion Damon Albarn's contribution on the song "Big Daddy C." came across as the album's most effortless, organic and important contribution. Here is an early rough mix of the fan favorite "Big Daddy C.". This John Smith rough mix is a little more silly and playful then the final album version and it will give you a little insight in the album's creative evolution.

The Rentals supported Blur on two major tours promoting the " The Great Escape" the follow up to Blur's Brit Pop masterpiece "Parklife ". The Great Escape tour took the two band's through the small clubs of our vast nation. The second tour, starting in Portugal, opened The Rentals to a whole new audience bringing them into the much larger venues in some of Europe's most celebrated arenas.

At the end of the tour in Amsterdam The Rentals wanted to give Blur a gift expressing their deepest gratitude for all the generosity that Damon and Blur had continually shown them. So, Matt and The Rentals decided that the only gift that would serve as a worthy thank you note was to pass the new wave torch and give them their best "Moog Source". If you look into the gatefold of Blur's " Self Titled Album" (yeah, that's right the album with the "whoo hoo" song) you will see that same Moog Source easily visible in the artwork and you can hear it presence predominately featured on the single "On Your Own".

Overall, Blur had left a incredibly strong impression on The Rentals and they helped inform the direction that the group was just starting to take as the century was closing down. Damon's direct influence can be felt throughout the sound of Seven More Minutes.

The Rentals feel strongly that Blur's musical integrity and continual ability to evolve into new uncharted territory has set the bar for what bands should still aspire to achieve.