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

The Streets The Streets is an English musical project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner (musician), Mike Skinner. The project was founded in the early 90s, while Skinner was still a teenager; however, no music would formally eventuat ...

. It was officially released in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2011; at the time Skinner said it would be the last Streets album although the project did subsequently relaunch in 2017 and 2020. 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 artis ...

. Rob Harvey of

The Music The Music was 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 university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

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 b ...

. 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. The team compete in the ...

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 (musician), 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 ...

'' (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 vehicl ...

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 room in a south London house rented at the time by principal member Mike Skinner, the album is musica ...

'' (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 Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

's control on society, such as romantic dates on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and addiction to

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

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 Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

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

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...

("Blip on a Screen"). Occasionally, the rapper references

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, s ...

. 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 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 created in ...

'' 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 t ...

. On 13 February 2011 the album entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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 List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

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