MTV For much of their career, the lads in Blur unconsciously declared war against America. They clung to the culture and history of the U.K., writing songs about the triumph and struggle of the working class lad and seeking inspiration from the musty vaults of the Kinks, Small Faces and the Beatles. So it comes as quite a surprise that their fifth album draws as much from '90s Americana as from the spangly corridors of Britpop. Throughout the album, Blur conjure up the low-fi spirit of groups like Pavement and Guided by Voices and the cutting-edge energy of electronica, then assimilate the styles into their own brand of quirky, contagious rock. The first single, "Beetlebum," starts with a percussive, low-fi guitar rattle before blossoming into the best Beatles song Oasis never recorded. "You're So Great" blends a plaintive folk strum with whining vocals, sounding a lot like the Flaming Lips covering Neil Young. "On Your Own" mixes a warped dance beat into a wonderfully demented ditty. Like many English rock bands, Blur have been guilty of xenophobia in the past. But on Blur they've created a multicultural disc with universal appeal. Like the band says (albeit sarcastically) in the track "Look Inside America": "Look inside America, she's alright, she's alright."