Damon Albarn says Arctic Monkeys were the "last great guitar band" before the genre's recent resurgence.

The Blur and Gorillaz star admits guitar music had gotten "so sterile", and even though there are bands with a "huge amount of potential" coming through, Damon, 55, still believes Alex Turner and co can't be beaten.

He told the 'Broken Record' podcast: “I feel like there’s a bit more excitement about guitar music again, that can’t be a bad thing because it got so sterile. For me, the last great guitar band would have been Arctic Monkeys and I don’t really know if there’s anything as good as that since.

“But now there are bands with a huge amount of potential. It’s really dismantled itself guitar music and put itself back together again in a different form. You’ve got some fantastic new mutations of the genius of it.”

Damon doesn't like "generic rock s***" and said he looks for "poets and guitars" in a good band, while giving the nod to Sleaford Mods and Yard Act.

He added: “I really like the band Wu-Lu, they seem to be really cool. There’s one I picked up on somewhere in the American countryside but I can’t remember his name, that’s narrowing it down isn’t it.

“Then you’ve got bands like Yard Act who seem to be getting better and better. Obviously, they are not new, but I still see them as emerging are bands like Sleaford Mods, brilliant. There’s lots of great language being used again, not this generic rock s*** – I hate that, I like poets and guitars."