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Driving into work today, the second day listening to the new Bloc Party album, I decided I was gonna start a new thread about this new album.
I just read the Silent Alarm thread and was surprised that the reactions were so "meh".
I loved Bloc Party's music from the first listen a couple of years back, and being in Canada, have been sheltered from all the crazy media praise/slamming that those of you in the UK are subject to... (BTW- What the hell is up with your media? Why must every new group be touted as the Saviours of Music or ripped to shit? It's like all the journo's are split - the first group are afraid that they'll miss out on praising the new "Nirvana" and the second group are terrified of being bandwagon-jumpers and react in the opposite extreme.)
The second album came in quietly and took me a bit to warm up to, because like most people, I figured that It would be more of the same fresh, groundbreaking stuff. Once you are known for a "Sound" you're pretty much kept to keeping it - See Rage Against the Machine.
There were only one or two quiet blurbs about their second album, here, and I just stumbled on the latest in the CD shop vaguely aware that it was even out: They don't get much radio play here and I haven't been scouring the mags and zines like I used to, nor have I searched online for the newest stuff out there...
Intimacy isn't groundbreaking, but the boys tread on ground that they already broke: The drums & percussion are still phenominal, big and meaty, and the bass is still infectious. This album seems to be bred of the first two, taking elements of both as well as giving nods to 80's goth-pop influences like the Cure. I haven't really had the chance to get into the lyrical content except for a few snips, but Kele's voice is holding up, and while he sticks to some of his standard harmonies and vocal "patterns", he throws a curve now again, not taking the obvious routes. They seem to want to explore a bit and take chances by exploring new soundscapes and breaking their own molds, but still remain "The Bloc Party", nonetheless.
They're not trying to be hip, or cool - Just make music, or at least, that's the impression they give.
The new album's worth a listen - Every track is solid but none are obvious "singles" (Maybe I haven't listened enough) And at CDN$10, worth buying instead of downloading. |
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