- Artists:
- Bloc Party »
- Label:
- Wichita »
Pumping out a new album barely 18 months since the, to these ears at least, slight wrong-turn of A Weekend In The City (DiS’s Mike Diver awarded the album a perhaps overly enthusiastic 9/10), suggests one of two things about Bloc Party’s third LP, Intimacy: either it’s warmed-up leftovers, a la Radiohead’s Amnesiac (I don’t care what the fanboys say, just listen to the two versions of ‘Morning Bell’ and tell me the latter isn’t a hideous mistake that should have been left unheard), or the London band is trying to atone for relative errors that have damaged their egos, if not quite their fanbase.
I’ll mention Radiohead again, as Kele Okereke and company have sprung this album on us with a lack of preparation time that makes the epochal release strategy of In Rainbows look like Chinese Democracy’s marketing campaign. Two days’ notice, and bam. Come October there’ll be a full, physical release, with more tracks and full artwork, but for now the ten tracks available for download via Bloc Party’s official website will suffice.
So let’s take the second scenario regarding Intimacy’s accelerated gestation. A Weekend In The City attempted to experiment by drafting a couple of minutes of cut-up microhouse, radionoise, or dubstep onto otherwise standard Bloc Party songs, and then attempted to mature by throwing all the ballads at the second half of the record and stripping them of the thrilling juxtapositional rhythmic surge that made ‘So Here We Are’ and ‘This Modern Love’ sound like the best things ever at the start of 2005, in the process making them sound closer to Coldplay than anything from debut album Silent Alarm. Intimacy has to repair both those errors.
And it starts promisingly. ‘Ares’ mashes up ‘Setting Sun’ by The Chemical Brothers with guitars that sound like Public Enemy’s most startling sirens, and a melodic framework ripped-off from a schoolyard “Thumb-War” _chant. The cyclonal drum pattern that dominates the song is going on 40 years old now, but there’s always scope for going back to The Beatles if what’s dredged up still sounds radical, alive, _alarming.
‘Mercury’ may have a nonsensical chorus and some kind of freaky anti-melody, but the arrangement, though messy, points at an attempt to do something far beyond the likes of, say, Editors’ comprehension. It reminds me of parts of Kid A (there’s that band again), though it doesn’t sound much like that record; there’s an ambition and intent there, a desire to bring something original and strange to a wider audience that is admirable even if slightly wrongheaded in execution. There are more ways to be experimental as an ‘indie band’ than merely busting out the computer and the crazy rhythms.
Lyrically there are missteps, and the most vocal critics of Weekend… will be presented with opportunities to pick holes once more: the farcical line about taking a watch off before making love that opens ‘Trojan Horse’ is enough to make anyone squirm, and the cod-scientific / profound song titles belie the otherwise pretty base lyrical topics on offer, namely getting wasted, falling in love, and having sex. But, more positively, Okereke is writing at a level that qualifies as ‘universal’ throughout Intimacy – there’s no reference, oblique or otherwise, to eating foie gras, one of a smattering of seemingly widely acknowledged lyrical faux pas on the band’s previous album.
‘Halo’ successfully rocks like ‘Banquet’ and ‘Helicopter’ used to – there is much here to please Silent Alarm purists – and ‘Signs’ and ‘Biko’ achieve the album’s titular mood through genuine sonic delicacy, even if the band can’t resist cranking out the Aphex Twin-inspired beats for the latter’s second half. ‘Zepherus’ does something genuinely beautiful with choirs, synths and beats (it’s as if Baz Luhrmann requested a re-write of _Weekend…’s ‘Song For Clay’ – Ed), and though the lyrics aren’t above criticism, the juxtapositions of slashing guitars and scrambling electronics on ‘Trojan Horse’_ work much better than anything on Weekend... managed.
Also, thankfully, Okereke seems to have shied away from any desire or prompting to centre-stage his vocals through close-mic’ing and über-compressing them until they swallow the whole mix. When Bloc Party toured their last album it became quickly apparent that their frontman wasn’t up to the vocal push in a live environment. But I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say that people don’t listen to a Bloc Party record for the vocals in the way they might listen to, say, Leona Lewis.
Perhaps penultimate track ‘Better Than Heaven’ encapsulates what Bloc Party have been attempting to do for their last two records, namely aligning all their different directional desires: to swoon, to rock, and to experiment all at once. Intimacy gets pretty close to achieving that ultimate goal, and while there’s nothing (yet) as potent as ‘So Here We Are’ or ‘Positive Tension’ seemed at the beginning of this band’s career, there’s also nothing as miscalculated as Weekend…’s anti-climax closer, ‘SRXT’’.
Intimacy is not quite the radical statement its makers might think it is (I’m not sure what could be given the group’s evident ambitions), but it’s definitely a little bit of invigorating redemption at a time when doubts were beginning to cloud what was, initially, a flawless reputation.
- In Photos: Bloc Party @ The Academy, Sheffield
- In Photos: Leeds Festival 2009 - Day 2
- DiS' 20 Must-See Acts at Reading & Leeds 2009
- Drowned in Friday: Party? Drink? I'm in Love? TFI?
- This Week's Singles: 10/08/2009
- T In The Park: The (slightly delayed) DiS review
- Glastonbury In Photos: Bloc Party
- In Photos: Glastonbury 2009 - Day 2
Bloc Party
More Bloc Party
-
Not so intimate: Bloc Party announce 2009 dates
-
The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers at Rock City, Nottingham, Sun 23 Jan
-
Bloc Party, New Rhodes, Tom Vek at The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Thu 28 Oct
Tweet This
Share on Facebookoh
how non controversial.
I they delete Mercury
,immolate it, destroy the hard copy, claim it was by the petshop boys, dissociate themselves from it completely, forever....i reckon the album's a 7 1/2.
With it, barely a 3.
i actually thought
the 'watch' line in Trojan Horse was lovely. Maybe im just a bit simple.
See
What you mean is, if you delete all traces of the mess that is "Ares" then it's an 8, as it is, a 6.
What
?
huh,
did i miss the memo where reviews had to be controversial? i thought they were intended more of a guide to help people buy records. how old-fashioned of me
My mercury's...
...........................................................................................................................in retrograde
..
"(DiS’s Mike Diver awarded the album a perhaps overly enthusiastic 9/10)"
Ah, nothing like undermining a departing editor eh?
I agree with the reviewer on that line
It is truly awful and cringeworthy and it puts me off the entire song whenever I listen to it.
Mercury >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ares.
And I don't like Mercury.
7/10 is right on the money, the rest of the tracks are easily worth 8/9.
What?
Mercury wants to be 'Everything In Its Right Place' so bad it hurts. How can you say it doesn't sound like Radiohead?
I can understand why Mike gave AWITC a 9. On first listen, it sounded amazing. It's only with time that it sounds a bit of a mis-step. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I would say this is an 8, bordering on a 9. It really is very good.
Just not 'Silent Alarm' good.
I like it
but like all the "romantic" lines in weekend. (not the political ones so much though...)
...
Actually it was Mike himself who subbed that line in. Different people in different opinions SHOCKAH.
Meh,
seven is a pretty reasonable score, I'd be tempted to give it an 8, but yeah seven is good.
I think you've maybe focused to much on comparing it to there other records.
Good review
aside from the very wrong comment about Amnesiac by Radiohead? Warmed-up leftovers?
I agree with it being about a 7
Its ok but a bit to hit and miss.
Maybe the CD with extra tracks will make the album flow better and have some nice moments.
I don't see any controversy in this review
which bit are you on about?
ahh changed my mind its a 6
for sure...
well, kinda like warmed up left overs
from one of the best meals ever, but leftovers they still are
what songs do you consider hit and miss?
I hate ares and mercury but am really enjoying the other 8.
off the top of my head
miss: Ares, Murcery, One Month Off,
hit: Signs, Zephyrus, Ion Square
the rest I either can't remember or are in the middle...
I have deleated it now, I will make a better judgment after hearin the full album on CD no doubt.
Pah
Pyramid Song, I Might Be Wrong, Like Spinning Plates, Life in a Glasshouse - that's a four course meal right now. Take out Hunting Bears and Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors and it's a really great album
yeah sounds right
those three hits are the best on the album.
Quite like Trojan horse, mainly for the second half which is quite great.
I have my doubts
but hopefully the extra tracks will add more to the album.
I'd like it to be pushed up to an 8 but it is a 7 for now.
I have pretty much
the same opinion
I'd give it 7/10
yeah
I have my fingers crossed that they bring out some tastey tracks on the CD.
ahhh right
heheh
silly me...
RE: Pah
Even with Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, it's ace. Amnesiac doesn't get the praise it deserves.
4 days?!
The record is out for only 4 days and there's already a review for it? Damn it... I hope you give other albums more time. I'm kinda shocked.
Hmmm...
Various newspaper websites liveblogged reviews of In Rainbows. 4 days is plenty of time for a review; given turnaround at some magazines and papers between promos going out and copy being due, it's actually quite generous.
whats wrong with pet shop boys ?
they wrote hundred times better songs than bloc party.
I don't like the full stop
after 'Block Party' on the album cover.
I quite like that bit
adds a dramatic pause in the reading of the title...
hehe
In four days
I have played it in full six times.
Plenty enough for a review.
Judging by what Nick has written here I'd say he's given it a similar amount of time.
FYI: many music reviewers (albums) get 48-72 hours to turn an album review around. So four days = probably above average.
He's not trying to show how elevated he is or summat...
"Okereke is writing at a level that qualifies as ‘universal’ throughout Intimacy – there’s no reference, oblique or otherwise, to eating foie gras..."
'Song for clay' is a song based on a book called less than zero whos protagonist is called Clay. its a song in honour of him. its specific to one american character in a book set in the 80s.
hunting bears
is fucking brilliant
i dont understand why you guys call the singer out on his lyrics so much
he is a damn better lyricist than most of his contemporaries. i think that they were some blunders on AWITC but just from listening i can tell that this album is so clearly about a painful break up. that line in trojan horse is beautiful and is taken directly from walker brothers "you've lost that loving feeling", did u even notice? if you pull any lyric out of context then it will sound odd. i dont hear you guys criticising that dude from the editors or matt bellamy about bad lyrics. cut bloc party some slack, they are by far the most musically interesting new british band out there. why does everyone on this site want to cut them down? they might not be los campesinos or jonny foreigner but they sell records and play arenas, that doesnt mean that by default they have to be bad. intimacy is by far their strongest album
'oblique or otherwise'
...hence this. Perhaps 'abstract' would have served better. I dunno. Verbiage spew.
FYI: I actually rephrased what was originally written here, slightly, knowing full well the Less Than Zero connection; I'm not sure it was clear previously. I wanted readers to at least get the suggestion that Kele probably doesn't eat foie gras, with or without complete disdain, etc. Although it seems I've failed.
Original wording, pre-subbing (wow, an insight into DiS's internal mechanics!):
"But at least there are no clangers about feeling disgusted with yourself for eating pate de fois gras in a posh London restaurant."
Nick, hope you don't mind me pasting that in there.
Ta,
M
...
Richard Ashcroft repeatedly nicks lyrics from William Blake; doesn't mean he's in the same literary league. I hadn't noticed the Righteous Brothers paraphrase until now because it's so clumsy and squirm-inducing as to make one not want to think about where it might have come from.
But yes, regardless, this is a good album. Their best? Ask me again in nine months.
thats just it, i dont think its clumsy
"you used to take your watch off before we made love" i really dont see whats so offensive about this line? i get the imagery and it makes sense. its about love passing. do you really have any semblance of what this record is about? or are u just trying to cover up the fact that you gushed really hard on their first record and now you trying to claw back some "indie cool"? http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/bloc-party/silent-alarm.htm
whatever, if you havent decided upon your opinions of the record then why did u submit a review?
man bring back mike diver
he's like the only fucking good writer on this site
wow, this nick southall seems to know nothing about the music he is reviewing
that reference to less than zero is obvious. why didnt you do the review mike? you are a better writer and you seem to have a semblance of that this band is about
This
for the longest time I liked it more than Kid A.
Now I'm just undecided.
Fois gras is damn nice
just thought I would throw that out there...
i used to live with a french man that would eat nothing but fois gras
and KFC. it was fucking gross
six times :D
You think listening to an album "6 times" is enough for an album?
Oh dear. I really have to stop reading these reviews.
..
should be 'for a review'
annoyinghoney....
Kele is disguise?
I'd give this an 8.
A definite return to form. Even Mercury has grown on me lots.
I'd give this an 8.
A definite return to form. Even Mercury has grown on me lots.
How many times then?
8
10
12
24
86?
Is it really quantifiable, or does it largely depend on the album?
pretty much all reviews ever
are done in a short time span as they are done before the release of the albums or soon after they are out as thats when the interest is.
What do you want people to do just randomly review albums from the last 20 years.
They are giving an insite in to the music and giving an opinion, you are sounding like you want a reviewer to make up your mind for ya or somthing...
Once and for all
A Weekend In The City WAS a 9/10 album. Because I said so.
i'm always in two minds about these blokes
on one hand, they wrote 'hunting for witches'. on the other, they wrote 'mercury', one of the most desperate-to-be-considered-experimental-but-really-just-an-average-r'n'b-ballad-with-an-oh-i'm-so-fucking-edgy-broken-drumbeat.
their lyrics, as ever, are terrible. i'd agree that no-one listens to bloc party for the vocals, but nor do they for the lyrics (unless you count 'hunting for witches').
i'd give this baby a 6/10, but they really need to stop believing they're making some kind of profound statement everytime they pick up a guitar and add a few fx pedals to the really quite simple and average guitar riffs.
^
he knows
^ Absolutely
The production on this album is lame as well - too too too compressed. They're not doing anything particularly new or challenging, I think they need to accept that instead of thinking they are actually of any important.
It's futile music for futile ears. Wallpaper to emptiness etc etc.
I do quite like signs except for that awful lyrics about being upset at a funeral. I mean, dur, it's a funeral.
important
importance. verbal neurosis.
am i to understand
you reckon the live version of Morning Bell from i might be wrong is a hideous mistake?
if so, as requested, I tell you the following: "the latter isn’t a hideous mistake that should have been left unheard."
If not, what is this latter version of which you speak?
blind faith
in a band is no substitute for independent thinking.
Music journalism
has never been about spotting references from frankly terrible books (how can a literary reference be obvious anyway? if you haven't read the book you're not going to get it), this is a good review that seems to match with the consensus if you look at the comments. If you feel that you have some great insight into Bloc Party that Mr Southall doesn't then write your own, I'm sure we will all learn a lot.
I assume he's
talking about the Amnesiac version as he says 'a la Radiohead’s Amnesiac' before saying it, it is a dirge in comparison
Acolytes
Your zealotism about Bloc Party is scary, man. You don't agree with someone's opinion, fair enough but seriously, to question the man's ability to write is a little angsty.
The review accounts for itself well and while, in my view, the objective points sounds more like those of a 6/10 album Each To His Own, Eh?.
Asking Mike Driver to come back won't automatically make Intimacy a 9/10 record.
_
...
I reviewed AWITC for Stylus and there was nothing in the press release about Less Than Zero. I also recall nothing in any interviews with Kele mentioning it. I've also, being a music writer and not a literary critic, never read the book in question, which is also hardly canonical. So if I'm supposed to know as much about where Kele nicks his lyrics from as a devout BP fanboy, I apologise; I have no interest in that level of minutiae, and neither do the vast majority of people who are likely to read this review, I'd wager.
Mike; no problem at all with that; just don't put up the homoerotic slash fiction paragraph about Kele and Patrick Wolf, OK?
...
It's still hardly Scott Walker, but this album sounds much better to my ears than AWITC did. MUCH better.
This.
Not heard the I Might Be Wrong version, but the Amnesiac version is foul. The vocal mixing is horrific.
Numbers
It's an eight bordering on a nine but it's not 'Silent Alarm' good? Are you still using relative scoring here, where all music is being rated out of the same '10'? So, I take it, Silent Alarm was a 10/10; an album so good there was no way to top it?
_
Also...
...the song also references another Bret Easton Ellis novel: Glamorama, in which the words "disappear here" serve a central purpose to the plot.
...
I think you're missing the point of what a review is; it's just an initial opinion, an impression really, and it can't actually be anything else. If you want in-depth exegesis of something, then you need writing that's the result of a long-term relationship with a record, which just isn't possible with the way records are released and the way the music press (hell, the whole of the cultural press and every relevant product from film to literature to ballet) works. You're after 33 1/3 books. We need years to do those.
And yes, knowing that I might change my mind on this review is frustrating, knowing that there are limits to this process is disheartening; it's something I've struggled with and written about - "what if my affection / antipathy changes? what if I love / hate this in another three months?" One can't go back and rewrite a review later on when you've changed your mind, so one just has to accept that one is being honest RIGHT NOW, that this review is how I feel about this record today (or Sunday night when I wrote it).
We're not trying to deceive anyone here; we're just being as honest as we can with the facilities available to us.
I'm waiting until October
but at least the early signs are that it should be better than their last effort.
I needed to believe
(sorry)
eight point six
it is a really good album. i like how it is supposedly about intimacy and yet a lot of the songs like trojan horse and one month off sound quite violent, the reversal of AWITC. it's clever, different and it just might be enough to stop everyone complaining about when they'll get silent alarm #2. the most impressive thing about bloc party is how they will come out with some completely unique songs and yet never sound like they tried all that hard to pull them off.
Harsh?
I think you're being a bit harsh on 'A Weekend In The City' and looking at their Reading/Leeds performances on the tellybox this weekend, you could see how integral a part of the back catalogue songs like 'Hunting For Witches', 'The Prayer' and 'On' have already become.
Only had a couple of chances to listen to 'Intimacy' so far, but 'Halo' jumps out as the standout track... next single, I expect.
I needed to believe
(sorry)
isn't hunting for witches
just a very average revisitng of banquet?
^^^^whoouuuaaa thanks^
Very constructive!! What eloquence....
'Personal' means personal.
I really like the way AWITC divides opinion. It's clear the reviewer here was not at all as impressed by it as they felt their colleague had been. I read Pitchfork's review of that album too and the criticisms seemed quite similar. It seems a lot of people felt the latter half of the album was poor if not pedestrian. Well I respect that opinion but I'm sorry, it was those songs (from Kreuzberg) which provided me an access point to the album which eventually enabled me to love it from start to finish. Sunday just blew me away - I'm sorry to say that, but it's still arguably my favourite track on the album. And SRXT is 'anti-climatic'?!! What? I'm sorry but I'm truely puzzled - what is anti-claimatic about it. It finishes with a such a crescendo of emotion and a simple final line that leaves me moved everytime I listen to it.
But as I say, the fun thing about AWITC is that it seems to court debate which is a good thing. Who wants music that stimulates the same response in everyone who listens to it? Isn't that supposed to be pop music's virtue, not indie.
I have been listening to Intimacy at least two times a day since it's release and it's growing on me with each listen. I like different songs each time I come back to it which is a good sign.
As for Okereke's lyrics I am uncertain as to what one can say. They're not amazing, very subtle, or spell-bindingly poetic in nature but I have come to find them quite personal. They're certainly honest I think and perhaps the most refreshing thing in a meduim which involves hiding your meaning, is just advertise it. The line about taking your watch off seems contrived but perhaps it isn't to Okereke nor to a thousand other people. To them it might be a part of a foolish but tender memory they have. Love is a really foolish and silly thing in a way so I kind of like it when romantic songs appear that way instead of grand full of wothiness.
I still say it's a good album. Not sure whether it's a great one but I'm gonna hold out on making that decision for a while.
Ha ha...
Sure.
please please please let this truly be a return to form
i dont like the staggered releases though.
on first listen i was loving it
now im leaning towards an 8 or 7. for the record i don't mind that watch line either, in fact trojan horse is possibly the highlight for me so far. not sure if it's great. i was warming to mercury until i saw the reading performance.
As for WITC for me it has some great songs but as an album leaves me a bit cold, don't think i've listened to it all the way through. it gets a bit too serious and preachy for its own good around Uniform/Where is Home. i am listening to SRXT now however and it is very nice.
SRXT
Is a Muse song, without the humour or songwriting delicacy that Muse are famed for.
Ares
listening to it now and it's truly abysmal...however, the rest is pretty tasty
Those who don't like Mercury
Should listen to the CSS remix..I don't mind the original, but CSS have made the song much easier to like
Muse vanish up their black holes. No revelation.
I'm sorry but I really don't know how anyone could type this while maintaining a straight face. Have you listened to any of Muse's recent material? They sound like they're a poor copycat of their former selves. Now as for meaning - Muse are easily the complete opposite of Okereke's lyrics. Where as he is at times childishly honest about his feelings and opinions, Muse are more than likely to vanish up their backsides. The effect should quite simply defy physics.
But let's be fair, not everyone needs to agree about music - except where Muse are concerned. On that issue it is quite simply a measure of character.
Muse? Songwriting 'delicacy'?
REALLY?!?!!?!?
SRXT is one of the few bloc party lyrics that are actually decent. Shame the song sounds like Coldplay.
I really like the first two tracks...
and the whole record. A vast improvement on its predecessor. 8/10 from me so far - not many albums make me listen 10 or so times in the first week of owning them. Hooray! Let's just celebrate that they are back back back!
it
should have been after the block surely?
Bloc. Party Intimacy.
;-p
I don't know
if I'd say it's an improvement on AWITC. I felt the personal connection with that LP that I didn't particularly get with Silent Alarm. I do think Intimacy is a particularly focused album though which I like. I think it's a solid 8 for me, although time will tell with this one - I think I might have a different attitude to it in a few months.
I think Bloc Party have perfected the "tender" moments on this album, an area that I've found them a little lacking - lyrically at least - on previous efforts. "Signs" is excellent. "Halo" and "Trojan Horse" are classic Bloc Party, although the synth line in the latter reminds me of Pendulum a bit. Not so good.
Still, I was a little worried about this album after "Mercury" - not that I hated it, but it sounded a little forced. Progression for the sake of progression. On the whole though, I'm very pleased with it so far, the only tracks I'm not so keen on are "Mercury" and "One Month Off".
...
That Muse lack delicacy and humour was kind of my point, there.
you're right
Listening to the pet shops boys recently made me appreciate them more. Problem is, my dad liked me.
Another reason to like them is they are openly gay, unlike the repressed singer from Bloc Party.
Ahem....
God that typo made it seem like I was from Middlesbrough. I meant to say 'my dad liked THEM'
Hmm, this really is a very good album
Silent Alarm:10
AWITC: 7
Intimacy: 8/9
a slight drop in form has now fucked off
Assessment
Silent Alarm: 9.5 (it has a weakness - the album version of She's Hearing Voices is terrible compared to the EP version).
AWITC: 9
Intimacy: 8
Another Weekend In The City: 7
Bloc Party (EP): 9
Little Thoughts (EP): 9 (Skeleton - still one of the best songs Bloc Party has ever done).
Two More Years (EP): 8
By the way, the B-side to Mercury, 'An Idea For A Story' is a very good track indeed.
I've always found the Amnesiac version
to be much more dramatic and haunting. I actually prefer it to the Kid A track, if only marginally.
definitely
PSB's are so much better and so much more fun. Why does Kele just come out and have done with it? We ll know he's gay, he really needs to lighten up and stop being such a kiljoy.
why doesn't
i must have caught middlesborough plague from you!
not as much as 'Signs'
wants to be Kid A's title track
i agree
but then I HATEd most of that album.
you're way to clever for me!
i get it now. oops xxx
Overrated
Silent Alarm: 4
AWITC: 7
Intimacy: 4
Bloc Party are now appalling and people need to realise how bad silent alarm really is. Mercury is one of the worst songs I've ever heard and Trogan Horse is rubbish as well.
i really dont understand
how anyone can rate awitc higher than the others, the first half, two thirds even, is superb, but then its totally let down by I Still Remember and Sunday, they totally kill the album to me. Also, please explain how bad silent alarm really is!
^
I couldn't disagree with a post more
NOT THAT ONE!
the one above with the scores and shit opinions and shit.
PHEW!
.
i like listening to the amnesiac version at christmas!
it's a very wintery song, imo. i love both versions, though.
After reading many many reviews...
can i please ask why every musical critic:
a) seems to bash keles vocal style as the single flaw with all the albums? i love his lyrics and his vocals.
b) seems to think AWITC is the antichrist? silent alarm got a bit "hmmm" after the end of an amazing first half. If you listen to AWITC thouroughly, you can see that on the whole it can hold its own as a much better put together album. (please don't kill me everyone i love them both)
c) and most importantly, hails "so here we are" as bloc party's greatest song? I have tried listening to it hundreds of times. It just doesn't do anything for me. Am I alone in this? or could it be that it just isn't a very good song and down with other lesser works of theirs.
replys and ideas welcome
Hey Nick
Ignore the whiners. As someone who's not heard "Intimacy" but is looking for an assessment of it, I reckon your review does what it needs to do.
You situate your take on the album in terms of your take on the preceding albums, which allows me to work out pretty quickly whether we're on the same page regarding their respective value (we are); you treat the music (not just the lyrics) as something that can be reflected on and talked about independently of whether you like it or not; and (most significantly, to my mind) you offer a way of making sense of the album in terms not just of how it sounds but also of what it DOES.
On listening to the album I may end up thinking it's a piece of shit or I might decide it's a masterpiece, but either way I won't be thinking that your review is "wrong" for the simple reason that it's the description that counts, and -- having just finished listening to three tracks from it -- your description seems more or less apt.
So, cheers.
rob
hmm
1. Morning Bell off Amnesiac was well better, I can barely listen to the other one
2. AWITC was frigging dire. Of the two best songs off it, one contained the line "East London is a vampire", and the other was like a slightly better Snow Patrol. Think about that.
3. This sounds to me like an "eh" review to me. An album which'll sound good for about two weeks. I've heard Mercury, and it sounds "eh". Wake me up when they do another song like Positive Tension.
Intimacy
This album is absolutely groundbreaking. Its one of my favourite albums ever. I love Bloc Party and for me, this album represents a band right at a peak.
For me, Bloc Party have progressed each album they have done. With AWITC
CONTINUED
This album is absolutely groundbreaking. Its one of my favourite albums ever. I love Bloc Party and for me, this album represents a band right at a peak.
For me, Bloc Party have progressed each album they have done. With AWITC, it didnt surpass its predesessor Silent Alarm, but Intimacy destroys AWITC in every aspect.
In AWITC, we saw and read about Kele's facination with urban night life as he delved into the life of London at party time (The Prayer) and issues of modern life (Hunting For Witches).
With Flux, Bloc Party implored further and started to embrace the genre of dance music. And with Intimacy, the whole culture is defined in breathtaking fashion.
Bloc Party go further in as songs such as Ares and Mercury symbolising dance music an challenge modern culture further. ''We dance to the sound of sirens'' is a fantastic piece of song writing as it captures the image of people dancing, with sirens ringing out from a persuit of something that largely contrasts with the feeling of music (crime).
Songs like Biko and Signs, all look into the euphoric nature of dance culture, previously explored by songs such as Blinded By The Lights by The Streets. This is why I think they capture the whole culture so well.
The last two tracks further demonsrate the brilliance of this band, as they show that they still are in touch with their post/rock indie as seen on Silent Alarm. This is a band that fully understand their music.
Ion Square, on first listen, seemed like the weakest on the album until it really hit me. A swirling build up and an epic climax. It is an incredible end to a maserpiece of an album.
safe
Brilliant post.
Its striking me as great already, its genius.
Good point about AWITC and how it divides opinion. I think its a very good album but not as good as Silent Alarm or Intimacy.
were you on e when you wrote this ^ ?
groundbreaking? hardly. pushing the electronica envelope? ten years too late for that. & flux was utter shite; it sounded to me much like a madonna "i'm 50 yrs old but can still mutate with the sound of the day so i'm going to get some electronica producers to make me some music" chameleon.
a great album? perhaps. it's definetely better than awitc (which still had its moments). it's obviously a solid album. but this whole embracing of the electronica culture? come on.....
Chill out people
Why is everyone criticising over analysing this stuff??? if you spent half as much time actually listening to their songs as you do whinning about how the lyrics arent quite as good as 'so and so' and how you think thier lead singer is gay (who gives a shit?) then maybe you'd realise that its music, not politics or something ridiculously dramatic like that. if you dont like it fine but dont bitch about every last word in their stuff. they've sold millions of records and i bet most of you will go out and by their new album anyway.
i for one think its great music and they've done a good job on it
quit being fags and enjoy the music
x
^^amen
.
i think...
radiohead suck, people seem to love them because they see them as 'pioneers' of music, i think their music is average beyond belief but the critics love them so they are untouchable...BUT thats my opinion and i dont think everyone has to share it like some of you. i agree with the guy above, music isnt about analysing the lyrics but enjoying it and if you cant its not the bands fault!
bloc party happen to make music i enjoy and its the same for this album, i find keles lyrics interesting and meaningful, and as for thom yorke i dont like them even when i can hear them
true
radiohead suck
lifeisabanquet speaks my kinda language, the language of music
you...
seem to have a grip on reality unlike some of the jokers on here
jordy_B_23, a man who can live his life AND still listen to music without idle prejudices
what you on about
'without idle prejudices'?
the guy called everyone 'fags' and was the only peron bringing sex into the conversation. That seems pretty idle and prejudice to me...
i didnt
call EVERYONE fags. i said the people who were being overly critical and over analysing every last bit of instead of actually listening to it as music were fags. if you'd like ill recind that word and call them pricks? whatever makes u happy pal
x
yeah but you think radiohead suck
so shut the fuck up.
thats cause
radiohead do suck
its suicide enducing music
id rather lick a cat than listen to radiohead
finally
listened to this- first couple times around a bit cold, but it's growing on me.
I'm still amazed how Bloc Party's albums seem to mirror the tone of my life though.. is Kele secretly stalking me or what?
OMG you said Radiohead sucked!
that's bang out of order.
I could probably sue you, for being wrong.
I'm so angry.
You personally ABUSED me with that comment.
as it happens
im one of the least prejudiced guy you will ever meet, you only need to ask the people i know
the only reason i can fathom for jimbo31 and others to be fans of radiohead is that their mothers didnt love them, or they come from a broken home, why else would people listen to such garbage?!
hehe
cool
this post came
just in time
zealotism = zeal
that is all
Not a bad review but...
for me the main problem with the album is the utter predictability of Kele's melodies. He's recycled the same parts so many times now that every time he gets to the end of a line you already know where he's gonna go with the tune (that is, when he's not yelping tunelessly over the top of the music).
They've clearly made a real effort to keep things interesting production-wise, but what's the point when - with the notable exception of Hunting For Witches - there hasn't been a single memorable chorus since the first record? The production saves a bunch of mediocre songs, when it should be elevating great ones.
Silent Alarm: 9
AWITC: 6
Intimacy: 7 at best
I kind of agree with your comment about Kele's melodies
It's fortunate I like them such a great deal.
I still love "A Weekend In The City" though. Very much.
FAGS
as a derogoratory term, comes from the name given to a bundle of sticks that are tied together for burning. The word was latterly adopted by lynch mobs to describe homosexuals, who they burnt.
maybe, before you throw words like that around, find out what they mean and how much they might offend people? interesting you use a word like that while going on to espouse the 'genius' (it ain't) of bloc party, whos singer is - atleast in your neanderthal vocabulary - a 'fag'.
clearly the fact that you are completely ignorant is the forebear to your idiotic opinions on radiohead and bloc party.
it's interesting that you doubt radiohead's musical ability despite the numerous accolades and jonny greenwoods appointment as composer in residence at the bbc. the day russell lissack is bestowed with the same honour is the same day your argument might have some validity. similarly, kele's yelping and sixth form poetry lyricism do not even compare to the dynamic range and fluidity of lyrics that thom yorke demonstrates on EVERY radiohead track.
i have no hopes for this
first album good, second album embarassingly awful. why was flux so good when they cant string two songs together?
i'll probably check it out before too long anyway... just to confirm my disappointment.
what's a
"thrilling juxtapositional rhythmic surge" then?
i cant believe
that i read all the arguements / shit analysis of each album.
sa: 9/10
awitc: 8/10
i: 4/10
imo. i dont believe they should do silent alarm 2, but then significantly changing their sound to avoid critisms (about lack of progression) warrants criticism, which is what looks theyve done
"what's a
"thrilling juxtapositional rhythmic surge" then?"
Listen to the changes at 1:55 and then at 2:50 in "Always New Depths" and you'll find an answer to your question.
ahhh
there is not ONE hint of dubstep in AWITC.
also, this is a review of bloc party's new album, not radiohead.
minus mercury and ares i would give the album 8.5/10
anti-melody
hahahaha
2/10
Such a bad record, is everybody having the piss out of it? "A Weekend in the City" was already a bit disappointing, after a first record to be remembered. In my opinion, it`s necessary to wait for the last track to hear a good song, that is kind of an ode to Depeche Mode (or at least it seems like one). With awfull records like this one, the least i want is to get intimate with this lads. Bloc Party is dead (sadly), maybe the forth act like a resurrection...
Haha.
Absolute genius.
i really enjoyed this
much more than either of the previous albums ( although i do like silent alarm a LOT)
In Photos: Arctic Monkeys @ Wembley Arena, London
In Photos: The Flaming Lips @ The Academy, Manchester
In Photos: Moby @ The Palace Theatre, London
In Photos: Tegan & Sara @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Last.fm
SoundCloud
MySpace
Friendster
RSS
Comments
- Post a new comment on this article