Bloc Party: C/D?

Having said that I also heard the track on Fluxblog and thought it was OK, so probably too early to judge

Franz who?

seem to be pretentious assholes too, "Suffice to say there would be no band without the efforts of guitar bands formed in British and American towns in the 70s, 80s and 90s, aswell as visionary writers and artists of various kinds whose work has informed the world and culture itself as it stands. The precise names are as good as any you can come up with, in fact probably much, much better."

Gordon Moakes - D.O.B 22.06.76 - Instrument: Bass and voice - Informed by "Anne Sexton, JG Ballard, Joy Division, melodic hardcore, Kubrick, the Gang Of Four, British post-punk, Sonic Youth"

I have no idea what cd you might be listening to, but it certainly doesn't sound like Bloc Party.

Just slsked a couple of live performances of songs yet to be officially released (This Modern Love, Luno). I can barely contain myself waiting for the full-length.

Little Thoughts EP, which contains everything they've released since the first EP (sans "Always New Depths" for some reason), will be out in Japan on 1 Dec and in the US on 25 Jan... haven't found anything for a UK/Europe date.

Silent Alarm LP will be out on Wichita in the UK and on V2 in Europe/Japan on 14 Feb and on Vice/Atlantic in the US on 20 Mar (vinyl on Dim Mak same day).

WFMU studio set here (begins approx. 5:20 into stream).

...and yeah, I agree it's too early to tell.

Where's the "Party"?

Madonna to thread.

i wish people in the press would stop comparing them to franz ferdinand

but much better! (and i love the first Adorable LP)

Opinion of album = !!!!!!!

Hahah -- a fellow writer friend down here was complaining about BP precisely because of a Blink-182 similarity. (He preferred the Futureheads, which I admit I've not yet heard.)

This never does anything for me.

Also, Ned, the other person their singer kinda sounds like sometimes -- weirdly -- is Colin Hay from Men at Work.

And "Price of Gas" kind of bugs me for some reason. Maybe I can't relate because I don't have a car (or live in Britain-- is it worse off there?), but I kind of want to say, "Yep... the price of gas is high...and?" It'd be like if I recorded a song called, "The Value of the Dollar" that went, "The dollar's getting weaker / The dollar's getting weaker... So fuckin' useless!

Otherwise, awesome record. Nabisco, I like your take: it's solid, but it doesn't have that, um, "urgency" or, er, "magic" that you get sense sometimes when you hear something fresh (the way I felt after I picked up Arcade Fire). That doesn't mean it's bad. The Stylus review pumped me up ("I belive in this!"), but it didn't last... It's still my favorite thing to come this year so far.

That said, I like the song.

I'm just starting to get burned out on anything remotely mid-'80s-UK-ish

Trust me, Go West weren't all that.

I'm not remotely to see that young Nedric likes it; 'cos what it probably reminds me of more than anything else is Pornography-era Cure.

i'm still waiting to have my epiphany and love it like everyone else, but at this point, it's 6/10 and no more.

i'll have to have a listen. you don't have any lyrics from it to hand?

i like this album a lot, but i can't help feeling that all the songs are melodically very very similar.

Haaa ha! Those comments were slightly shocking, yes.

My housemate made me download the album for him, I tried listening to it and couldn't get past two songs.

Oh, jesus.... what would I have to do to get those emailed to me?!? Or maybe you could You Sent It them?..... .. . . . . oh, sweet bearded baby jesus.. .. . .

I blame hearing what is probably the best song on the album at exceedingly low volume at 6am in the morning and thinking it sounded a bit like Bows. A proper listen confirmed that it doesn't really, while the rest of the album seemed like the most pro forma recitation of current post-punk revival power-moves that I've yet heard.

Is it the hype?

Is it because they're getting press when the artists from which their sound(s) derive(s) didn't tap into/have access to the marketing machines of yore?

Or did the backlash already exist?

It was number three...

I think I'll always hold up "Is This It" as a sort of yardstick for rock albums, of course because I am not really into rock, and it's a fantastic pop album really. Bloc Party for me come across a bit too right on or something with some of the lyrics and delivery, like "passionate" in that rock way, which doesn't do much for me.

“He’s born a liar / He’ll die a liar… / …he’s just like his dad / He’s just like his dad / Same mistakes / Some things will never be different… / …why can’t you be / More European?”

...are horrible. And I'm someone who's generally forgiving of bad or indifferent lyrics.

Haha Ronan I think we have totally different preferences when it comes to guitar music - I like a bit of bombast to my indie rock. Part of the reason the likes of the Strokes never really clicked with me was because it all seemed a bit too neat and composed.

To be fair, I'm like that with all music - once dance music gets too dry and tidy I tend to lose interest, maybe that's why I've never appreciated the clickier end of microhouse for example.

ON THE FUCKING MONEY

i'm gonna say IF....!! (even tho it doesnt quite fit) just to see cozen wince

DJ Koze's remix of "Zu Dicht Dran" on Kompakt.100

"International Snootleg" by International Pony Vs. Losoul (feat. Malte)

they're just so painfully average. classic, dud ... either of these would be an improvement, to be honest. i'd say they were forgettable but i can't even remember.

I realize that in the world of ILM there aren't many hard or fast rules, but a band with one album and a handful of EPs?

They get the C/D treatment?

Already?

Would the same have been done following the release of Radiohead's Pablo Honey or Daft Punk's Homework or the Jaxx Remedy?

I guess it's possible they too would have got it, what with so many itchy mouse buttons hovering over the "Submit" button. But I don't suppose it'd have made the judgment any less premature.

Perhaps. Especially considering I began this thread last April.

Radiohead are always the example that gets brought up in these circumstances and the people who do so are right in a way. But there's also a slightly annoying "well, its only their first record" line that gets trotted out by indie kids defending shit records. I mean, The Music might come up with a certified pop classic in two or three years but I doubt it.

Of course giving bands time to develop is a good thing, I just dislike it being used as an excuse.

Perhaps I'm just being too literal here. It would seem the title "classic" would be reserved for bands that have had an opportunity to develop.

It's less an "excuse" for Bloc Pary and more a pursuit of accuracy in labeling.

Because, after all, what's a band or artist worth if we haven't pigeonholed them within one month of its first album's release?

"they're lack" should be "their lack"

"pigeonholed them" should be "pigeonholed it"

Why'd you have to get so hysterical?
Success, success, success is over
Why'd you have to get
So fucking useless

appear on your album you'll get an advisory sticker. The Bush Admin. and/or music industry have bigger fish (see Shiavo and P2P, respectively) to fry than lil' ol' Bloc Party.

BLOC PARTY REVEALED AS SECRET EMO BAND

Which I'm not.

Perhaps there is no spoon.

Because if so, that's kind of awesome. I didn't like "Little Thoughts" much anyway, and if the M83 remix is half as bombastic as his stuff on Before the Dawn Heals Us it'll more than make up for the loss...

And in this month's Urb, they mention a remix album to be released later this year, so hopefully those mixes will be attainable (aside from the usual channels).

(for what it's worth, Sa-Ra mention in the same issue that they're at work on a Radiohead remix, but I'm too lazy to find the S-Ra thread...)

Hehe. My editor at the OC Weekly said the same thing, which leads me to think that the hipsters have it right. ;-)

Considering half of ILX has been totally down with The Busteds for some time now "its a bit like Blink 182" is not the best stick to beat them with.

drummers = rockist

Futureheads >>>>>>>> BP

That being said: Banquet is fucking great. But not quite as good as Carnival Kids or Hounds of Love

i do like this band, including the remixes (mogwai, four tet, m83) and almost all the b-sides. they just need time to mature to come up with a more varied, insightful follow up. so c/d too early to tell.

Good lord, I'm even more sold, then. (Well except for Four Tet, they're just sorta there.)

Norway gives us: The Beautiful People

download tracks via this blog:
http://mysteryandmisery.com/article/420/the-beautiful-people

Listen to the track: "So This is Suicide"

already booked for the Sonar Festival and Reading Festival - The Beautiful People are my next big tip!

a wall of sound psychdelic guitars with effects, precision drumming, synths plus a vocalist with a strong passionate delivery.

That said, the band could step it up on the next release. They're young enough to change. (Oh, one piece of advice, drop the "Hey...Hey...Heys" and that type shit, please.)

Did we beat this to death yet! I hope I've helped.

I appreciate the fact that they just keep touring, and am annoyed I missed the midsummer trip through LA due to previous commitments.

The band is currently putting the finishing touches to their second album, rumoured to be called A Weekend In The City. The album is due for release in February 2007, and is being produced by Jacknife Lee. In a recent interview, Kele Okereke revealed that the new album will be based around the theme of city life and will contain tracks titled 'Waiting For The 7.18', 'Uniform', 'Perfect Teens'(formerly Machine), 'England' (formerly Blue Moon) and 'Song For Clay' (formerly Merge On The Freeway). Whilst the band have also recorded 'Kreuzberg' and We Were Lovers (formerly Cells Shaped Like Stars), they may not appear on the new album.

2/2007 isn't too far away, though.

I really really really really really love the Jacknife Lee remix of Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet", but this virtually guarantees that this album is going to suck ass. Bloc Party do not need to be coaxed and massaged into sounding MORE like recent U2.

funny how things turn out eh

Me: (plays the CD by The Dears)
He: hey, this is nice!
Later:
Me: (plays the CD by Bloc Party)
He: hey, this is nice too!
Halfway through the CD:
He: do you only like singers who want to be Robert Smith?

:-/

FITE - John Lydon v Kele Okereke

YSI?

Oh, it's not a collaboration. Nevermind.

He should have known bad luck was coming, what with his Mercury being in retrograde.

BREAKING NEWS: John Lydon is an unapproachable cunt.

while Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs and Yannis Philippakis of Foals attempted to fend off the attacker

Tragic and deplorable and all that, but this bit makes me lol.

Yannis? This Yannis?

http://www.ng-magazine.com/_images/thumbs/foalsy2_266x400.jpg

R.I.P. Yannis.

Funny how DiS misses out several key words from the account, which mysteriously appear in the equivalent NME piece, including "his entourage" (who made the alleged remarks) and "three of Lydon's associates" with whom the fight actually appears to have been fought.

As opposed to Lydon saying or doing any of these things himself, you understand.

Granted, but Lydon probably had the power to put a stop to things before they turned physical - which is pretty deplorable in and of itself. Not to be captain save a Bloc Party, but this is pretty disgusting no matter what level of involvement Mr. Lydon had.

and as I said on the other thread, Kele's quote seems to implicate J.Lydon directly.

Of course, him being a major star and all that (not sarc), he's going to get approached by people all the time. Especially in a public area like this.

I mean, god, wanting to ask him about a PIL reformation? Even though JLydon answered that question in a recent interview.

"the band the Pistols could've been"

From DiS comments box

The 'black attitude' comment is also a brush to tar him with.

Then Lydon should sue his arse off (xxp).

Wow, I was really excitable in 2004. In fairness, 2004/05 were the good Bloc Party years, as I can't imagine ever being this excited about them again.

Yes, I'm reviving threads I started to ridicule myself.

early singles, silent alarm and "two more years" are unmitigated classics

yeah silent alarm is unfuckwithable imo

REAL TALK

Intimacy was fantastic as well, just not on SA's level.

anyone else going to their chicago show the 28?

Bloc Party guitarist bitten by lion

http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/59460?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Lol. With the exception of AC/DC, has rebooting a band with a different singer ever worked?

Black Sabbath.

Genesis

Didn't read the story btw, NME pages seem to take about 20 mins to load some days.

Also they still haven't corrected the spelling of 'will' in the headline. Fucking idiots.

In any case, it would seem they aren't going to be called "Bloc Party"

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has admitted he is unsure of his future in the band after the rest of the group went into the recording studio without telling him.

The singer has told NME he recently spotted guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong outside a rehearsal studio in New York and he wasn't even invited to take part in the sessions.

"I was actually having lunch about three weeks ago, just here on 8th Avenue and I saw somebody walk past and I recognised the haircut," he said. "It was Russell. I was like, 'Hey!' but he didn't see me and I followed him around the corner and then I saw Matt, Gordon and Russell all standing outside this rehearsal space. They all went inside."

He added: "I hope I haven't been fired. I don't really know what's going on, because we haven't really spoken recently and I'm a bit too scared to ask."

This is weird. Just talk to the band, you big goose.

manager Simon White on twitter now saying it's all bollocks.

Man Bloc Party fell hard and fast, but I still love the debut album and a couple scattered songs from the next two albums. I can't see this being a good idea at all.

this is weird...

my only hope is that they go back to being more of a rock band? all the electronic & dance stuff they tried to do -- and i think a lot of it was kele's lead, tho i'm speculating -- was sort of noble at the time but it never really fit for them. kele didn't know how to write interesting or good songs of that nature.

that said the band is so much about him at the forefront that having a new vocalist really wouldn't even be the same band

also weird that they went behind his back to record/to nme to announce they're looking for a new singer but he also didn't even bother to call them?? fucking people

"i still remember" has aged really well for me, sorta wish that they'd gone the route of kings of leon & tried to sell out with stadium pop-rock stuff than try and become a rock band that is cool for dance fans to like

J0rdan pretty much otm on all counts

y'all

UPDATE: Bloc Party's camp have told us that, despite reports, Kele is not being kicked out of Bloc Party. A post on the band's website claims that "Bloc Party is still Bloc Party," with a cartoon of the band drawn up as characters from "The Simpsons" and a promise to "see you soon."

http://pitchfork.com/news/44139-bloc-party-kicks-out-kele-okereke/

cool, i hope they go back to writing rock songs

I do have to admit that one thing I miss from the "old days" was having to wait until a new promo cycle came around to find out if all of the wild break-up rumors flying around were true or not. Not as much fun when they get debunked within hours.

They tried to follow a Radiohead route and tried way too hard I think, electronic influences, useless state-of-the nation lyrical clangers. Neither they nor their producers were talented enough to pull it off. If ever a band needed an editor.

http://blog.yellowbirdproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/the-editors.jpg

"You rang?"

No, no I didn't. Please get off my porch you lot.

They tried to follow a Radiohead route and tried way too hard I think, electronic influences, useless state-of-the nation lyrical clangers.

^^ why I lost interest in the first album. Their weaknesses were their strengths too: all that racket made political and musical sense in 2005 (lots of good memories dancing to "Banquet" and quoting "Price of Gas" in another record review) but when they became better record makers they eliminated that beguiling vagueness.

*why I lost interest AFTER the first album.

I'd also say: "They tried way too hard to think."

otm

http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/59460?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Lol. With the exception of AC/DC, has rebooting a band with a different singer ever worked?

― Matt DC, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 12:28 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

New Order?

Seems to have worked reasonably well for Alice in Chains so far.

Alice in Chains have been going at some point since 1993?

They just released a new album in 2009 with a new lead singer, seems to have been pretty well reviewed too.

http://www.thefader.com/2012/01/03/bloc-party-confirms-reunion-new-album/

In an interview with the BBC’s Zane Lowe, Bloc Party lead singer, Kele Okereke confirmed that the band is back in tact and will be recording a new album in 2012. Fans were never given concrete reasons for the band’s shaky future, but can now look forward to a new year with new material, the first since 2008′s Intimacy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is cool and all, but based on Kele's solo tracks and the fact that Intimacy was pretty lame, I'm not sure I care anymore.

Hoping this is a return to their earlier spirit, also. Get out of Matt Tong's way and scuff up the production as stated above.

these guys went downhill so fast :( that debut album is still a cracker though

Yeah, I listened to 'Silent Alarm' the other day and quite enjoyed it. Not only that, but it made the flaws of their other albums more apparent... two things that I always find appealing about the first Bloc Party album is the frantic drumming and the guitar sound. It definitely has the most 'tolerable' lyrical content of all their albums too... not smacking you around the head with clunky lyrics about eating foie gras with complete disdain or taking ones watch off before one makes love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=s4M5EqOGsMA

this video has some clips of new music. it sounds lush... and warm, a key ingredient whose absence did a lot to spoil intimacy.

New album is imaginatively titled Four. It is their fourth.

the last two albums were definitely cold and stiff and just very rudimentary in their experimentations

BUT kele's lyrics also went way the fuck off the rails in an embarrassing way. his vocals sorta, too. so, we'll see.

haha

would it be better or worse had they titled it Nine

One of the clips of new material in that youtube sounds very Smashing Pumpkins.

i thought that too! i was even confused at first and then i realized oh it really is a bloc party song.

Ha this is great -- so I was scrounging through my old Suede fan club newsletters (as one does) and in the 'Swap That Shop' section of issue 14, winter 1997:

Kele Okereke, [with his then-address, as opposed to now, presumably], Manor Park, London

Original and very talented vocal-lyricist seeks guitar genius (Marr, Oakes, Butler) to write beautiful art rock. NOT a Suede tribute band; original and dynamic! 100% committed, real music head, style and image also. London area, willing to travel. Contact me after 5 pm on [phone number]. "Let's make it beautiful!"

As well as a musical partner, I'm also searching for various Suede bits. I'm desperately seeking copies of the promo videos to "Drowners" UK version, "New Generation," "We Are the Pigs," "Trash" and "Beautiful Ones." I'm also after copies of all the unreleased tracks: "Be My God," "Art" and "Wonderful Sometimes," as well as any decent live recordings of "Stay Together" and Richard playing "He's Dead." Any articles and posters are also most welcome.

I have a signed Suede CD and a signed (Bernard) "Stay Together" and also Bernard's black plectrum. I'm willing to pay for postage and packaging and for your services.

He would have sent that in when he was all of fifteen!

that's awesome, ned

Okereke responded critically to comments made by Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis in early 2007. Liam called Bloc Party "A band off of University Challenge", while Noel dismissed them as "indie shit". In retaliation, Okereke stated, "I think Oasis are the most overrated and pernicious band of all time. They had a totally negative and dangerous impact upon the state of British music. They have made stupidity hip. They claim to be inspired by The Beatles but, and this saddens me, they have failed to grasp that The Beatles were about constant change and evolution. Oasis are repetitive Luddites."[17] Ironically, when Oasis cancelled their headlining set at the Rock-en-Seine festival near Paris in August 2009 (the concert where the Gallagher brothers clashed backstage, which resulted in Oasis splitting up), it was Okereke who announced to the crowd that Oasis had cancelled their slot and dedicated their track "Mercury" to the Oasis fans in the crowd, referring to the Gallagher brothers as "those inbred twins." [18]

There was a shorter note in the next fanclub issue where he was asking to see if someone wanted to edit a fanzine, kinda fun.

Kele otm about Oasis.

Ah, that's such a great find!!

kele needs to zing oasis using fewer syllables tbh

why?

so oasis can understand duh

fair enough.

i've got a copy of the zine he used to do at school if anyone's interested, iirc it's stuff about how the longpigs were great and oasis are rubbish, plus some stuff about my high school band that he was desperate to join but we wouldn't let him in haha who's laughing now eh oh wait

Haha amazing. Was it called Noir by any chance?

yes that's it, i was going to see how much i could get for it on ebay but never got round to it. it is, er, 'not great'

kinda weird that a dude that lives on the other side of the world has a window into my adolescence eh

This is why I'm glad my own adolescence is safely in the memory hole.

very wise!

anyway i always knew the guy would make it in the industry somehow but i reckoned on him being some record company apparatchik, not what has actually turned out :(

they are kind of 'heavy' now

heavier than a death of a hamster in the family

So Intimacy has grown on me a whole lot! I've heard they're working on a new record, I'm hoping it'll be stylistically more like Intimacy rather than Four.

guess what turrican

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe7uutnarWE

this song is so bad

oh they apparently shed their drummer and bassist, nothing to see here lol

incontrovertible proof as to why you should never go full Maroon 5

Yup, I've heard this already and indeed it is truly woeful.

the new bassist is from menomena im pretty sure

Matt Tong was always Bloc Party's mvp. Now he plays with Algiers, so he knows what's up.

There was a live set of theirs broadcast on the BBC Red Button only a couple of nights ago and showcasing the new line-up ('Bloc Party MKII', as Kele referred to it), and it was like watching a car crash pretty much. Really awful renditions of the older songs mixed with new material which felt completely sub-par. The new drummer replicated the old drummer's parts faithfully, and Kele looked as if he'd been working out a lot (he seems to be twice the size he was only a few years back) but there was really no sense of the new members actually giving the band a shot in the arm or a renewed sense of purpose or anything. It just felt like (and to me, was) Bloc Party doing Bloc Party badly with 50% of the original line-up, with Okereke dominating as per usual. I just wondered why they were even doing it, given that Kele has a solo career. Personnel wise, I can see them turning into The Smashing Pumpkins, with a revolving door of people coming and going with Kele Okereke dominating. Thing is, though, at least The Smashing Pumpkins can still make decent music.

It's genuinely astonishing how bad they are. It's not like I ever want to put the first album on any more but every subsequent record is just full of these comically terrible musical and lyrical decisions.

The Smashing Pumpkins can still make decent music.

Let's not get carried away.

I still think Intimacy is an underrated record, though, and probably their best after Silent Alarm - 'Signs' is one of the best things they ever did, IMO.

Let's not get carried away.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, October 12, 2015 7:06 PM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm not! I thought Oceania was the best Pumpkins record for a very long time. I didn't like Zeitgeist and I wasn't fond of the last one, but Oceania at least showed that Billy could still come up with the goods when he wanted to.

This new Bloc Party track, though: dreadful. It doesn't seem to be much of a song to begin with, but I can't listen to that sliding synth part with a straight face at all. It sounds like someone who has never used a synth before getting off on just hammering the keys and playing with the pitch wheel and thinking "yeah, this sounds fucking great!" - No, no it does not.

Well, to be fair, that description would fit a lot of the very best synth music. But yeah, this song is pretty dreadful.

i think the second album is underrated & really if you think about, like, the 1975 and years & years was pretty ahead of its time in some respects as far as british pop/rock goes

('Bloc Party MKII', as Kele referred to it)

Please tell me he went all out and threw in a 'hope you like our new direction' comment on top of that.

Relistened to Four yesterday and it sounded better than I remember. This, though...yikes.

xpost:

Sadly not, although there was a bit of an awkward interview segment in the middle if I remember, where there were, I guess, meant to be questions from the audience, but only one audience member got to ask a question which was "which is your favourite Bloc Party song to perform live?" ... and Kele was all like "well, I guess it would be different for all of us", and thus went around the stage with the mic asking everyone on the stage what their favourite Bloc Party song was to perform live. It seemed like he was very keen to present the new line-up as a healthy, democratic unit. I think one of 'em said "I can't wait to perform the new stuff live" and Kele said "exciting times" with all the excitement of someone who wasn't particularly excited.

There was a trio of backing singers onstage too, if I remember.

I like this, it sounds a bit like some late 60s proto prog thing like Egg or Caravan?

I dunno, they are stuck between not being a 'heritage' act reuniting, and also not being a current hit band back after a sabbatical.

It wouldn't matter if the new album was a cough cough NEWORDER cough cough excuse me style return to form, the genpub kinda care how cold you are..

has there ever been a band so completely unaware of their own strengths or so keen to avoid them

this sounds so hilariously terrible on first listen that i really want to know what their thinking was behind it

i think the second album is underrated & really if you think about, like, the 1975 and years & years was pretty ahead of its time in some respects as far as british pop/rock goes

It's... nothing like those acts though?

Shit this is bad.

I loved that first album so much ten years ago (ten years!). And pretty much everything since has been disappointing, if not outright risible.

there's a vague similarity in terms of ambitions between A Weekend in the City and the 1975 i guess but the 1975 are more successful with it

"cain said to abel" is prob my fav bloc party song and i have no idea why it's a b-side, lots of miscalculation in this band's post-silent alarm career

Matt Tong was always Bloc Party's mvp. Now he plays with Algiers, so he knows what's up.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 12 October 2015 19:00 (2 days ago) Permalink

Completely agree re: Matt's drumming, and was wondering where he'd show up. Thanks for that.

Yeah, Tong's drumming was one of the main reasons I became so enthusiastic about this band circa Silent Alarm. I recall hearing 'So Here We Are' for the first time, and thought that it was wonderful how the intro suggested that the track was going to be a certain way rhythmically, and then the drums kicked in and immediately changed the vibe of the whole track. I haven't listened to 'So Here We Are' for a long while, but just thinking about it, and then comparing it to that new track posted above, the gulf in quality between the two is beyond vast.

Completely agree re: Matt's drumming, and was wondering where he'd show up. Thanks for that.

the algiers album came out this year and is extremely good fyi

Matt doesn't drum on the album I think: he plays live with them. Assume he'll be on the next record.

When I saw BP on the Silent Alarm tour his drumming was the highlight. Just nuts.

xp yeah, he joined after the album. Should be fun to see them live going forward, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox68svCfm8k

If you thought The Love Within was bad, just wait until you hear this heap of dogshit.

Intro reminded me of Daft Punk's Instant Crush without all the good parts and then devolved into generic rubbish. What the heck happened to these guys? I was really pumped on their debut. Do they need more drugs or do they need to quit them or something?

What happened is their rhythm section bailed out and now Kele is making Russell stay and play guitar on his terrible new songs.

Jesus fucking christ, this new album is beyond terrible... fucking hell!

'Fortress' may just be one of Kele's most cringeworthy set of lyrics to date...

These sheets of ours shield our bodies like a fortress
They keep us safe from harm
Intertwined, our bodies lay there like a comma
The arch of your back invites desire
We put our bodies to the test
Follow the curve right down your neck
Your sweet, my sweat stuck in a web
And in the mirror, you relent
It's teasing me with every step
Reach down and feel how strong my love grows just for you

Pull me under, under the ocean
Cover my mouth with yours
Put it on me like no one's watching
Like it's the first time
And on the street, our bodies ache for one another
I just can't wait 'til we're alone, mmm mmm

And I'm a fool for the sight of all the gold between your thights
You still the sea that's stirring deep in me
Make your base right here, next to me
As our notes blend in harmony
And when we sex, we hear the beat
And it's so serene

Pull me under, under the ocean
Cover my mouth with yours
Put it on me like no one's watching
Like it's the first time
And if you're hungry, devour your morsel
Cover my mouth with yours
Put it one me like no one's watching
Like it's the first time
Pull me under, under the ocean
Cover my mouth with yours
Put it on me like no one's watching
Like it's the first time we kissed

^ Farking hell!

*thights=thighs.

Shit, he's used a "fungi"/"fun guy" pun in another song. No, really!

This fennel tea that you bought for me
Well, it does its magic discretely
I wrote this song for you, it's true
In our only south facing room
See, I don't know what the future holds
But I hope we face it together
Cause rock and roll has got so old
Just give me neo-soul

[Chorus]
Into the earth, our bodies will go
We got to keep it all fluid
Into the earth, our bodies will go
You're gonna keep me good-looking

[Verse 2]
You've seen the colour of my cash
Does it not impress? Was I way too flash?
Are you backing away
From me?
Calm down, Yoshi, the fungi
Is helping this fun-guy deliver
When I get high, I dance all night
I'll sing you Al Green songs
I'm just trying to gently blur the lines
With my trusty sensimilia
Don't be so jaded or so coy
When you could just be familiar

Shirtless and faded on the Champs-Élysées
The world was ours then
I had conviction, but you, you had style
Such a lethal combination
The years changed us, the money weighed us down
We lost our way
Let me spoil you, pick a place to go
I want to spend my money on you

And don't you remember
How this began?
You begged me for a chance
Don't waste your sorry
No, don't waste your goodbyes
Tonight
From hand to mouth and now
We're living lux

I order the lobster, and you, the Moët
The waitress thinks that we can't pay, no
What does she know? Our pockets are full-grown
And we've earned the right to fine dine
So raise your glass, my old friend
For we both know that this is the end
For the times we fought and the times we shared
I'll sing you a song the way I used to then

Don't you remember
How this began?
You begged me for a chance
Don't waste your sorry
No, don't waste your goodbyes
Tonight
From hand to mouth and now
We're living lux
We're living lux

............

ok i wasn't even going to listen to this but y'all convinced me

:D

it sucks bc at least half of four is great imo

In terms of the sheer gulf between aspiration and achivement he is probably the single worst British lyricist of the last decade, and that's really saying something.

OK I'm listening to the whole thing now, skipping the first song which we all already know is dogshit.

Why. Does. He. Feel. The. Need. To. Stop. Bet. Ween. Eve. Ry. Syll. A. Ble. He. Sings?

It was bad enough when he stole an unreleased Richey Manic line for 'Where Is Home?' ("I want to cut off the feet off every ballerina") or the "eat your cancer" line from 'Heart Shaped Box'... on this one, he steals/rearranges the "we take the pills to find each other" line from Suede's 'New Generation'

I'm on track three and it's like this is supposed to be some sort of Jamie Woon-James Blake coffee table dubsoul thing, but he doesn't have voice of the former and the even rudimentary production skills of the latter.

Fourth track is the sort of clumpy midpaced twangy rocker that you expect from bands with no ideas left.

Every day is a repeat
Like a carrier bag stuck in a tree
I used to find my answers
In the gospels of St. John
But now I find them at the bottom
Of this shot glass

"so real" is ok

"the good news" is like who invited this band to become black rebel motorcycle club

The music to Fortress is even worse than the lyrics, unsurprising limp dick James Blake sex-ballad.

Also Kele Okerere is a man in his mid-30s using 'sex' as a verb.

wow i could be listening to the entire years & years album instead of "fortress"

Different Drugs is actually... pretty good, in that I've not found myself immediately compelled to turn it off. Would be way better with Katy or Jessie singing it obviously, and sometimes you really do need to ditch the drummer. I like the bit where he sings "do you still think of me fondly?" like he's addressing some maiden aunt he never really sees.

"different drugs" IS good. would've fit on a weekend in the city

Into The Earth reminds me of something, wacky 1999-ish West Coast types in Hawaiian shirts/too baggy trousers/stupid thick ties. Or maybe just the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

jeez it's kinda stunning how much "different drugs" towers over everything else i've heard on this record

i think i'd have preferred it if this record were entirely bad tbh

didn't need a brief glimpse of kele's few remaining good sensibilities

Shitting hell quoting Robyn S like that is just indefensible.

This sounds like the kind of record a band releases before they finally admit the game is up and piss off.

I order the lobster, and you, the Moët
The waitress thinks that we can't pay, no
What does she know? Our pockets are full-grown
And we've earned the right to fine dine

The rhyme of Moet with pay is worthy of Rakim in his prime.

The music got too shit for me to possibly carry on but I cannot imagine any record company agreeing to release that if it hadn't come from a band who have already sold however many million albums.

Yup, totally agree. This is quite comfortably the worst new album I've heard so far this year, actually... I know we're only a couple of months in, but still!

i always thought BP the band were better than kele on the whole. but these lyrics really make me want to listen to the new one.

New single played on 6music as we drove to work. As it finished Em said simply "That was shit. What happened to them?"

this might all explain is why kele looks so unhappy/pissed off in all their recent publicity shots.

He is also now absolutely MASSIVE, like he's been pumping steroids and sacks of satsumas straight into his muscles. I'm always slightly suspicious of people who bulk up like that.

he sounded like hes been having a bit of an ongoing personal/identity crisis in that NME interview, which might be related to his new beefiness.

i think different drugs is meant to be his unfinished symphony, the phrasing is very similar to shara nelson.

fortress is good actually. prob his best, most tender singing on this album from what ive heard so far (im not really listening to the lyrics, which might help). its a tiny bit like fka twigs' closer. is his solo stuff like this? i think i might like it more than the BP album if so.

the other guy from the original line up has gone kind beefy as well, he used to be a super-scrawny pencil neck indie kid

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b3gDjVR8bTc/UPkLaq983RI/AAAAAAAAFu8/NfSF2KFBEjg/s400/2+Bloc+straight+cream.jpg

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/news/59763/a6d59e64.jpg

(he's the one on the far right in both pictures)

wait, second from the right in the first picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcEsqSr0jG0

Oh ffs what even is this band anymore

A band that's completely over, yet they still keep on going...

Any thoughts on Kele's _Fatherland_? Has a real nice streak from tracks 6-10 (less 7). "Yemaya", track 6, has a Shack musical vibe that I love, but it's also very much the album's highpoint for me, though the track with Corinne Bailey Rae (# 8, "Versions of Us") is lovely.

there you go-go
looking like a snack
cute like bambi
meet me in the boom boom room

intimacy sounds great today

Their best

fuck, are you right????

no way!!! half is good-to-great but the other half is mediocre-to-'wtf were they thinking'

Could barely make it through one listen of this album. Such a huge fall off from Silent Alarm to Weekend in the City to this

possible that "talons," "better than heaven," and "ion square" (plus "letter to my son") are tricking me into thinking this but... those songs are sooooo good

yeah those tracks (and "trojan horse" and "signs") are all very good but still like, what the fuck is "mercury", what the fuck is "ares", why does "one month off" sound like a very weird remix of "banquet" and so on

Ares and Mercury <3

Setting Sun and Peek-a-Boo getting on very well in the late summer heat.

you get sadder
the smarter you get
and it's a bore

intimacy really became one of my favorite albums of all time in the last five months, lol

wild that you bumped this today! I was thinking about and listening to Bloc Party yesterday

i think i've restated a million times itt why post-silent alarm bloc party doesn't "work" for me on the same level as silent alarm only to develop special and personal relationships with all of those records*. even four, which has no cohesion whatsoever but the songs are still really good

i listened to intimacy probably two or three times in college and found it hard to get past the brash and dissonant opening (i also think i heard it before "talons" was added to the tracklist, so crucial to the album's functioning), but now i love those songs, especially "ares," which seems to be running off the fumes of the apocalyptic stakes from weekend in the city, exuding so much cultural exhaustion there's nothing to do but to retreat into the interpersonal and intimate, thus the rest of the record. they also do such a good job of staking out the sonic parameters of the record, recognizably bloc party but manipulated and fragmented by machines, just as machines mediate the relationships that form and dissolve over the course of the record — i'm not sure any of the lyrics support this suggestion but the overwhelming vibe of the record to me is "sneaking a glance at your partner's texts and finding out more than you bargained for"

*og lineup only, tho who can say, can't see it happening but maybe catch me in five years repping hymns lol

their tiny desk had a relatively new (2023) song on it and i really liked it!!!! so here i am listening to latter day bloc party. hymns isn't so bad, mostly suffers from its dedication to minimalism and the midtempo, but "different drugs" is astonishing

lol i forgot i listened to it at the time and liveblogged it upthread

i'm gonna drop "different drugs" in a dj set one day and everyone will be like "what is this amazing song" and i will be like "latter day bloc party"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p8T7JT8LK0

really good tiny desk btw