Bloc Party: Do they deserve the hype?

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Is Bloc Party worthy of all the hype they're getting?

― cdwill, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:19 (twenty-two years ago)

sort of

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i know of no hype. stop reading the music press. i totally love all the bloc party i've heard (the first three singles)

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:26 (twenty-two years ago)

there's one song with some whining i don't like. love everything else.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

A fair amount of the hype in the US is probably coming from me. I can't stop myself!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:33 (twenty-two years ago)

i mean, why not listen to the band and decide for yourself if you like them or not?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:37 (twenty-two years ago)

silly cutty, sense is for non-ilm kids!

― experimental grandma (deangulberry), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Um, this is a discussion board. We pose questions here to get people talking about a particular topic. In this case, that topic is Bloc Party.

You assume that I haven't heard Bloc Party. You're wrong.

― cdwill, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

well, here's a thread that talks about their music, not about "hype"

Bloc Party: C/D?

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

k thanx, but I'm wondering what people on this board think.

If you don't have an opinion, don't reply.

― cdwill, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

THAT IS THIS BOARD.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:44 (twenty-two years ago)

If they're the band I'm thinking of (indie band with a black singer) they're really not very good, based on the one song I've heard.

I was aware of no hype.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

yes wooden, they are indie band with black singer!

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh. Well, they're not very good.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Based on the one song I've heard.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Of course.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

what song? banquet owns, and 'she's hearing voices' does joy division better than interpol ever will

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i like 'em quite a bit, although there are definitely some emo tendencies lurking in the background. the singer sometimes gets a bit screamy in the fall-on-the-ground-and-roll-in-anguish way.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 10:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I like them - there's definite potential there, if they can find a way to stop the singer sounding like he's struggling to be heard above the rest of the band. When I saw them live the the guitarist sounded like he had aspirations in the Kevin Shields/Jonny Greenwood wall of droney noise direction that was a bit at odds with everything else, so the album could be interesting.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 11:29 (twenty-two years ago)

It screams too much "limited shelf-life" for me, but 1 time out of 3, I'll be glad to hear "Banquet" (dunno for how long though). Can't say I'm super excited over their EP however.

― alex in montreal, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

they should change their name to blog party

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

or block party!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I know them personally and can vouch that they deserve 82% of the hype they have recieved. No more, no less.

― experimental grandma (deangulberry), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Irritating singer, decent musical backing.

― Steev (Steev), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

please focus on whether they deserve the hype!

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I was wrong upthread. My math is bad. It's somewhere around 73 or 74%.

― experimental grandma (deangulberry), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

MORE LIKE SUCK PARTY.

― DEEBZ (ddb), Thursday, 21 October 2004 18:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Bloc Party's gonna need some aloe for that BURN!

― Clusterfuck at the Baja Fresh Salsa Bar (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 21 October 2004 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The main problem with Bloc Party they have tendency to slip into post-punk karaoke. So you get impersonations of Joy Division, The Cure etc.

Whilst this is likely to generate appeal to younger listeners, those of my generation and older, demand more.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 21 October 2004 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

Bloc Party is an autonomous unit of un-extraordinary kids reared on pop culture between the years of 1976 and the present day. Like many such kids, between them they eventually concluded that their own attempts to imitate what had informed them could be construed as a worthy variation on the many forms that preceded. They do everything that's required to conform to the currently received ideas of what a band is: ostensibly to play instruments at the same time, but also have a title for the work created.

Kele picked up a guitar when his hands enabled him to do so and his brain gave him the inclination. Russell had already done as much beforehand when they met in 1998. In the fine print of music papers and in telephone conversations they enabled meetings with Gordon and Matt who also had ideas of some relevance to bring to the collective effort. In this sense a band was created.

Henceforth should follow a list of auteurs and musicians that figured in the formative minds of the four as they went about their work. But to do as much seems churlish in an already self-referential world. 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.

Kele Okereke - D.O.B 13.10.81 - Instrument: Voice and guitar - Informed by "Talking Heads, Kate Bush, Bjork, Kraftwerk, David Bowie, Dizzee Rascal " ...email Kele

Russell Lissack - D.O.B 11.03.81 - Instrument: Guitar - Informed by "Suede, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, New Order, The Smiths, Prince, Weezer, Escaflowne"...email Russell

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

Matt Tong - D.O.B 29.04.79 - Instrument: Drums - Informed by "Polvo, Neil Young, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, Dinosaur Jr (the early stuff), pitch 'n' putt, AFC Bournemouth, Taco Bell, driving, summer, tennis, Richard Brautigan, Dead Meadow and Big Star" ...email Matt

― houseparty2, Friday, 24 December 2004 03:42 (twenty-one years ago)

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