Bloc Party - FOUR

Bloc Party's new album is out in late August and while the album trailer didn't excite me, the lead single Octopus is out and it's promising, if only because Kele seems to be functioning as part of the band again, a la Silent Alarm, instead of throwing his stuff overtop of already composed songs while being as wordy as possible. Ann Powers has heard the whole thing and quite liked it. I'm willing to see if the years off have revitalized them.

Kele's shout of "You! Done! Lost Yo Mind!" is kind of awesome.

http://youtu.be/TkeUFRK4i7w

Damnit. Trying that again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkeUFRK4i7w

I'm not in love with this song, but I agree that it feels like they're a unit again instead of just a Kele Okereke support system. Maybe I'll find some good things in other parts of the album.

they're really naming the album FOUR?

http://991.com/newGallery/Blues-Traveller-Four-424724.jpg

Lol, although, tbh, I think it says more about you immediately recalling that album than it does about a band naming their fourth album Four.

helped that both bands start with "bl"

and have two word names without a "the"

beyonce also named her fourth album 4, i'm cool w/ it

I mean, Beyoncé named her fourth album 4.

i like this song a lot... it doesn't explode w/ a hook or anything but it the production is good and it's just a good direction for them to go in

I love that no matter how many years pass, j0rdan and I will continue to stan for Bloc Party in the hopes that we get another Silent Alarm.

This is pretty much what happened on the thread for Intimacy, complete with an album liveblog.

i pre-ordered that album, lol

I'll stan for that record any day

intimacy?

Which, Owen? I'll Stan for most of them? All of Silent Alarm and Weekend in the City (especially the b-sides from those sessions, because Rhododendrons elicits feelings). Intimacy was more hit and miss for me, although Signs, in retrospect, is one of the best ballads they've done.

Weekend did have some really good b-sides...many of which were better than tracks on the proper album.

Yeah, I downloaded a fan-made compilation somewhere (I think it was Another Weekend in the City) that compiled all the B-sides and I remember liking it better than the album proper. I need to find that again.

I don't know why, but I get more uncomfortable with songs as Kele's lyrics get less abstract. Intimacy had some gorgeous moments, but some of the lines felt like clunkers. (that said, I need to think about whether it's just a discomfort with things I perceive as corny or some sort of internalized homophobia bullshit where I get uncomfortable with naked displays of queer corniness in song. I mean, probably not, given that I love Lupercalia and Special Affections, but who knows?)

both 'weekend' and 'another weekend' are amazing

Jon - I have Another Weekend in the City. When I'm not on my phone I'll try to get it to you.

I wonder if they'll try to arrange "Tenderoni" in a Bloc Party style to live performance. Prolly not, as Kele's solo recordings are probably a sore spot, but that song is too good to be wasted.

Jon - I have Another Weekend in the City. When I'm not on my phone I'll try to get it to you.

That would be fantastic. I was looking through my external drives for this a few weeks ago with no luck.

I remember seeing them do this on Jools Holland when Intimacy came out, I just felt really embarrassed for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pU5nrudJIU

Oh, whoops, I'll stan for Silent Alarm, start to finish.

me too!

There are some singers you want to look in the face and say "I wish I had as great a bunch of musicians behind me as you do right now"

I don't know why, but I get more uncomfortable with songs as Kele's lyrics get less abstract. Intimacy had some gorgeous moments, but some of the lines felt like clunkers

THIS!

Silent Alarm really is a great album.

Oh, whoops, I'll stan for Silent Alarm, start to finish.

― is capybara gay? (Ówen P.), Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

me too!

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And me. It was excellent.

Agreed. And I can fire up "Banquet" at any point and think it's the greatest thing ever. I may just do that now...

YES! Banquet is just perfect. I remember being completely blown away by it in 2004 (?ish) and just listening to it on repeat.

I see they'll playing in a couple of weeks here with Skrillex. Yeah...no.

i remember downloading the first bloc party album when it leaked in late 2004 and sending it to my friend who said it was good but i don't think i ever listened to it, i was pretty much just listening to 'vacation' by excepter and 'beaches and canyon' and at some point it would have been deleted

then after bloc party were no more, kele okereke made an 'electro' album

I have a soft spot for post-"Silent Alarm" stuff, too. BP are to my mind a primo example of a band who have overlooked (or deliberately ignored) their considerable strengths as they evolved... that is, their strengths as I have selfishly identified them. Hearing a song like "Flux" and thinking "oh? this is the music you wanted to make?" and then having it be their first #1 single is really interesting!

And for what it's worth, despite what you may have thought of "Tenderoni" or w/e, Kele as a solo performer was really fantastic in the live setting

"Banquet" and "Helicopter" certainly call up a time and place for me (early '05) more than other contemporary songs.

"flux" is fucking amazing as well

how does "So Here We Are" take the best parts of Travis and Coldplay and survive?

My other favourite thing about Bloc Party is that the second time I saw them live, they were selling shirts that were solid royal blue with "Bloc Party." written in large white letters across the front, and if there is a more unintentionally amusing shirt to wear while strolling around anywhere in Québec, I have yet to determine what it would be.

i thought they broke up?

glad that there is some new stuff coming out.

New single's OK, but so far Silent Alarm is still all the Bloc Party I or anyone else should need.

listening to 'silent alarm' tonight... has to be one of the five best rock records since 2000

I'm not really feeling the new single much, but listening to it/reviewing it for the juxebox did at least lead me back to this for the first time in years, for which I'm grateful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EAuaMVLEvc

huh I never actually heard Silent Alarm in its entirety

silent alarm was great, saw them about three times during that era.

wanted to like octopus, kinda did, ultimately got annoyed by the lyrical intonation + kele faces and didn't finish video

i recall being really proud of myself of being able to hold my spot up front at one concert by convincing someone to go buy my drink for me if i got his too. i was also like 24.

Four leaked.
It's weird.

Nothing surprises me with these guys anymore.

The deeper in I get, the more schizo this album becomes. I mean, in a vacuum, these songs aren't inherently weird. In relation to what they've recorded in the past and where Kele was coming from with his solo work, Four is kind of a throw-everything-at-the-wall album, though. Sometimes that's the kind of thing that actually rewards repeated listens, but I have no idea how to process this right now.

"Day 4" is pretty nice.

Bits of this sound like...Jawbreaker?!

Actually, the closing track is a dead ringer for Death From Above 1979.

Bits remind me of At the Drive-In.

3x3 definitely does.

Digging a couple remixes of Octopus better than the original edit. didn't like the second song they released at all.

Silent Alarm had a full remix album that wasn't half bad!

They also released the instrumentals from Silent Alarm (and Weekend too, iirc). It's cool to hear how they work as a band w/o distraction from a singer.

this record makes zero sense and i kind of love it

probably never going to listen to it again but still

^^this is pretty much it exactly.

i felt bad i saw they had a new record on spotify! man they were a buzz band once! :(

i never liked them that much or anything but they didn't seem to be a part of the problem

actually i listened to it a second time!

i liked it but then i listened to the b-sides of a weekend in the city and promptly forgot it

This is awful, the gap between what they're attempting to do and what they're actually achieving is bigger than ever.

aw man you didn't like the enormous emo track

lol I got to review this album

fucking abysmal

he has the actual worst voice known to man

i thought your review was really even-handed given that, i don't know, when i hate someone's voice i cannot listen to that band, fuck you for making me

ayo "v.a.l.i.s." is a great song