Bloc Party: C/D?

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I think the epitome of the emo uneasiness I'm experiencing with the record is on track two or three where all the instrumentation drops and the lead singer squeals, "So fuckin' useless!" I mean, I don't mind it all that much-- it just sets off my Third Eye Blind sensors...

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.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

poortheatre, the price of gas is not in dollars! It is in blooooood.

That said, I like the song.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Re: that song I do really like the ambiguity of the “we’re gonna win this” cry.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Paul McCartney had a song called "The Pound Is Sinking." (It's great.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(Seriously.)

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

It's... okay.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 00:06 (twenty-one years ago)

(The album, I mean. I'm just starting to get burned out on anything remotely mid-'80s-UK-ish unless it has a murder-you-to-death 4/4.)

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 00:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I posted something about this in another thread, but the Bloc Party are playing in NYC this weekend for the Motherfucker Party they throw every holiday. I've never been, but it's apparently a good time.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

better than that, ned!!!! < /hopeful>

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Yowsa!

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

Trust me, Go West weren't all that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 02:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Just finished listening to the album for the first time and I think it's great. I just think it's a shame that the drums sound so flabby - a bit more attack on the kick and snare particularly could make a huge improvement.

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.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 13:15 (twenty-one years ago)

If anyone gives a toss, this is probably my joint favourite album of the year so far, together with Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind by Fast 'n' Bulbous.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

this album broke my cd drive, fact. I kinda irrationally hate the bloc party and their music now.

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Just found out there's a hidden track before "Like Eating Glass" on the V2 (UK/Euro) version of the disc. Anyone heard it yet?

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 February 2005 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

My guess would be that its Little Thoughts.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 17 February 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Nah, people on the Bloc Party LJ forum who'd be familiar with Little Thoughts have no idea what track this might be.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 17 February 2005 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i feel like a bit of a lone voice, but after trying desperately hard to like it, i still think it is nowhere near as good as they promised. i made a comp for a friend of all the singles and b-sides just before the album got leaked and that is so much better than the album itself. there's too many pedestrian tracks that just seem to chug along at mid-tempo to nowhere.

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.

― fsharp (fsharp), Thursday, 17 February 2005 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Just found out there's a hidden track before "Like Eating Glass" on the V2 (UK/Euro) version of the disc. Anyone heard it yet?

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.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Friday, 18 February 2005 03:33 (twenty-one years ago)

it's a shame 'little thoughts' isn't on the album, it's very poppy compared to their other stuff but it's probably my second favourite song of theirs too

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Friday, 18 February 2005 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, now they're saying it's "American Kids," a song which has appeared on the Bloc Party site in snippet form for the last year.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 18 February 2005 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe I haven't given this album a fair hearing yet. But my initial reaction is yes it's OK but I really don't understand the massive hype these people are getting. Bloc Party is yet another retro rock band, not really advancing on what the post-punk bands of 25 years ago were doing.

― TCB, Monday, 21 February 2005 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I would like to formally disown any comments made to Alex Macpherson suggesting I thought Bloc Party were good. I was wrong.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 21 February 2005 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Bloc Party is yet another retro rock band, not really advancing on what the post-punk bands of 25 years ago were doing...except that being a contemporary interpretation of what was, Bloc Party's lyrics are more relevant to today's socio-political landscape and their production is glossier, cleaner, more dynamic.

― nader (nader), Monday, 21 February 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The hidden track is three minutes of ambient guitar meandering and minimal piano - pretty is the word.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

The Japanese CD has M83 and Four Tet remixes. That I downloaded yesterday. My Euro copy stops abruptly at 1m 20s of the last track (13). Is that how it should be?

― JoB (JoB), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 10:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope they don't all abruptly stop at 1m 20s of "Compliments" - the Euro edition's on its way from Amazon UK. (That latter bit rhymed.)

― Ain't Un-nice (nader), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 13:51 (twenty-one years ago)

these guys KILLED when i saw them live on sunday. beyond that, i have no interest in hearing this album.

― joseph (joseph), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I would like to formally disown any comments made to Alex Macpherson suggesting I thought Bloc Party were good. I was wrong.

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.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually really like the first 3 songs or so, then it becomes a blur.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 17:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Japanese CD has M83 and Four Tet remixes."

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.. .. . .

― Bent Over at the Arclight, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Haaa ha! Those comments were slightly shocking, yes."

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.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Bows! Hey that reminds me Tim there's a new Music AM release about out, did you ever hear them? It was good to hear Luke Sutherland singing again.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

What is it about these allegedly pro forma recitation[s] of current post-punk bands and artists that makes them so consistently and immediately polarizing and/or easily dismissed?

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?

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I ask because, for example, Interpol seems to (have) elicit(ed) similar streams of love and/or hate.

― nader (nader), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

For the record, I don't think they slot very neatly into the realm of rote repetition of post-punk moves, or anything. That's part of what I was trying to get at when I reviewed them: they seem to have a kind of Big Rock Band ambition that's a lot more modern, whereas bands like Interpol stick to the stripped-down eighth-note thing. Another way of putting this is that Bloc Party are more like late Bunnymen than early Bunnymen (I almost typed "Bummymen") -- they like to show you that they're good with their instruments, that they can write complicated little transitions, etc. It's almost a U2 quality. Part of it's just that, well, while most bands in this vein have to have guitars chugging along the chord sequence, Bloc Party can actually let the rhythm section carry everything and just use the guitars for complex color (always an Ambitious Rock move); most of it, though, comes in my opinion from their just being kind of unembarrassed about having Big Rock Band ambitions, as opposed to Stylish Scrappy Pop Group ones.

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 22 February 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree with Nabisco here - what I hear in this record in an interest in texture and rhythm that's largely absent from most of their contemporaries. Listening to second half of Price of Gas or the build on So Here We Are, there's a sense of openness - I get the feeling that a record or two down the line other influences will seep in and take things on a different course, whereas I can't imagine The Strokes or Interpol ever making a record that deviates hugely from what they've already done.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

My problem with them is primarily that they make a fucking unlistenable tuneless racket.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 10:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm supposed to like them because they sound like late Bunnymen and U2?

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Will their (very surprising) number one album spark a backlash??

Or did the backlash already exist?

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 10:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the whole early 80's rip off thing, and the album would be fine without that whining vocalist.

― dmun, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 10:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Will their (very surprising) number one album spark a backlash?

It was number three...

― JoB (JoB), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 12:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel the same as Tim, I liked the single alot but having played the album in the shop a few times I find it a real racket.

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.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

hmm... i think that's the point

― elwisty (elwisty), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 13:10 (twenty-one years ago)

It's the point and the problem both, is what I've been trying to say: they're good at traditional We Mean It grand-scale rock moves, but I'm no longer entirely sure who's content with traditional We Mean It grand-scale rock moves. I mean, I put something in my review about how there are still people complaining that Radiohead haven't been good since The Bends -- those are the people I can think of who'd be most enthralled by this record.

― nabiscothingy, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Am I really behind or has no one else not noticed that So Here We Are is very very similar to a couple of tracks off the last Explosions In The Sky album (except with vocals)?

― elwisty (elwisty), Monday, 28 February 2005 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Those lyrics Nick quotes in his Stylus review...

“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.

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 28 February 2005 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd never even connected those lyrics with Bush before reading that Stylus review.

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.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 28 February 2005 12:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i am SO late to this party (ha ha) but i stayed away cause i really didn't think i'd care. anyway, add my name to the list of "banquet"s fans - it's one of the best indie rock singles in yonks.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)

the Japanese release of the Little Thoughts EP is essential. other than "helicopter" it's all non-LP. both "little thoughts" and "tulips" are excellent, plus the b-side "skeleton" deserves a better audience too.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 March 2005 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

"My problem with them is primarily that they make a fucking unlistenable tuneless racket."

ON THE FUCKING MONEY

― chris sallis, Wednesday, 2 March 2005 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

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