Bloc Party's New Album

[thelastgreatman]

Thoughts? I'm rather digging it, at least I'm digging it a lot more than I did the last one, although Banquet really put the zap on me for some reason. I thnk I was tweaking the weekend when I heard it and so it literally got put on repeat for like 60 hours straight. The weekend before that it had been In A Big Country doing the same thing, but I digress...

I know they just played last year and all and that they've become almost annoyingly popularly indie, but anyone think there's a shot they might get added this year? I didn't see 'em last year for whatever reason, but some of their concert footage looks fun, and I think this album has a lot more to it.

[desphrs]

Silent Alarm and A Weekend in the City are both great, for different reasons. With Silent Alarm it was the production -- the buzzsaw guitars, Matt Tong sounding like he was using 7 hands to pound 3 drumkits. On A Weekend in the City it's all about Kele Okereke's vocals and lyrics, both masterful IMO.

It's rare enough for artists to appear at back-to-back fests, but three times? Except for Perry Farrell, I say no. And apparently, so does Pollstar:

04/27/07 - Paris, FRA
04/28/07 - Utrecht, NET
04/30/07 - Copenhagen, DEN

[jjbaldwi]

bloc party was one of the best shows at coachella the last 2 years. they put on a great show with tons of energy. sucks they're not there again

[R3d Snapper]

I was really impressed by their energy last year. The fact that the crowd was really receptive made it a great performance.

[MonsoonSeason]

bloc party's new album is probably the biggest disappointment of the year. I hated it. It's like they sat down Kele and said, "okay, I need you to unsharpen your teeth and write some overly flowery bullshit." to which Kele responded, "well okay as long as I can make one song on the album and all of the b-sides not on the album kick some ass." weekend in the city has some of the weakest writing of the 2007 albums thus far and I am very, very glad that I saw block party at intonation before they started to tour with this material

[C DUB YA]

Agreed - I'm super disappointed with - its crazy hard to listen to because its sooo bad. I LOVED the first one, so that makes the whole thing even crappier.

[MonsoonSeason]

I still listen to Silent Alarm and shake my head, like, "what just fucking happened?"

[MonsoonSeason]

also you have 1337 posts! cheers!

[boyalien0]

Silent Alarm is better, but I wouldn't write off Weekend so quickly. It really is a solid album. A slight sophomore slump is forgiven in Arcade Fire but not Bloc Party, huh?

[jjbaldwi]

Silent Alarm is better, but I wouldn't write off Weekend so quickly. It really is a solid album. A slight sophomore slump is forgiven in Arcade Fire but not Bloc Party, huh?

good point

[thelastgreatman]

Really, Monsoon? Hmm, well, we disagree obviously, but it ain't worth debating really--music's music. I rather like the theme of the new album, dissecting his generation's culture who've resigned themselves to lives consisting of working all week at shitty jobs that don't interest or fulfill them at all, their only release/goal being to reach the weekend so they can get fucked up and try to have meaningless sex. Certainly it's not like that's a completely original thought for him to be using as the concept for the album--what has man ever done but labor just as much as is necessary to permit diversions (frequently intoxicative diversions) and chase 'tang--but I still feel it a worth subject matter. It's quite bizarre what all this civilization has grown into when you look at the lifestyles it seems to produce now, where practically nobody's work anymore actually involves producing survival. Instead luxury, convenience, and bureaucracy are how most of us make the money we need to afford the other luxuries, conveniences, and bureaucracies that make up the world economy. Then we end up The Debt Generation, all carrying at least 10 g's in credit card debt (generalizing I know, but frighteningly accurate) before we're 27 because we're no longer concerned about necessities, just excessities.

P.S. Looks like this is going to be the first in what will probably be an ongoing trend of Adderall-fueled tangential ramblings I do on this board. Like, even more rambling than before. I'd apologize, but on the other hand, you're welcome.

[jjbaldwi]

hey lastgreatman, how many coachellas will 07 make for you?

[MonsoonSeason]

First of all, addressing Arcade Fire: I don't think that the Arcade Fire went into a sophmore slump at all. In fact, I think that Neon Bible is a good example that many bands should attempt, if'n they want to slow down their work to "emphasize meaning." It's personal, it's more musically significant, and it's not so poetic as to crush the weight of the actual speaker.

The problem with Bloc Party's new album is that while simultaneously trying to make their music breathe more openly and slow down a bit, they totally lost their focus. Instead of directly charging his listeners, perhaps even assaulting his listeners with the idea that they must change their lives or they'll suffer the consequences (of being unfulfilled) like in their debut, he instead focuses inward, preferring to illustrate the portrait of the very same disillusioned person to which he wanted to speak. We've lost the imperative (save for Uniform) and now we're stuck on general speculation.

This might not be too bad if it weren't for over flowery songwriting changing the character of Weekend in the City. We're supposed to believe that this character couldn't find himself out of a rut with lines like: "Because East London is a vampire / It sucks the joy right out of me / How we long for corruption / In these golden years;" "If I could do it again, I'd make more mistakes / I'd not be so scared of falling / If I could do it again, I'd climb more trees / I'd pick and I'd eat more wild blackberries;" or "With you I am cut from a pearl in your oyster / Head on my chest a silent smile, a private kind of happiness / You see giant proclamations are all very well / But our love is louder than words." This dude is very obviously aware of his predicament. He has the ability to change himself, he has the want to change, to be something new, but what does he do? He confines himself, he stays all bottled up. This totally negates Bloc Party's previous message in Silent Alarm! There's nothing at stake for the character, there's no drive, and therefore there's no reason to care for the character.

But, y'know, these are just the lyrics--if it's still fun to listen to, who cares? Sadly, especially sadly, they've changed up all of the music, too. It's boring, it's slow, it's droll, all to match the new mood of the lyrics. Once again, with the exception of Uniform, most of the tracks seemingly dip into one another, plodding along and not really adding too much to the pallete that Kele begins to paint with his lyrics. While TAF decided to slow it down while simultaneously adding more intriguing instrumentation and arrangements, Bloc Party gives it its all with the standard four-piece arrangements, but now slower.. for more emphasis!

So that takes out dancing, lyrics, and message for me. What I'm left with is a bunch a kick-ass b-sides, one good album track, and a whole mess of good ideas.

Sorry for ranting :/

[seanzie]

I would just like to point out, that have really enjoyed this thread.

I prefer the discussion types of topics with good reasoning, rather than stuff like "ur a bitch for not liking Bloc Party's new album." Or: "It is obvious that your music taste resembles that of a prepubesent, suburban girl in 1998."

good job to all.

As far as I am concerned, I enjoy Weekend, for the most part, some of the lyrics do seem a little bit "flowery" especially with "I still Remember" (although the video for it is awesome). All in all though, I like the CD, I dont think it is as good as silent alarm and frankly this last year has disappointed me with sophomore releases (The Futureheads, Kasabian, Bloc Party, Arcade Fire)...

Anyway I guess I will see you all in three weeks!

[mistdevil]

pretty good, saw them IN SF at the concourse.. venue sucked but they were good.. was pissed they didn't play blue light tho.. IT was on st. pattys day soo no bother.

but gotta say silent alarm > weekend in the city.

[Agent Orange]

It all sounds the same to me!

[mandelbaum]

I have no idea how someone can love Silent Alarm and then say that A Weekend in the City is terrible/bad. That makes zero sense. The albums aren't different enough that you can love the first and absolutely hate the second. Although it is popular these days to rag on the new album, so I'm sure that has a little to do with it.

[James]

I don't understand how any of you can love Silent Alarm, shit gets so old after like 3 listens. Bloc Party one of the worst popular indie bands out there.

[MonsoonSeason]

I have no idea how someone can love Silent Alarm and then say that A Weekend in the City is terrible/bad. That makes zero sense. The albums aren't different enough that you can love the first and absolutely hate the second. Although it is popular these days to rag on the new album, so I'm sure that has a little to do with it.

weekend sounds totally different from silent alarm and the ep for that matter. the music is less frantic and more driving, pulsing. it sounds warmer. kele even sounds different, slower, less venom more morose. the sound of the albums are like black and white--you can even see that in the album covers, hehe :D

also I like a lot of the sophmoric attempts: I liked futureheads' new one and arcade fire's new one.. can't think of many I haven't liked recently, save for BP

[thelastgreatman]

Fuck, Monsoon, I wrote this huge long response to your post (I love rambling myself, fuck all these people that bitch if you write full paragraphs) and then my browser fucked me and I lost it. We'll get into that in a second. In response to someone's question about how many Coachella's I've been to--just 06. I lived in New Jersey until June of 05, so it wasn't quite so feasible to come out. Now I refuse to miss one ever again, of course.

Okay, on to music...

Throwing in my two cents on Arcade Fire--I wasn't actually into them until very recently, when I saw their performance on the Coachella DVD. Slowly they've grown on me tremendously, but I think people are being way too hard on the new album. In particular, I actually like My Body Is A Cage best of all their songs but for a very specific purpose--soundtracking. As a filmmaker (re: aspiring filmmaker) the songs that I get the most pleasure from listening to are ones that I feel would be good sountrack material. Being able to play out a scene you've written in your head and planning it timed out to the music is a fantastic feeling, it's actually one of the reasons I decided to go into film instead of novels. There's nothing as powerful as the right song at the right time with the right picture. My Body Is A Cage is fucking perfect soundtrack material, I could put it into five different scenes in a few different movies I intend to make and it would fucking destroy every time. Also Windowsill I think is a really tight song, and No Cars Go is just tremendous fun although I've been given to understand that that's actually an old song they re-recorded for this album, so some might not count it. And I think Black Wave tripping is going to be fantastic. =)

Bloc Party--I can understand where you're coming from, Monsoon, although I think you're looking at it from a half-wrong perspective. I wonder if you noticed the references to Less Than Zero (Bret Easton Ellis's first book, if anyone didn't know, also made into a shitty movie) in the album. At least there's definitely some overt references to it on Song For Clay/Disappear Here.

To sum up if you haven't read the book (I'll explain why this is all relevant later): Clay is the main character, he is on winter break from an art school in the Northeast US and thus has had to come back home to the life of privilage (sp? Fuck dictionary.com right now) in Los Angeles he'd grown up in. Less Than Zero is a weird book, Ellis's worst in my opinion although it should be noted that he wrote it as part of a creative writing class at the age of 22. If you've never read Ellis it's very hard to explain the world he creates... Ellis's characters are all children of the wealthy and beautiful. They exist in an incredibly superficial subculture where everyone seems to have fucked everyone else, everyone does a lot of drugs and some get addicted and some don't but most do and some get REALLY addicted and some become male prostitutes to pay off their debts to drug dealers and lots of young, beautiful, wealthy 20ish people just hang out traveling from one party to another, never finding anything but increasing depths of depravity and excess and never anything resembling intimacy except brief flashes of memories they still hold from many years back when they seemed to have souls and now seemingly do not. It was a huge deal in the 80s, and Kele has mentioned in some interviews that Ellis's work had some influence on this album. That influence (and I'm not saying it's a hugely dominating influence, but an influence nonetheless) is very much a perfect example of the conflict you seem to be having with the album.

I love Ellis's work deeply, but he does suffer from some faults, one of them being the lack of character development you speak of in reference to the album. These people can see the shittiness of their lives, and can express how dearly they wish for something else, something deeper, but either don't man up to the task or perhaps are afraid of finding out that there might not be anything deeper out there, OR anything capable of depth within themselves. Of the three of those options, I find the last most interesting as a storyteller, but I think it probably has a lot to do with both Ellis's work and Kele's vocals (I haven't studied them as thoroughly as you, so I can't really dissect and interpret too much).

Having an album tell a story can make for the best albums, but rarely a really effective story. Even something like The Wall, just from listening to it I had no fucking clue the story it was supposed to be telling (I heard the album long before I saw the movie, and frankly the movie doesn't really tell much of a story either). So the idea of telling a story is great in that in the right hands it produces a good concept album which is always superior to a good non-concept album. Cohesiveness is key to truly great art. But to ask that an album really tell a story that has an arc to it where the character develops and changes is kinda a tricky request--you run the risk of leaving the audience behind, and then your story is only a story after they've read your explanation of it. There's also the question of what is the truer story to tell--the one where Kele's character stays stuck in his rut that he hates or the one where he breaks free.

Personally, I rather agree with how Kele went because to have him break free isn't really the story of these people he's talking about. They'll never get out, or at least the vast majority won't. This is the life of most of our generation, no matter what country you're in--working a job you don't really care about that more likely than not provides a service that is more luxury, convenience, or extravagance than anything truly substantial, hating it, and sticking with it because you need the paycheck to exchange for different luxuries, conveniences, or extravagances than the ones you work miserably at providing during the week, and almost all of us are still at least 10,000 in debt because of our thirst for these luxuries regardless of our means. Then all we have is the weekend, which still for most people our age (I'm assuming you're similar to my age, might be assuming to much) really is the only part of our lives where it seems like we're "living," whatever that might be interpreted as. It's many things to many people, but definitely to a lot of us in this age bracket it means bars, drugs, clubs, and trying to get laid, and not so much else. Neither Ellis nor Kele seem to feel the need to do anything but portray the truth of these similar situations as they see it. Could they try to incorporate an urging to their fans to get out of this life? Maybe. Maybe it would work. Probably not. Maybe the music would be better. Probably not, I think, because in this form the album has a very consistent theme to it, a sense of desperation and being trapped that I relate to strongly.

In the end it all comes down to the fact that making deep art about shallow people is a tricky balancing act. I'm gonna have to go back and listen to the first album again, I think.

[MonsoonSeason]

okay lastgreatman, I will go back and check out A Weekend in the City. I'm going to say that I did a one-and-done situation with the album, so maybe it grows in several listens. I didn't know about the references to Less Than Zero, much less knew about the book, so I didn't understand that Bloc Party was trying to extrapolate on that character and the ideas of the novel. but I still think that it is a mistake to simply illustrate a problem or a tragedy without even trying to offer a solution. or point at a solution! I will give points that it is consistent, but I still don't think (musically speaking) it's nearly as interesting as Silent Alarm.

also, is Less Than Zero a fast read? can you bring it so I can read a bit of it? pleeeeeeease?

[thelastgreatman]

Less Than Zero can be read in a day, easily. It's unlikely that I could borrow from my roommate, and even if I could I doubt I'd (a) remember it, (b) remember to get it back, (c) you know someone that owns it, I guarantee.

Solutions are great, but they don't always exist. But let's say, just for the sake of argument, that of this sect of people Kele is singing about maybe 30 percent escape the drudgery and acheive something else. I think that's a pretty high estimate, myself. Now are you telling the story of that sect better through the ones that found the solution or the ones that didn't? And really the big question is which of the two stories is more powerful? A lot of stories where there's a nice "solution" at the end feel cheap to me. In fact, I'd have to say at least 50 percent of my favorite works end without a solution. Sometimes there are no endings, friend, there's just moments since the beginning.

[MakeItSantoriTimes]

I have no idea how someone can love Silent Alarm and then say that A Weekend in the City is terrible/bad. That makes zero sense. The albums aren't different enough that you can love the first and absolutely hate the second. Although it is popular these days to rag on the new album, so I'm sure that has a little to do with it.

amazing sophomore albums... Arcade Fire, Interpols-Antics, Futureheads, Deerhoof, Smashing Pumpkins, LCD Soundsystem... etc Silent Alarm had the most catchy/compelling songwriting of the decade... i never cared how popular BP got because i know their material was solid... but the new album is trite, boring, and has absolutley non of the hooks or charm that silent alarm had. truly the biggest dissapointment to me... i was really looking forward to it.

[mistdevil]

amazing sophomore albums... Arcade Fire, Interpols-Antics, Futureheads, Deerhoof, Smashing Pumpkins, LCD Soundsystem... etc Silent Alarm had the most catchy/compelling songwriting of the decade... i never cared how popular BP got because i know their material was solid... but the new album is trite, boring, and has absolutley non of the hooks or charm that silent alarm had. truly the biggest dissapointment to me... i was really looking forward to it.

I know silent alarm was hard to top. But you gotta say weekend in the city wasnt that bad of an album.. its still listenable and I thought the formula was still there.

PS: Bloc party is dope.

[desphrs]

But, y'know, these are just the lyrics--if it's still fun to listen to, who cares? Sadly, especially sadly, they've changed up all of the music, too. It's boring, it's slow, it's droll, all to match the new mood of the lyrics. Once again, with the exception of Uniform, most of the tracks seemingly dip into one another, plodding along and not really adding too much to the pallete that Kele begins to paint with his lyrics. While TAF decided to slow it down while simultaneously adding more intriguing instrumentation and arrangements, Bloc Party gives it its all with the standard four-piece arrangements, but now slower.. for more emphasis!

I dare say if you have a problem with the sounds on A Weekend in the City, producer Jacknife Lee should shoulder at least some of the blame.

[McFearless]

I couldn't get through listening to the record when it leaked a while ago. Haven't tried to listen to it since.

[thelastgreatman]

I've been playing both of them back and forth today, and I'm going with Weekend officially I think, probably because it's a bit sadder. There's a longing in it that I really dig. I like art about people trapped in lives they wish they could escape.

[The_blakeness]

It all sounds the same to me!

I agree silent alarm has pretty diverse tracks, as with weekend most sound the same not to many standout tracks...

[MonsoonSeason]

Less Than Zero can be read in a day, easily. It's unlikely that I could borrow from my roommate, and even if I could I doubt I'd (a) remember it, (b) remember to get it back, (c) you know someone that owns it, I guarantee.

Solutions are great, but they don't always exist. But let's say, just for the sake of argument, that of this sect of people Kele is singing about maybe 30 percent escape the drudgery and acheive something else. I think that's a pretty high estimate, myself. Now are you telling the story of that sect better through the ones that found the solution or the ones that didn't? And really the big question is which of the two stories is more powerful? A lot of stories where there's a nice "solution" at the end feel cheap to me. In fact, I'd have to say at least 50 percent of my favorite works end without a solution. Sometimes there are no endings, friend, there's just moments since the beginning.

found Less Than Zero at a used bookstore today and bought it on principle. I will let you know what I think of it in a few days.

I disagree--I think that solutions always exist. it's just that most of the time, those solutions aren't the correct solutions. people had lots of different solutions to the great depression: some thought it would best to leave the country, some thought that sticking to it was the answer, still more thought if they stand together against opposition that opposition would crumble. so what I mean when I say "a solution" is basically for Bloc Party to stay with Silent Alarm and present a call to arms to the listener: if you are stuck in this, do not stay stuck; fight, fight your way out!

when I listen to Weekend I think, "this is terribly depressing, I don't ever want this for me", and I'm sure that most of the listeners of the album think the same thing. maybe this is what Bloc Party was going for, having the audience bring their own subjective response to the material. however, I think that this form is uncomplete and unfocused--authorial intent is a must in my mind to create a classic, brilliant album.

on the second listen, I'm still not a fan of the music, and desphrs has a point, that JKL may be to blame. however, I see a bit of timelessness in Weekend that I didn't see on initial listens: it's basically a documentary in audio format. that alone makes it an okay concept, but without a direct point to the documentary.. it's like animal planet. "Here is this tiger, look at him do his tiger thing, tigers do this because they're hungrylonelyhorny." therefore I can't in right faith say that it's a brilliant album, but it was an ambitious try

[thelastgreatman]

found Less Than Zero at a used bookstore today and bought it on principle. I will let you know what I think of it in a few days.

I disagree--I think that solutions always exist. it's just that most of the time, those solutions aren't the correct solutions. people had lots of different solutions to the great depression: some thought it would best to leave the country, some thought that sticking to it was the answer, still more thought if they stand together against opposition that opposition would crumble. so what I mean when I say "a solution" is basically for Bloc Party to stay with Silent Alarm and present a call to arms to the listener: if you are stuck in this, do not stay stuck; fight, fight your way out!

when I listen to Weekend I think, "this is terribly depressing, I don't ever want this for me", and I'm sure that most of the listeners of the album think the same thing. maybe this is what Bloc Party was going for, having the audience bring their own subjective response to the material. however, I think that this form is uncomplete and unfocused--authorial intent is a must in my mind to create a classic, brilliant album.

on the second listen, I'm still not a fan of the music, and desphrs has a point, that JKL may be to blame. however, I see a bit of timelessness in Weekend that I didn't see on initial listens: it's basically a documentary in audio format. that alone makes it an okay concept, but without a direct point to the documentary.. it's like animal planet. "Here is this tiger, look at him do his tiger thing, tigers do this because they're hungrylonelyhorny." therefore I can't in right faith say that it's a brilliant album, but it was an ambitious try

Monsoon, I like you and all, but you sound pretty silly here. Accuse it of being like a documentary? Well, would you prefer that he write all his music about things that aren't happening in the world? Fanti-music? Maybe. Sounds to me like you want a happy ending, and I'm sorry but no, there aren't always. There aren't always solutions. We're going to die. Find me a solution to that. Comparing the Great Depression to an artist's character study is a bit preposterous. Suppose this album was about drug addicts, which you could transpose it over to quite easily. Do they have to get clean by the end of the album?

[ghettojournalist]

the new album is boring.
i prefer "Silent Alarm" more.
i just have to face it: I like slanted british dance rock.

[thelastgreatman]

Tastes differ, it seems. I empathize more with the new one. ::shrug::