Bloc Party

“We as a band very much believe in what we do and don't wish to be accepted by those who don't.” – Kele Okereke (from an interview with an indie-porn site)

“Dude…lighten up.” – Bono

Albums Reviewed:

Silent Alarm

A Weekend In The City

As I slowly make the Miscellaneous ‘90’s/’00’s page more and more irrelevant by moving its inhabitants to their own shiny new pages, I now present Bloc Party. Bloc Party are from England, are very, very sincere and serious about their “craft,” and play indie rock music with jagged indie guitars. You know, like 6,000 other bands. They’re like the 3^rd or 4^th band I only reviewed because my old roommate wanted me to that I’m giving their own page to now. I just can’t escape that guy. He’s a total blooch. He sings better than Geddy Lee, though. You can read what I think of Bloc Party in the reviews below.

Oh, almost forgot. Lineup! From left to right are drummer Matt Tong, bassist Gordon Moakes, singer/guitarist Kele Okereke, and guitarist Russell Lissack. There are too many sidechops in this picture.

And, onto the reviews!

Silent Alarm (2005)

Rating: 7

Best Song: “Like Eating Glass”

Hey! It’s another newfangled British guitar band with angular guitars, ‘80’s influences, and no originality whatsoever, the kind of band which I’m honestly getting bored of by this point (not that my roommate is, as he’s yelling out the lyrics to “Like Eating Glass” at this very moment, and is surely not helping me type out this damn review). Bloc Party features Kele Okereke, his unpronounceable name, short spider half-dreadlocks, and heavy cockney accent on vocals and guitar, as well as some emaciated-looking dudes with sidechops on the other three instruments. The drummer, Matt Tong, appears to be half-asian, and I feel this warrants mentioning, but nothing else in the appearance of these men is all that interesting, except that they look very “indie” and therefore Pitchfork gave their album a 9 without actually listening to it.

Anyway, what separates Bloc Party from the rest of the swath of like-minded bands now popping up all over Britain like locusts? Stylistically, not all that much, but I would like to give “props” to the musical skill of the four men involved. The guitars are routinely very interesting, for instance, and can be alternately melodic, cutting, chimey, or hard, and even throw a classic rock-y high-pitched solo in there now and again (witness the otherwise uninteresting “Luno”). The rhythm section is also very good, specifically Matt “Metal” Tong(s) and his hyperactive non-4/4 drumming, which I, as an aspiring crap drummer, clearly appreciate. The influences of these guys are painfully obvious, from all the British post-punk acts everyone’s always mentioning to Television (which no-one has yet mentioned! Slow this stuff down and don’t the guitars sound like they’re just trying to be Marquee Moon? Or did I just tear down the originality of the entire British post-punk movement in one sentence? Or am I simply a moron who firmly believes Marquee Moon is one of the ten best albums he’s ever heard and wants to link everything released after 1977 to it in some way? No, don’t bother, it’s the last one). They sure get a good sound, though! Starting with the magnificent opener “Like Eating Glass,” it’s big and full and sounds great blasting out of your stereo either at home or in the car, and while the melodic qualities of this band may be lacking, the energy certainly is not.

However, therein lies the problem. I have reviewed Coldplay’s new album along with this one, and at this point I’d like to make a stunning comparison that just might blow your mind. X&Y is a bunch of really pretty, hummable melodies in search of interesting and creative musical ideas. Silent Alarm, on the contrary, is a bunch of interesting and creative musical ideas in search of pretty, hummable melodies. See, the problem is that Kele Okereke doesn’t really sing. He shouts. He tries to sing on the ballads here, sure (there are a number), and while “Blue Light” and “This Modern Love” are quite pretty with their harmonies and such (although “This Modern Love” unfortunately steals a melody from a Blink 182 song), the others don’t really work (especially the atrocious “Plans,” which is so boring it’s nearly offensive). And while this cockney shout-singing sounds pretty cool and energetic at the start, by the end this band’s lack of range starts to become an issue, and I feel myself thinking “if this dude pronounces ‘think’ as ‘fink’ one more time, I swear to god I’m gonna go on a multi-state killing spree.” But then again I’m an American bastard, so that might color my thinking there.

I really do enjoy listening to this band. They have a cool sound, their rhythm section moves, their guitars do all sorts of cool things, there are studio tricks galore to keep me entertained, etc., but the songs just aren’t there. I can’t really hum along to any of this, cool as it may be, the album is way too frontloaded, and I swear to god some of the songs at the end are just rewrites of earlier ones. There are like three “treated drums” tracks, and they all sound exactly the same. The most egregious example is “Price of Gas,” which re-uses the rhythm from “Helicopter,” a scant seven tracks ago, exactly. Not cool. These little issues unfortunately obscure the, as I have said, very nice rhythm work and frequently excellent, if unoriginal, guitar work (wow, “Little Thoughts” sure is purty, ain’t it?) that makes this record such an occasionally intriguing listen. But I can’t give a record with a crippling lack of melodic songwriting anything higher than a 7 (unless, ofcourse, that’s the whole point of the album…something I highly doubt here). Maybe they just need a singer with a sweet, melodic voice instead of a dude who shouts in cockney all the time. Who knows? If Chris Martin ditched his crap sidemen and gave up his ego to work with these guys, I think we may have something.

A Weekend In The City (2007)

Rating: 7

Best Song: “I Still Remember”

Someday one of those angular-guitar British bands I got into the habit of reviewing the last few years because my old roommate told me to is gonna actually break out and be better than “yeah, that’s not bad, I guess,” but I don’t think Bloc Party is gonna be that band. And you know what? Just like all these bands (well, except the Arctic Fucking Monkeys), I like Bloc Party. If they were playing at Coachella, I’d totally make sure I was within hearing distance of their show unless someone better was playing. I’d totally fucking do that. But is it wrong of me to say I see no reason to take time out of your day to listen to them? Even though I like them? They’re a perfectly nice band (even if they do look a little too self-consciously indie-skinny), and Kele Okereke seems like a nice, sincere young man, and they’re fine and acceptable and enjoyable…but really? This is the best band you can find? You can’t find someone roughly equivalent and/or better among bands who were, you know, around 20-30 years ago and did the same stuff with a little more spark and originality? Whatever, I’m babbling.

Bloc Party are fine. There’s not even anything to say “sucks” this time like there was a couple times on the last album. Except for “I Still Remember” (which is actually pretty awesome), the record’s very, very even. It’s also very well-produced and atmospheric and “big”-sounding without being obviously cheesy (they’re clearly going for a bigger, more “artistic” statement this time instead of just hopping aboard the Brit-rock train with their perfectly good indie jagged guitar riffs) and this is all good. Unfortunately, it’s also less energetic and fun than its predecessor (why does it always have to happen that way, by the way? Is it really that hard for a band to become more mature and artistic while also keeping their energy at the same level? Or am I asking too much?), and while all the effects and processed electronic sound effects and random guitar stutters are all nice and well and good, the band doesn’t let loose the rock all that much like they did last time. Oh sure, they probably think songs like “Hunting for Witches” and “Where is Home?” “rock,” but I’m here to tell you that no, they don’t. A fast, tricky drum pattern (that sounds remarkably similar in nearly every song), some processed guitar effects and maybe Kele’s voice sent through a distortion/stutter box (because hell, why not?) do not constitute “rock.” A rhythm section can drive “rock,” but, while I enjoy Matt Tong’s tricky, indie style and do find him an entertaining albeit samey drummer, he is certainly not gonna drive “rock” (most of the time this is one of those bands you do the fast indie side-to-side sway to...you know what I’m talking about here, don’t pretend you don’t). The time I think this album actually rocks the most is the opening part (well, the part after the opening part) of “Song for Clay (Disappear Here),” when the guitars are doing that tremendous jagged riff that sounds like something from Silent Alarm (but probably better than any individual riff on that album, bar possibly the one from “Banquet”). It’s the guitars, man! With this band, guitars drive the rock. The drumming is all tricky and the bassist can’t drive the rock himself because it’s not like he’s John Entwhistle over here (though he’s fine), so it then falls on the guitars to rock.

But see, there’s the problem. In addition to the extra tricks and production touches (Strings! Huge, epic-sounding harmony vocals! Creepy chanting sounds!), I think the basic melody-writing is actually better on this record than Silent Alarm, but the added focus on BIG production and melody has drowned out the jagged indie guitars that were usually the best part of Silent Alarm (and again, why is that always the damn case? Can’t anyone do both?). My favorite tracks here are “On,” “Kreuzberg,” and especially “I Still Remember,” all of which lean pretty heavily to the “ballad” side of things (at least compared to “Like Eating Glass”). Sure, “I Still Remember” is based on some pretty nice guitar lines in there, but they’re pretty, not “rock.” “Kreuzberg” has some nice guitar stuff as well, but again, “pretty.” And I love the repeated (and pretty) “You make my tongue loose!” line in “On.” Beautifully sung (Kele actually sings a bunch this album instead of just yelling in his accent at you), and just a cool line too. This is a much more pleasant and nice listen than Silent Alarm, but it’s not as fun and exciting (that is, if you think Silent Alarm is “exciting”). If you pay attention to the lyrics, you’ll find Kele trying to make big, sweeping social and/or political statements a lot as well, which is kind of charming because he sounds so earnest and they sound so silly! Like “Oh, how our parents suffered for nothing” from “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” and “No one can be trusted over the age of fourteen” from “Uniform.” Ha! That silly man…

If you care more about excitement and a fun rocking time, you’ll like Silent Alarm better. If you care more about nice, hummable melodies, you’ll like A Weekend in the City better. However, if you really need a fuckload of one of these things, you probably shouldn’t be listening to Bloc Party in the first place. If you think Arctic Monkeys are a bunch of twats and want someone more sincere who likes to use tricky guitar effects, though, by all means.

Stop being so American.