Bloc Party: C/D?

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I put Banquet in the middle of a mix cd for a friend and she was wonder if the singer was "that guy from Blur." So Spencer definitely has some allies in that opinion.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 24 March 2005 05:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm fully willing to accept that I'm the victim of some horrible manipulation, but this is the first record I've listened to more than 2x in a row since Slanted and Enchanted. 5x in fact. And I didn't have the anticipation for it that I did for the Pavement after Perfect Sound Forever. I feel completely blindsided by this disc (in a good way), and I gave up trying to scrutinize it for cheesery around listen #3.

― southern lights, Monday, 28 March 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link

what a totally uncompelling band.

― f--gg (gcannon), Thursday, 31 March 2005 16:33 (nineteen years ago) link

i completely agree f--gg, nothing long lasting or interesting about these guys. when I first heard it I thought it sounded like a h ipster version of Blink 182

― breezy, Thursday, 31 March 2005 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Yay, backlash!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 31 March 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link

it's not backlash if I never liked it! i've been hat'n on it from the beginning! hollah!

― breezy, Thursday, 31 March 2005 17:21 (nineteen years ago) link

"Banquet" is catchy enough. It's a good thing to hear on the radio.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 31 March 2005 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought it sounded like a h ipster version of Blink 182

Hehe. My editor at the OC Weekly said the same thing, which leads me to think that the hipsters have it right. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 31 March 2005 18:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Blink 182 have songs like This Modern Love or Pioneers?

Considering half of ILX has been totally down with The Busteds for some time now "its a bit like Blink 182" is not the best stick to beat them with.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 31 March 2005 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link

SO FUCKING EMO

drummers = rockist

― jake b. (cerybut), Thursday, 31 March 2005 20:06 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

i'm not really a fan, but at coachella everyone flocked to their set. the tent was COMPLETELY packed ot the point that no one else could fit in and started to sit on the oustide of the tent to listen. The crowd went ballistic unlike any of the other acts I saw - when the singer said clap, EVERYBODY clapped. It was pretty impressive.

― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Sunday, 1 May 2005 17:23 (nineteen years ago) link

....having got the Futureheads and the Bloc Party at basically the same time (yeah yeah...behind the curve), I can't help but compare them:

Futureheads >>>>>>>> BP

That being said: Banquet is fucking great. But not quite as good as Carnival Kids or Hounds of Love

― giboyeux (skowly), Sunday, 1 May 2005 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

they're hyped as being very well read, so i was disappointed to hear lyrics that could've been written by a 12y old. but this is an "emotional" band i suppose so the lyrics are imbued with an unthinking earnestness?

i do like this band, including the remixes (mogwai, four tet, m83) and almost all the b-sides. they just need time to mature to come up with a more varied, insightful follow up. so c/d too early to tell.

― Aaron Ef. (aaron ef.), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:26 (nineteen years ago) link

i do like this band, including the remixes (mogwai, four tet, m83)

Good lord, I'm even more sold, then. (Well except for Four Tet, they're just sorta there.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:32 (nineteen years ago) link

NYC gave us Interpol
London gave us Bloc Party

Norway gives us: The Beautiful People

download tracks via this blog:
http://mysteryandmisery.com/article/420/the-beautiful-people

Listen to the track: "So This is Suicide"

already booked for the Sonar Festival and Reading Festival - The Beautiful People are my next big tip!

a wall of sound psychdelic guitars with effects, precision drumming, synths plus a vocalist with a strong passionate delivery.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:44 (nineteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

So yeah.. I really hated these guys for a good year or so, mainly because Kele Okkererelekek's voice was just really shrill and grating to me, but it's 'grown on me' (perhaps because it's been being shoved down my throat these passed few months? We shall never know), and I gave them another chance.. and I found that the guitarist is absolutey excellent.. sort of a Jonny Greenwood meets Robert Fripp meets J. Mascis sound. They're just really tight instrumentally.. I picked up the record a few days ago and it's all I've been listening to. So.. yeah.. it's a bit to early to say C/D, but they're off to a great start.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Monday, 23 May 2005 01:24 (eighteen years ago) link

two months pass...

I now no longer like Silent Alarm. Instead, I flat out love it to bits. More coherent thoughts on my return from Europe.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 17:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Whiny whine...wino.
I like the Clap Hands Say Yeah lead singer, even when completely inarticulate, better than Bloc Party's lead. I haven't even listened to the whole album because I cannot get past the first few songs without sighing, "this is just a waste of time..." There are too many other good releases to linger on Bloc Party.

That said, the band could step it up on the next release. They're young enough to change. (Oh, one piece of advice, drop the "Hey...Hey...Heys" and that type shit, please.)

Did we beat this to death yet! I hope I've helped.

― Meehan Ah Um (Meehan Ah Um), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 19:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Remix album due end of August, pretty good. Occasionally shows up Kele's voice though.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 20:17 (eighteen years ago) link

three weeks pass...

new single ALERT!
"two more years". it was previewed on BBC last week (they say so on their web). did you hear it? did anybody grab it?
what the title means? do they want their stardom prevail 2 more yrs?

― karl76 (karl76), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:05 (eighteen years ago) link

I think it's terrible.

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Not so into it on first listen.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:24 (eighteen years ago) link

It's one of the year's best: the first of the postpunk influenced bands to get the parts right yet keep their own DNA intact.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 23 August 2005 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Alfred's right. As good as BP was before, they've just leapfrogged themselves and all their peers.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 00:15 (eighteen years ago) link

five months pass...

For some reason I just kept avoiding this release. Finally I decide to take the plunge. What a great cd it is! Definitely one of the best of 05.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Saturday, 4 February 2006 03:49 (eighteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

it's september 2006 and I am STILL LOVING THIS ALBUM. much more staying power than I ever would've imagined.

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Isn't the new one supposed to come out soon?

I appreciate the fact that they just keep touring, and am annoyed I missed the midsummer trip through LA due to previous commitments.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 19:28 (seventeen years ago) link

wiki sez:

The band is currently putting the finishing touches to their second album, rumoured to be called A Weekend In The City. The album is due for release in February 2007, and is being produced by Jacknife Lee. In a recent interview, Kele Okereke revealed that the new album will be based around the theme of city life and will contain tracks titled 'Waiting For The 7.18', 'Uniform', 'Perfect Teens'(formerly Machine), 'England' (formerly Blue Moon) and 'Song For Clay' (formerly Merge On The Freeway). Whilst the band have also recorded 'Kreuzberg' and We Were Lovers (formerly Cells Shaped Like Stars), they may not appear on the new album.

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 19:44 (seventeen years ago) link

(which, if all goes according to plan, I will be bumping this thread sometime in fall of 2008 to sing the praises of)

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 19:45 (seventeen years ago) link

I know they've been playing some of these new songs at shows, but I've consciously avoided hearing them in unfinished or poorly recorded states for fear of having my high hopes dashed.

2/2007 isn't too far away, though.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 21:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I tried to learn to like the album but I'm pretty sure there's nothing more to this band beyond "Banquet." Maybe if they could get their hands on some synthesizers I'd be sold.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 19 September 2006 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Uh, they did. They appear on various points on Silent Alarm.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes but not nearly enough.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 20 September 2006 00:06 (seventeen years ago) link

the icy strings (ugh cliche alert) on "Price of Gas" beg to differ

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 00:17 (seventeen years ago) link

produced by Jacknife Lee

I really really really really really love the Jacknife Lee remix of Eminem's "Cleaning Out My Closet", but this virtually guarantees that this album is going to suck ass. Bloc Party do not need to be coaxed and massaged into sounding MORE like recent U2.

― James.Cobo (jamescobo), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 01:47 (seventeen years ago) link

it took seeing them play live for me to really begin to appreciate them and the album......looking forward to feb. 07

― drone/a/sore (drone/a/sore), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 01:51 (seventeen years ago) link

"Price of Gas" is probably my second fave but it's still underwhelming.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 20 September 2006 02:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Jacknife Lee is a murderer.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 08:39 (seventeen years ago) link

my rubbish high school band sacked k3l3 for being rubbish

funny how things turn out eh

― The Real DG (D to thee G), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 11:37 (seventeen years ago) link

i assumed this was a totally shitty run-of-the-mill british indie guitar band but then i heard the first track and it is fucking amazing! "banquet" does nothing to me but man, that first song - and "modern love". brilliant. the drumming's fantastic.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 11:45 (seventeen years ago) link

one month passes...

A Weekend in the City is "out there" now (albeit in a low-qual 128-ish rip). Will take some time to digest, but I'm really liking it initially. More trickery with the guitar sonics going on, rhythm section as active as ever. The melodies and vocals could be a little sharper/catchy maybe, but I'm sure they'll sink in upon repeated listens.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Sunday, 12 November 2006 23:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Is "Waiting for the 718" any hookier in a non-shitty-crowd-recording version?

― Hoosteen (Hoosteen), Sunday, 12 November 2006 23:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Who knows, I've consciously been avoiding the live recordings. It's not my favorite of the new songs, though.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Sunday, 12 November 2006 23:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I love how 128kB/s is now being called low quality.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Monday, 13 November 2006 15:30 (seventeen years ago) link

It should be. People should have higher standards

― deej.. (deej..), Monday, 13 November 2006 15:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Damn right.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 13 November 2006 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

i think bloc party would be better if their singer didnt sound so dreary/wimpy/emo all the time. thats probably what makes them more interesting and commercially viable these days - that they have a post-coldplay-type of singer but the rhythm section is the opposite but still...

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Monday, 13 November 2006 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Last year, driving in the car with a friend:

Me: (plays the CD by The Dears)
He: hey, this is nice!
Later:
Me: (plays the CD by Bloc Party)
He: hey, this is nice too!
Halfway through the CD:
He: do you only like singers who want to be Robert Smith?

:-/

― StanM (StanM), Monday, 13 November 2006 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow it's a bit Muse (the new one)

― Nedpoleon (NedBeauman), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:26 (seventeen years ago) link

all right only the first track

― Nedpoleon (NedBeauman), Monday, 13 November 2006 17:35 (seventeen years ago) link

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