Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

[IndieMatty]

I feel so strongly about how EVERYONE would like this album. I am giving it it's own thread.

[davelin]

Good album. I wish "The Answer" was on this album though...

[istewart]

Compare it to something. I liked the video I saw but haven't heard anything else.

[daryn]

what type of music is it

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
Compare it to something. I liked the video I saw but haven't heard anything else.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll compare it to that song. Post Punk Dance Disco Awesomeness?

On a side note..Aren't all you guys the kings of stealing err downloading music? I bought this CD blind a few months ago/ and you guys can't just download?

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
what type of music is it

[/ QUOTE ]

and what Bloc Party actually sound like drops pretty low on the list of things you need to know about Silent Alarm.

OK. Here's the full pitchfork review. Beware condescension and snootiness lies ahead.



JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptembe rOctoberNovemberDecember 200520042003 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Bloc Party
Silent Alarm
[Wichita/V2, UK; Dim Mak/Vice, U.S.; 2005]
Rating: 8.9





The English live on an island, have national radio, and they had the Smiths and the Stone Roses. As a result, they're less embarrassed than Americans to dream of indie guitar bands commanding decent audiences. That's part of what Bloc Party frontman Kele Okerere seems to have in mind when he describes this album as "Technicolor." He means it has big sound, big hooks, energetic performances, ambition-- all the things that make rock bands sound skilled and confident. He means no messing around, no interludes or experiments. He means the kind of guitar record where every song wants to be as tight as the singles; the kind that wants to be worth every penny any lawn-mowing pre-teen might spend on it. Because according to him, nobody makes that kind of record anymore.

That isn't true-- and the last thing anyone wants is for U2 to try harder-- but he has a point; it's no accident that there are people who think Radiohead haven't really delivered since The Bends. Put it like that, and what Bloc Party actually sound like drops pretty low on the list of things you need to know about Silent Alarm. What perhaps matters most is that they're trying to make one of those clean, consistent, ambitious Popular Guitar Rock albums-- and depending on how much stock you put in that kind of thing, they've done a great job of it. This is a solid, intelligent album that a lot of people will love-- one that'll slot onto indie-crossover CD racks right beside the debuts from Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, and the Futureheads.

Lead single "Banquet" is wonderfully tight and energetic-- the same kind of spiffy half-dancing rock as Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" or Duran Duran's "Planet Earth". That's easy to pull off when you've got a drummer this good, and a bassist that locks in with him so neatly, whether it's for rock charge or disco hustle. That, in fact, has been Bloc Party's main selling point, apart from the whole Remarkably Competent thing: When the rhythm section stretches its limbs, they leap a good distance away from the straight-ahead eighth-note riffing of the others in this game. Filter in their timely post-punk moves, Bunnymen gestures, and pop ambitions, and you start to feel like this is what it might have been like to listen to the Police or XTC in the early 80s; the sound of a straight-up rock band just a shade more sophisticated, and a little more interested in rhythm, than most of their peers.

And of course the opener, "Like Eating Glass", is even grander and snappier than "Banquet", as if to promise from the start that these guys take your purchase seriously. The songwriting is simple in style (forward rhythm, tidy hooks, guitars) but smart in detail-- all stops and starts, bridges and breakdowns, firework flourishes and tasteful studio tweaks. Even more striking are the precision and sheer good taste of the performances: It's not so easy to show off within the confines of songs this focused, but these guys seem to manage just fine.

So you get all the usual scrubbed-up gifts: the slower song, the slower song that turns into a faster one, the one with the studio effects, the one with the handclaps. A lot of this material is surprisingly scripted, as if someone spent whole nights in the practice space trying to get a two-bar guitar transition to work Just So. Okerere has a voice that's weirdly similar to the singer from the long-forgotten Adorable, with whom Bloc Party share a hell of a lot more than an appreciation for the Bunnymen: It's a vaguely-strangled back-of-throat thing that lets him moan and shout with refreshing gusto when the band gets going. (Typically ambitious topics of moaning: other people, culture war, girls and society and stuff.) The voice weakens a bit when he needs to croon, but crooning isn't really the point here. Bloc Party can be pretty, even sappy, but they're never looking to be atmospheric; they can rock, but they're never looking to whip up dark drama. This album charges happily down the center-- it shakes its hips now and then, and it whispers here and there, but it always seems to come back to tight and bouncy.

People will love this record. And so, inevitably, the people who don't love it will start complaining. And when they complain, they'll point out that this is just a regular-old rock album, full of all the current stylish rock-album tricks. And they'll be absolutely right; at worst, Bloc Party are like one of those people who are so well-groomed that it's hard to remember exactly what they look like. But really, a complaint like that misses something: Being a good ol' unchallenging rock band is this outfit's whole point-- and their biggest strength.

-Nitsuh Abebe, February 14, 2005

[MoreWineII]

On another board I post on, we have a gmail (google email) list set-up. There's about 30 of us on it and we share songs back and forth. I'd try to set one up here, but it's just too much work and I don't want to deal with the inevitable "you're stealing music" flames.

[Sporky]

it's a pretty good album. i'm not a huge fan of it, but it's growing on me. that damn drummer loves his snare rolls. he's sort of a spaz, but i kinda dig it.

[IndieMatty]

Meh. I don't steal music. I spent $274 bucks in Tower the other day.

I'm also not against people who do...

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
it's a pretty good album. i'm not a huge fan of it, but it's growing on me. that damn drummer loves his snare rolls. he's sort of a spaz, but i kinda dig it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just got back from Coachella, and they were so awesome...but pretty sloppy.

[censored], I need to do that trip report.

[daryn]

somehow i cannot read what you wrote

[IndieMatty]

Try again, I was editing.

[daryn]

no i mean it's too long.

[IndieMatty]

You could spend the 11 seconds downloading them and just find out what they sound like?

[daryn]

no music d/l programs /images/graemlins/frown.gif

is it really too hard to describe? can you compare the sound to anything i may have heard ever?

[MoreWineII]

If I sample a CD and I really like it, I'll generally buy it. And I never steal (non-porn) movies and/or video games. But I relentlessly d/l pron.

I'm kind of on the fence about the whole pirating thing. I do it when it's convenient, but I don't mass gank stuffz off the 'net like a lot of people I know do.

[Soul Daddy]

AMG finds them comparable to Franz Ferdinand. Would you say this is an apt comparison?

Edit: nevermind.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
no music d/l programs /images/graemlins/frown.gif

is it really too hard to describe? can you compare the sound to anything i may have heard ever?

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it really too hard to read three paragraphs?

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
AMG finds them comparable to Franz Ferdinand. Would you say this is an apt comparison?

[/ QUOTE ]

Same genre I guess. Much better. I'd say it's more dancy AND more rocky. There hasn't been an album made like this in a long time. That would (hell I guarantee it WILL be) be SO universilly liked.

[daryn]

the problem is i don't want to hear some crusty loser of a so-called journalist try to compare the music to witnessing a sunrise through dew-soaked leaves on a brisk spring morning. i just want to hear what they sound like.

forget it

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
the problem is i don't want to hear some crusty loser of a so-called journalist try to compare the music to witnessing a sunrise through dew-soaked leaves on a brisk spring morning. i just want to hear what they sound like.

forget it

[/ QUOTE ]

the review is nothing like that. you again with your pre-conceptions.

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
Much better. I'd say it's more dancy AND more rocky. There hasn't been an album made like this in a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]That's saying something. I will download tonight.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Daryn, thou hast been PM'ed with a sample song.

IndieMatty, I hope you don't mind that song being Pioneers.

[mmbt0ne]

Is Bloc Party the band The Killers frontman said wouldn't have a cd if they (Killers) didn't exist?

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
i just want to hear what they sound like.

[/ QUOTE ]
Daryn,
If you register at all music (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4mkxu3xsanxk), you can hear samples of just about anything. Or iTunes, I suppose.

[daryn]

thanks to MW i can now accurately describe them as whiny alternative.

by saying that i'm not saying i don't like them, i like blink 182 and that is whiny alternative too.

although i do not like this band.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

[ QUOTE ]
thanks to MW i can now accurately describe them as whiny alternative.

by saying that i'm not saying i don't like them, i like blink 182 and that is whiny alternative too.

although i do not like this band.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, Matty, my song selection has failed me/you/us/Daryn. Oh well.

[IndieMatty]

whiny alternative is a gross gross gross miscateogorization.

the singer has a british accent. it's friggin dance punk rock!

[davelin]

They have free downloads on their own site...

http://www.blocparty.com/go.php?object=downloads

[istewart]

Watch out though, he's black. So if you're a fan of slavery, you might not like Bloc Party.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
thanks to MW i can now accurately describe them as whiny alternative.

by saying that i'm not saying i don't like them, i like blink 182 and that is whiny alternative too.

although i do not like this band.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, Matty, my song selection has failed me/you/us/Daryn. Oh well.

[/ QUOTE ]


No it hasn't. Daryn's being a nit. I know plenty of guys like Daryn. Their exposure is limited they are ignorant to many different types of music and everything must be categorized.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
Is Bloc Party the band The Killers frontman said wouldn't have a cd if they (Killers) didn't exist?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that's The Bravery. (who did exist, but they certainly wouldn't have a major contract)


But I'm not sure.

[daryn]

i don't get it

[Sporky]

[ QUOTE ]

I just got back from Coachella, and they were so awesome...but pretty sloppy.

[censored], I need to do that trip report.

[/ QUOTE ]

my bro sent me some live clips from them. they did seem quite a bit sloppy...in fact i hadn't listened to their album much yet and it took me a while to realize it was even the same band. pretty disappointing...they could be a really cool live band. hopefully they still put on a good show.

[YourFoxyGrandma]

I definitely disagree with you that this is an album for everybody. I really like it and I think it's pretty good, but I can think of alot of people who would not.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
i don't get it

[/ QUOTE ] haha you're such an ass.

[daryn]

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

here are my picks for best album ever:


http://www.phunkjunkeez.com/pj/grafx/pj-inject-cd.jpg
http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/40/ac/349815-resized200.JPG
http://www.umasspoker.com/serendipity.JPG

[contentless]

[ QUOTE ]
by saying that i'm not saying i don't like them, i like blink 182 and that is whiny alternative too.

[/ QUOTE ]

You suck at genres. Do you know what 'Alternative' is? It's not Blink 182. 'Alternative' is not a term you just throw around. It's actually an alternative to the usual rock and pop; the latter is the category that Blink 182 falls into.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

I'm really starting to get disenchanted when it comes to attempting to classify music by genre. There's more value in just comparing them to 2 or 3 different bands, unless you have some really quality sub-genre and sub-sub-genres.

Word.

[jgorham]

Will buy this cd next time i am energetic enough to go cd shopping. People who download music are lame.

[Tron]

I listened to the sample clips on iTunes, and I didn't really like it, but then again I mostly like rap. So that's that.

[ethan]

It's like indie rock, but...more good.

My tastes are pretty varied, but most of what I listen to isn't this. I like the album, thanks for the recommendation.

[Jack of Arcades]

I'm not a huge fan, really.

[BWebb]

Just downloaded it and am about have way through the album. I think it's great, thanks for another good music suggestion.

[shant]

Just downloaded this yesterday. Saw the thread today. Rad album.

[gorie]

seems like i downloaded this album once before and deleted it, but i'll try again.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Matty, I just listened to The Pale Pacific's Rules are Predictable and it's a great 4 track EP or Album or I have no idea what it is or where I got it from but it appeared in my library and I'm happy for it. I imagine you'd like it.

[gorie]

ok i just downloaded it again, still can't really get into it. i dunno. /images/graemlins/frown.gif
i mean, yeah the cure is good.
and i guess i liked blur in the 7th grade or something.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
ok i just downloaded it again, still can't really get into it. i dunno. /images/graemlins/frown.gif
i mean, yeah the cure is good.
and i guess i liked blur in the 7th grade or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

haha..

[IndieMatty]

bump because I just finished my second beer and will be seeing them tonight at Webster Hall.