New Bloc Party album this Thursday?!

[u2popmofo]

you just suck the fun out of songs.

fun sucker

Hey, I liked it up to the end. Your hype made me expect something else, so YOU ruined it for ME!

I really did like it a lot, I just was expecting something else in my head, which I'm sure when I listen to it next time I can enjoy it for what it is and not what I thought it might be.

 

[AtomicBono]

upon second listen I'm really digging Ares

 

[AtomicBono]

I like Biko pretty well, but I wish it had a bit more variety. it could have been a classic Bloc ballad, but I'd say it's just good, not great

i guess so far thats how I feel about the album as a whole. It's fun; I dig the dancey-electro vibe, but I don't get the same emotion I got from Silent Alarm and AWTIC. But hey, I'm just happy to have new Bloc.

 

[FitzChivalry]

As much as I LOVE the drums on "Ares", they kind of remind me of the drum 'n bass of The Chemical Brothers' "Block Rockin' Beats" or "Setting Sun", one of the two, I just can't think which right now.

But then again, I also thought the drums on "Sunday" reminded me of the drums from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps".

And the little guitar freak-out towards the end of the break in "The Prayer" always reminds me of the squealing guitar in "Paranoid Android".

Maybe I'm just crazy . . . baby.

I still need to listen to this album a bunch more, but it's off to a really great start in my opin-e-on.

 

[AtomicBono]

wow, how did I not realize how great the end of Better Than Heaven is upon first listen

i'd say, the beats are very strong on this album, but at the same time, not as good as Silent Alarm, because they're a lot more repetitive. Matt Tong is the best part of this band so it's a little unfortunate to see him limited by having to do the whole electronic thing, and there's nothing here that's as good as the beat to So Here We Are or Like Eating Glass. But maybe I'm being a bit unfair as Silent Alarm is quite possibly my second favourite album of all time...can't really expect them to be able to live up to that

after a second listen, I think it's growing on me, but I still don't like it as much as either Silent Alarm or AWITC. but it will get many more listens certainly

 

[BoMac]

I'm liking it upon first listen. I wonder how different the hard copy will be.

 

[u2popmofo]

Almost through my second listen to the album now, I'm liking it more than I liked Weekend the first few times I heard it. That said, not sure if I think it's better than Weekend or not.

Silent Alarm is still sitting above them both for me, but as Atomic said, it will be hard for anything Bloc Party does to come close to that for me personally.

 

[u2popmofo]

I really did like it a lot, I just was expecting something else in my head, which I'm sure when I listen to it next time I can enjoy it for what it is and not what I thought it might be.

It was one of my favorite songs from the album on my second listen, so you can feel good about yourself again now xavi. You were right, I was wrong.

 

[xaviMF22]

It was one of my favorite songs from the album on my second listen, so you can feel good about yourself again now xavi. You were right, I was wrong.

well as long as you can admit your wrongness

 

[mikal]

wow! this album is really strong! i didn't expect it, to be honest.

 

[powerhour24]

Still going through the first listen, but damn "Signs" and "One Month Off" are among their best tracks already.

 

[powerhour24]

"Ion Square" times a million

 

[U2inUtah]

Listening to it now...like what I hear so far.

A Weekend In The City was released Feb 5,2007
and Intimacy Aug 21, 2008.

I wish more bands would put out new albums at this pace

 

[phanan]

Strong positive reaction so far. Can't wait to hear it.

 

[FitzChivalry]

"SIGNS"!!!!!!!!!!



It may be my favorite on the album, even more than "Ion Square".

However, I'm super happy for "Ion Square" for a purely selfish reason: maybe now they will end their shows with this instead of the decent, but overrated "Helicopter". I'm ready for "Helicopter" to be relieved of it's reign as concert-closing song!

 

[intedomine]

Need to find a torrent for this album.....

 

[u2popmofo]

Or pay for it like a big boy would.

 

[Mr. V]

This is a great album so far.

 

[powerhour24]

Or pay for it like a big boy would.

Or at least not come on here and tell people you're planning on stealing it.

 

[AtomicBono]

okay, I'm sold, Signs is a damn good song

 

[powerhour24]

Most definitely.

 

[AtomicBono]

Zephyrus is so damn cool

 

[AtomicBono]

However, I'm super happy for "Ion Square" for a purely selfish reason: maybe now they will end their shows with this instead of the decent, but overrated "Helicopter". I'm ready for "Helicopter" to be relieved of it's reign as concert-closing song!

I agree that Helicopter isn't one of their very best, but it's an awesome closer just because everyone goes nuts with it

i think i'd like ion square to close the main set and helicopter to still close the encore

 

[powerhour24]

I think Helicopter is an awesome song but Ion Square would make a much more fitting closer, if they can pull it off live.

 

[u2popmofo]

I think Helicopter is an awesome song but Ion Square would make a much more fitting closer, if they can pull it off live.

Agreed.

 

[FitzChivalry]

From Rolling Stone's 'Rock And Roll Daily':

Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke the New Album “10 People Knew About”

8/20/08, 8:30 am EST

You have to give Bloc Party this much: they can keep a secret. Just days after finishing a U.S. tour and releasing the apparently one-off single “Mercury,” the London post punks have trumped the Raconteurs and Radiohead by springing their new album Intimacy on the world with just three days’ notice. “There were lot of clandestine meetings in east London pubs,” laughs frontman Kele Okereke on the phone from England. “We referred to it as Plan ‘X.’ It was a bit of a giggle. I don’t think more than 10 people knew about the idea until the last few days. It was totally hush-hush but we didn’t want to go the whole In Rainbows route and give away for free. We live in a capitalist world and I do want to get paid and I do want to eat.”

If the release was unexpected, then the subject matter might prove to be even more so. Famously guarded about his private life, Okereke cagily admits that Intimacy finds the singer bearing his soul more than ever before, as its title implies. “I went through a breakup at the end of last year and I guess that’s what the record’s about really. I couldn’t help thinking about it or talking about it or writing about it. I wouldn’t want anyone to think it’s the clichéd breakup record but I haven’t written about true, personal experiences all that much in the past.” Okereke adds his favorite song on the album is “Ion Square” “because it evokes a really great time in a relationship when everything was going right.”

Fans that stump up $20 up front will be rewarded with the download and a physical release in October featuring extra material. But what? Even the band isn’t sure. “The CD will have extra songs but we haven’t decided on what they will be yet. We’re kind of just making it up as we can go along. You can do that these days and it’s pretty exciting I think.”


I wonder how many extra tracks they'll put on the cd? Hopefully, more than 2 or 3.

On a side-note, I was looking at the comments to the new songs on YouTube and some fans were talking about Kele's bi-sexuality -- I didn't know he was bi-sexual. Not that I should know that information or that it's relevant in any way to Bloc Party or the music, but it was just one of those, "Oh! Hmmmmmm.", moments of surprise.

I don't really blame them for not going the "'In Rainbows' route". They're still a relatively young band and not established (i.e., wealthy) like Radiohead. I'm more than happy to give them $20 and lend my support to them . . . . . . and, of course, I would've done the same for Radiohead, had they asked.

 

[No spoken words]

Gave it two listens today....was at work, so could not totally focus, but, the album, both times, seemed to get better and better as it progressed towards the end.

Look forward to giving it the headphones treatment tonight.

 

[AtomicBono]

On a side-note, I was looking at the comments to the new songs on YouTube and some fans were talking about Kele's bi-sexuality -- I didn't know he was bi-sexual. Not that I should know that information or that it's relevant in any way to Bloc Party or the music, but it was just one of those, "Oh! Hmmmmmm.", moments of surprise.

well he did write I Still Remember, which is definitely from a gay or bisexual perspective, so that makes sense (not that he couldn't have written it as a straight man, but still). I didn't know if it was confirmed but I'd heard speculation that he was bi.

i have to say though I still don't like it as much as the last two records the album is definitely growing on me. I love Ares, Mercury, HALO, Signs, Zephyrus, Better Than Heaven... Halo is definitely the best song on the album. Straight up old school kickass Bloc.

 

[intedomine]

Or at least not come on here and tell people you're planning on stealing it.

Stealing it, or fighting against a society that forces us to have a credit card?

I'd probably buy the CD as soon as it comes out. I'm all legit.

 

[powerhour24]

Stealing it, or fighting against a society that forces us to have a credit card?

I'd probably buy the CD as soon as it comes out. I'm all legit.

Idealism all the way...but that's probably quite a futile struggle.