Bloc Party
- Thread starter Lil'Bono
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
phanan
Blue Crack Addict
I would think they'd make it available for download shortly after.
BoMac
Self-righteous bullshitter
Anybody hear it?
phanan
Blue Crack Addict
FitzChivalry
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Pretty cool. Would've fit in perfectly on Intimacy.
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
I like it. That little piano line is cool, and the chorus is catchy. "Give me one more chance to love you." I've said those words very many times in my life. I'll have to listen to the song again later today.
phanan
Blue Crack Addict
I enjoyed it. It definitely would have fit on Intimacy.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
I like it, but it sounds more like Intimacy remixed than straight up Bloc Party. It seems more one-off, and that's OK, I wouldn't want a whole album with that synthy piano or drum machines.
I like it more than I thought I would, but I can't help but feel like if they removed all the over production and so-so electronica, they might actually have a good rock song underneath there. I guess that's sorta what keeps bothering me about the band the last few years, seems like they're trying to hide what their actual forte is.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
I can see that for sure, especially for this track, but for the most part I think they married they're raw talent with their new influences well on Intimacy.
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
I'd much prefer BP to keep going down the electronica route rather than trying to sound "raw" or "rock" or whatever. Silent Alarm sounds downright average in comparison with their next two albums where they did focus on electronica and "over"production.
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
I completely disagree. I think Silent Alarm is what Bloc Party did best.
I like this song. the piano part is ok, the rest is pretty cool. it's definitely a fun dance song and I love that, but I kinda miss the more raw Bloc sound... especially Matt's insane drumming.
cobl04
45:33
Meh.
FitzChivalry
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I think I'm more with inteD than Atomic on this one. (Sorry, Atomic.
) I do think Silent Alarm is awesome and rocks and fucking fantastic! But I think when they tried to recapture that sound and spirit on Intimacy they fell flat on their faces and failed at it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think the weakest tracks, BY FAR, on Intimacy are the rockers that try to go back to the Silent Alarm era, and I think the tracks that succeed the most and work brilliantly off Intimacy are the electronica songs.Yes 'Halo', 'Trojan Horse' and 'One Month Off' rock, but pretty blandly and unmemorably. Yes Matt drums his ass off on 'Halo', 'Trojan Horse' and 'One Month Off', but again, his drumming is fast, but bland and unmemorable. Gone are the interesting drum fills, counter beats or twists with electronic beats that made his drumming so great on SA and AWITC. I just find the hard and fast drumming boring if the drum patterns aren't interesting or innovative. Same goes for the guitars and the songs in general: yes, they're hard, fast and rocking, but pretty bland and average rock. They can do SO MUCH better than average rock.
I think they're at at crossroads musically. And I hope they have it in them to figure out how to marry their myriad sounds successfully next time out.
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
One Month Off is mediocre, I agree. It sounds like a b-side to Banquet or something. But I looove me some Halo and Trojan Horse. I also love Mercury, Ares, Signs, Better Than Heaven ... I'm not opposed to their new direction. I also really enjoy Intimacy Remixed. I throw a lot of dance parties and that kinda stuff is perfect. BUT what first attracted to me to Bloc Party was their interesting post-punk sound ... Silent Alarm and all the stuff that came before it. I don't think they've come up with anything as magical as So Here We Are or This Modern Love since then, nor have they come up with anything that has the sheer energy of Luno or Like Eating Glass. but I tend to become attached to the albums that get me into a band. for example Pop is my favourite U2 album, and it was the first U2 album I heard.
I do think it's awesome that Bloc have been able to move forward with their sound, but I hope they don't totally forget their roots.
I do think it's awesome that Bloc have been able to move forward with their sound, but I hope they don't totally forget their roots.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
See, I'd even go as far as to say they do the "rock" better on Intimacy than on Silent Alarm . I adore One Month Off and Trojan in particular. I just keep forgetting how the songs go on Silent Alarm, maybe it's because as an album, I find it a little awkward. Like Eatin' Glass, So Here We Are, Banquet, Blue Light and Modern Love are immensely enjoyable, but Luno, Helicopter, She's Hearing Voices and Pioneers, I keep forgetting how they go and I hear them and I think, yeah ok, I'm a bit bored, and THIS is why I overwhelmingly prefer the next two albums. Though I might be slightly biased against SA, because I've never been able to understand those (a seemingly vast majority) who prefer SA over Weekend.
That said, I just hear the band getting better and better at what they do, and even though I do prefer Weekend over Intimacy, they just seem to be really excelling when I hear songs like Better Than Heaven, Signs and Ion Square (and of course the timeless FluX).
Where will they go next I wonder. I was hoping that Weekend was gonna send them supernova with singles like I Still Remember, but alas, somehow that didn't happen
That said, I just hear the band getting better and better at what they do, and even though I do prefer Weekend over Intimacy, they just seem to be really excelling when I hear songs like Better Than Heaven, Signs and Ion Square (and of course the timeless FluX).
Where will they go next I wonder. I was hoping that Weekend was gonna send them supernova with singles like I Still Remember, but alas, somehow that didn't happen
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
I think AWITC showed huge maturation in its lyrics, and Intimacy was clearly spawned over a short period of intense emotion, whereas SA is the work of young musicians, with a lot of raw talent and energy that don't quite know what they're writing about yet. Its less studio-produced than the next two, but that certainly fits, and is neither a plus as the indie kids would have you think, or a negative as mainstream music fans would probably think. All of that is the case to me anyway.
cobl04
45:33
Still yet to hear Weekend yet, so can't comment too much, but I prefer Silent Alarm by a fair way over Intimacy, which is great too. Eight of the first 10 tracks are absolutely fantastic, and it mixes intense rockers (Like Eating Glass still stands as my favourite Bloc song I think) with great more balladry type pieces.
I tend to agree with Fitz about Intimacy there... One Month Off is energetic, as are Halo, Trojan, but when you step back they're decidedly average. My favourite moments on there are Ion Square, Better Than Heaven, Talons...
I'd also like to add though that the two real attempts at scaled back tracks on there, Biko and Signs, are pretty poor. The Signs remix is great, but the album version blows, and Biko's not a great deal better.
I tend to agree with Fitz about Intimacy there... One Month Off is energetic, as are Halo, Trojan, but when you step back they're decidedly average. My favourite moments on there are Ion Square, Better Than Heaven, Talons...
I'd also like to add though that the two real attempts at scaled back tracks on there, Biko and Signs, are pretty poor. The Signs remix is great, but the album version blows, and Biko's not a great deal better.
BoMac
Self-righteous bullshitter
The AWITC b-sides are stellar. I listen to them almost as much as the album itself.
It may just be my personal tastes or the fact that the entire reason I liked Bloc Party in the first place seems to have almost entirely vanished, but Intimacy felt extremely underdone to me. The basic ideas for the songs are there, but they just weren't thought out well enough to be memorable in my opinion. Even the tracks from it I actually like seem like they could have been better, and are pretty weak in comparison to the heights on either of the other two albums. I have no problems with a band changing their sound, and I certainly have no problems with a band using electronica. I just don't think Bloc Party did a good job with either of these on Intimacy.
On a positive note, Intimacy actually helped me like Weekend In the City quite a bit more than I used to (as some may remember, that used to be the Bloc Party album I'd continually complain about), as it's pretty dang solid in comparison to Intimacy.
On a positive note, Intimacy actually helped me like Weekend In the City quite a bit more than I used to (as some may remember, that used to be the Bloc Party album I'd continually complain about), as it's pretty dang solid in comparison to Intimacy.
FitzChivalry
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I would agree with these two statements. But I do love 'Signs', although, I think it became even better after being tour-tested and played live. The last 3 times I saw them, 'Signs' was definitely one of the highlights of the entire show.
I saw an interview with Matt where he kind of complained how long it took to record A Weekend In The City and felt they should be able to record and release albums quicker. After Intimacy, I'd have to strongly disagree with him, and I hope he will rethink that opinion. Even Gordy said (upon the release of Intimacy) that he worried that some of the songs might be a bit "undercooked" since they hadn't tested them or fleshed them out live, as is Bloc's normal routine.
On a positive note, I was also thinking about this the other day: of some recent, 2000-ish bands, at least Bloc has changed and pushed their limits from album-to-album and not stayed static or redundant. I was thinking of bands that I really liked their debut albums like Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Editors, but by all those bands 3rd (or 2nd) albums, they sounded exactly the same as the first and had barely changed their sound at all.
Bloc could not have made 'Mercury' or 'Waiting For The 7:18' or 'Flux' or 'Ion Square' back during Silent Alarm, so I think the fact that they've expanded their palette and still crank out great songs using all they've learned since Silent Alarm . . . well, I think that makes them a GREAT band in my mind.
Signs is definitely one of my favorites from Intimacy as well.
I never had any remote interest in Editors, but I'd still probably rate all 3 of the other bands you listed having released higher quality post debut albums than Bloc Party. I think I even like Interpol's Antics more than Silent Alarm.
I never had any remote interest in Editors, but I'd still probably rate all 3 of the other bands you listed having released higher quality post debut albums than Bloc Party. I think I even like Interpol's Antics more than Silent Alarm.
phanan
Blue Crack Addict
Well, I must be in the minority, because I think Intimacy is excellent. I still rate Silent Alarm higher, but I enjoy both immensely.
GirlsAloudFan
Blue Crack Addict
I have to disagree with ya Fitz on the fact that the Strokes post-debut albums sound exactly the same as Is This It.
Is This It is their best achievement to date, but First Impressions of Earth seriously sounds vastly different to it. They really did push in a few different directions on that one. There's a friggin Mellotron drenched spoken word track on there.
But not to derail or anything, I will say, for what has to be the 50th time on this site, that I fucking love Intimacy and rate it as one of my very favorite albums of 2008.
Is This It is their best achievement to date, but First Impressions of Earth seriously sounds vastly different to it. They really did push in a few different directions on that one. There's a friggin Mellotron drenched spoken word track on there.
But not to derail or anything, I will say, for what has to be the 50th time on this site, that I fucking love Intimacy and rate it as one of my very favorite albums of 2008.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
Nope, despite the infighting shown over the past couple of pages, it still has a lot of support around here. It may be my least favorite Bloc Party album, but that isn't an insult in their case.
True. The only reason I complain so damn much is because of how freaking much I loved these guys, and because I know they can do much, much better.
powerhour24
ONE love, blood, life
They're 2 years and 1 release removed from their best work to date IMO, so I'm not too worried.
AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
I do agree with this. I think it's great that they've progressed as a band, and there are very few Bloc songs I don't like. But Silent Alarm will always hold a special place in my heart. That album is damn near perfect. I think the dance and electronic stuff is awesome but I just don't want them to stop being a rock band.
on a side note, Ares (Villains Remix) and Mercury (Herve is in Disarray Remix) are definitely getting played at my dance party Friday. Last party I played Hunting for Witches (Crystal Castles Remix) and Signs (MMMatthias Remix).
