When Kele Okereke isn’t getting beat up or running his mouth he has this band called Bloc Party that he records music with. The band’s newest album, “Intimacy” dropped late last week. Three days before that, no one even knew it existed.
S/OUND_FAMILI/AR?
I don’t know if I like this trend – anticipation is fun and definitely adds something to the experience of hearing an album for the first time. After that disorienting slap in the face I found it difficult to evalute the quality of the album. The only thing I was sure of upon first listen was that the band had returned to partying with this guy:
The album was produced by the guys who brought you both Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City, which is a big promise the album just doesn’t live up to. To better evaluate the album, I went back to some of their most recent recordings and came to the realization that Bloc Party are a great “B-Side and singles” band. Maybe not so much an “album band.” A Weekend In The City produced a whopping 11 B-Sides which for the most part stand shoulder to shoulder with songs like Banquet and The Prayer. The quality of these B-Sides resulted in the 11 tracks often being referred to as an unofficial album or “Another Weekend In The City.” The single “Flux” was also easily one of their best. Remixes are often great as well. So in the conclusion box of my study I would write that Intimacy is indeed inferior to Another Weekend In The City, although it does have it’s singles. Perhaps Kele should leave the album stuff to TH/E_ OTHER GU_Y/S and give us more stuff like this:
DOWNLOADS:
Bloc Party – Flux
Bloc Party- Two More Years (MSTRKRFT Remix)
As always, buy the music from insound.
