Bloc Party

I stumbled across Bloc Party while reading Spin magazine a few years back right after they had just released their debut album, Silent Alarm. The article made them sound interesting, so I figured I should check them out. I listened to a few tracks off the album and I wasn't really impressed, so I just forgot about them. Then earlier this year, they released their sophomore album, A Weekend in the City. It was well received and everyone was saying good things about it, so I decided to give them another listen. Boy was I happy I did. A Weekend in the City is certainly one of the best albums of the year (as you can see in my top 20 albums of 2007 list). It may look like it's ranked a little low, but that's just because everything above it was stellar. I may actually reconsider it's rank though because it was quite excellent. After picking up Bloc Party's new album, I also decided to give Silent Alarm a second chance as well. When I listened to it for the second time around, I was highly impressed.

Bloc Party only has two full LPs out currently, but they have released countless remixes and EPs. They even released all of Silent Alarm in remix form with remixes done by bands such as Ladytron, M83, Death From Above 1979, Fort Tet, and Mogwai. Their most recent example is their Flux EP which contained the single Flux, a remix, and a b-side. Bloc Party is currently in the process of recording their next album, but no release date has yet been announced.

The over all sound of Bloc Party is a kind of dance-pop meets post-punk with a dash of indie and art-rock. They may sound very confusing and that's because it is. There isn't a very good way to describe Bloc Party's sound and that's why you should just give them a listen rather then try to have me list the many genres them encompass in their splendid music. I guess the most basic description would be stellar music with splendid dance beats forming the backbone. I saw them for the first time earlier in the fall at the Hideout Block Party (it was Bloc Party at the Block Party!). The show was pretty good but not as amazing as I had expected. Click here for the full review. I will certainly see them again though the next time they're in town. Again, I just recommend checking them out and making your own judgements. To assist you in this, I have posted the video for their most recent song Flux and an old single from their first album Helicopters below.