Bloc Party 2022

Still need to listen to this. I do love their early stuff a lot

I kinda like it too. Musically they sound more like Bloc Party than they have in a good while. I’m a sucker for those guitar parts on like, the chorus to “Callum Is A Snake”. Takes me right back to Silent Alarm/AWITC b-sides.

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the lyrics are a mishmash of shite and fine, and in someplaces actually kinda fun and good?

i agree on the sound - even Traps is good.

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Really? Was going to bump this thread myself to say I didn’t think it was going to win back any fans. Traps is alright, and I remember half-liking another track, but otherwise …

well not sure if it’ll win anyone back i guess; or maybe it will, as i am technically a fan won back… but i am enjoying it at least. not really followed them since i reviewed Intimacy for GiiTV back in the day

Wait — you never listened to Four? That’s their best album after SA!

what? :smiley: on it

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yeah I enjoyed Four when it came out too

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re-listening to Four now

did it really come out 10 years ago :flushed:

If We Get Caught has really grown on me, reminds me of both I Still Remember and Truth, has the same sense of uptempo wistfulfulness and romance against the odds, I guess I’m in the vast minority but I think it’s lovely.

I’ve given the album a few listens today, I like it. I found Intimacy and Four incredibly patchy, I think this is too but not to the same extremes as them. I think it’s their best sounding record since Silent Alarm at least, a lot of energy and the new(ish) band members sound great. Some of my positivity is undoubtedly nostalgia, I was surprised at quite how old school Bloc Party Day Drinker is, call and response guitars and skittery hi hats? It’s a proper opener. The verses of Traps remind me of the stodgy rock moments on Four but still think it’s got quite a nimble chorus and I like Callum is a snake, a hodge podge with some hammily delivered lyrics that I’m sure will turn a lot of people right off but then there’s 15 fantastic seconds where the shackles fall off and it races away. I also like the run towards the end, By Any Means Necessary and In Situ are a lot of fun

Few songs I don’t like in the middle though, Rough Justice sounds confused and obnoxious, The Girls Are Fighting’s quite a dull glam stomp that makes me cringe a bit, Sex Majik (k’inell!) is quite aimless. I don’t know what to think of the closer, nothing that positive so far at least.

Gut feeling is it ties with Four as their third best album, I doubt it will win all that many new fans or old ones back but I was definitely a lapsed fan and here I am earnestly praising it so :person_shrugging:

Really wish I had it in me to tune out the lyrics. As soon as I find myself getting into the music he goes and drops another clunker and I shrivel up into a ball of cringe. Frustrating listen.

Really like the track with the prominent female (the drummer presumably?) backing vocals though. Do more of that please, current day Bloc Party. Suits you.

“If We Get Caught has really grown on me, reminds me of both I Still Remember and Truth, has the same sense of uptempo wistfulfulness and romance against the odds, I guess I’m in the vast minority but I think it’s lovely.'”

Totally agree with this, it’s the wistfulness in his voice that made me love the earlier albums and We Get Caught is the first Bloc Party track for a long time to make me feel something approaching that. Haven’t listened to the new album yet, but should give it a chance.

Have also been thinking the same about Interpol, the general loveliness of The New and the heartbreaking vocal compared to the over produced vocals on later albums (That new track Something Changed seems to be stepping back from that and is probably my favourite of theirs for ages too).

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For me it’s less the lyrics (rarely pay that much attention, tbh) than the vocals. And it’s not that I dislike the vocals as such, but it feels like there’s barely a second without them. If you calculated the proportion of time with vocals to without vocals, it would probably be something like 90% to 10% versus something more like 65% to 35% for SA.

Give the songs some time to breathe, Kelly. Let a riff take centre stage every now and again.

THe other thing would be the relatively weak rhythm section. On SA, the drums and bass are not so much a backbone as a cage, On this one, they’re barely there.

Would have to agree re the rhythm section on this record. It would be perfectly adequate in another band but when one can’t help but compare with sheer propulsion of Silent Alarm it just feels glaring.

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Digging the new album quite a bit. I like how sassy and camp it is, it’s made me laugh out loud a couple of times. The music is good too.

The cover of Kele’s new album

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Got a lot of time for this

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Intrigued…?