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Bloc Party - Intimacy
| Rollingstones |
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Bloc Party have had a hard time finding their niche: They've bounced from the dance rock of their debut to the stadium-size riffs of their second album, sounding unfocused both times. But their latest album finally finds a way to combine jittery club grooves and big hooks into a seamless rock record — their most dynamic yet. Co-produced by Jacknife Lee and Brit-pop mastermind Paul Epworth, Intimacy has the raw feel of a live album, despite the layers of swirling keyboards and samplers. "Mercury" stacks an electronic horn section on top of blasts of drum-and-bass, and "Ares" revolves around Chemical Brothers-size drums and darting guitar squawks. Frontman Kele Okereke treats his voice like a strange instrument, chopping it up and dropping it into the mix. He sounds liberated, airing deeply personal details about a bad breakup, reminding his ex-lover, "You used to take your watch off before we made love," and announcing, "I can be as cruel as you." Replacing Bloc Party's distant cool with vivid honesty, he makes Intimacy a confident new peak for his band....full text |
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| Thequietus |
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Bloc Party have always made themselves a frustratingly difficult band to like. Alright, so if you’re a 17 year old kid from Haywards Heath with a persecution complex and enough Camus in your blazer pocket to sneer at the emo kids, then their two albums of spiky guitars and developing punk/funk have no doubt been shining beacons of enlightenment amidst a hard and indifferent world, etc. etc. and so on amen. For everyone else, though, Okereke’s lyrics of East London vampires and revolutions that start in Shoreditch (via a pleasant drive to Brighton on the weekend) have felt like a wasted opportunity to inject a little grey matter into a UK music scene that thrives on blinkered idiocy. Yet it wasn't only this that resulted in the rather lukewarm reception afforded to last album Weekend In The City. The album came and went (to borrow from one of the poets BP fans no doubt adore), not with a bang but a whimper, leaking onto the internet within days of being completed. To avoid this happening again, and for maximum media impact, Intimacy has been rush released at short notice via a five pound download. Cynics might suspect that the worth-a-punt pricing was intended to lure in the casual customer who wouldn't mind losing the sum should the album turn out to be a hormones-and-water-injected turkey. Cynics – myself included – would be wrong....full text |
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| Ventvox |
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After the release “A Weekend In The City,” Bloc Party have followed it up with “Intimacy.” Thankfully, this album recaptures some of the joy that was found on “Silent Alarm.” The opener, “Ares” is rather off putting. The song begins promisingly enough with a very distorted guitar before divulging in a shouty cheerleader-esque rhythm. The song then breaks into a “Blue Light” melody before dissipating completely into an intro for “Mercury.” The single “Mercury” reminds me somewhat of a David Bowie impersonator trying his hand at jungle, which is fine, if you’re into that sort of thing. To me it’s kind of retro, a bit monotonous and it sounds like album filler/fluff. In retrospect, as much as I did not like “Mercury,” it still sounds a bit more polished than the opener. The track, “Halo” cannot come soon enough. It’s like a respite in a sea of mediocrity. All blustery guitars, this song marks the return to form that Bloc Party so desperately needs. Then comes “Biko”, which I was half suspecting to be a Peter Gabriel cover. Thankfully, it’s not; it is more of a Bloc Party ballad, although it really wouldn’t be out of a place on a Peter Gabriel album. Consider this your robotic, “Blue Light” moment complete with staccato drum machine beats....full text |
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