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Its not very Bloc Party, but I love pretty much any song with a piano loop. They are capable of more for sure, but I like this. They are like a machine for outputting new material, intimacy was released less than a year ago. Very interested to see how album no.4 will sound. Expect alot of remixes to come for "One More Chance".
(mp3) Bloc Party-One more chance

only 4 days gone in Juily so far, and i've already posted as much this month as I did last. :D
One More Chance is out August 10th on Wichita. Bloc Party play below Radiohead at Reading/Leeds.

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2 reviews from the previously hyped bloc party at manchester apollo, and a pretty special cover...

Seans review:
From the minute I heard Bloc Party's latest album Intimacy, second to falling for the London 4-piece all over again, I was curious, if a little worried, about how the heavy use of effects and keyboards would work out live. From the minute the band kick into opener, and new single, One Month Off my fears are eased, especially when this is followed by an epic rendition of Halo.

Bloc Party get straight down to business rattling through single Hunting For Witches, a rendition of Positive Tension that's up there with some of the best live tracks I've seen and Intimacy track Signs, which is as beautiful live as it is on record. Even Talons, one of the weakest tracks on the new album, is brilliantly frantic. The choice to play Waiting For The 7.18 is clearly one that not only pleases me, as the crowd sing and jump along to the chaotic ending.

Opener to 2007's A Weekend In The City, Song For Clay (Disappear Here) merges perfectly into indie classic Banquet as the immense first two thirds of the show crash to an ending. Unfortunately, the next few tracks do not follow suit. Ion Square is frankly boring, the only real highlight in single Mercury is singer Kele loosing his microphone while in the crowd and even airing of So Here We Are fails to recapture the atmosphere lost during the previous two tracks. Luckily final song of the main set Like Eating Glass saves the day.

The encore pretty much erased memories of the evenings down points, a brilliant cover of Girls Aloud's Call The Shots followed by singles The Prayer, Flux (unfortunately, the heavy synth fails to convey live) and the timeless Helicopter. The band return on last time for the insane Ares and a magic rendition of This Modern Love.

Bloc Party live is very much a game of chance. When you win, they are up there with the the best live acts on the planet, but when you loose, they are dull, boring and rather than conjuring up no atmosphere manage to remove any that had lingered from earlier in the night. Fortunately for tonight's attendees, they manage to win on pretty much every throw of the dice.


Bloc Party played:

One Month Off
Halo
Hunting For Witches
Positive Tension
Signs
Talons
Waiting For The 7.18
Song For Clay
Banquet
Ion Square
Mercury
So Here We Are
Like Eating Glass

Call The Shots (Girls Aloud Cover)
The Prayer
Flux
Helicopter

Ares
This Modern Love

edit: the Guardian review is from the night before
The Guardian's review:
When Bloc Party emerged in 2004, they were seen as indie drips, with Noel Gallagher comparing them unfavourably to contestants on University Challenge. Since then, the band have undergone a metamorphosis. Indie guitars have given way to distorted effects and eardrum-shattering volume. At times, it seems as though Bloc Party have been abducted and replaced by a quasi-metal band with a sticks-juggling drummer.

With guitarist Russell Lissack playing beautiful, plangent chords, vocalist Kele Okereke shouting as much as he sings, and bassist Gordon Moakes laying down reggae basslines over Matt Tong's hyperactive percussion, they sound so mismatched they could have met for the first time on the way in. But mostly it works. Sonic manifestos such as Ares ("We dance to the sound of sirens") have the crowd shouting along. This 90-minute set shows how they don't write songs so much as mashes of melody and groove, which are rendered here as an audiovisual barrage.

Though it can be mesmerising, the set is crying out for the more delicate strokes of their recent album Intimacy, or a gentler old song, such as So Here We Are. Still, as the amps are cranked up, the young crowd follow Okereke's requests to "go mental" - although at least one chap has his fingers in his ears.

Call the Shots was amazing
here is the mp3 of them doing it in the live lounge
Bloc Party-Call the Shots (Girls Aloud cover)


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I'm so excited about this! Although this will be the 3rd time I've seen them, its the first time at their own gig! I am (probably for the first time) appreciating how good an album A Weekend in the City is. Silent Alarm is epic. Intimacy is very good. 5 x MP3s below!

From 2004's Silent Alarm:
Bloc Party-Like Eating Glass
From 2007's A Weekend In The City:
Bloc Party-Song for Clay (Disappear Here)
From 2008's Intimacy:
Bloc Party-Ion Square

Bonus:
Immense Diplo remix:
Bloc Party-Helicopter (Diplo Remix)
Great bside to The Prayer:
Bloc Party-England

A review of Bloc Party at Manchester Apollo will be appearing here sometime this weekend hopefully, courtesy of Sean

One Month Off is the next single to be taken from Intimacy, and is available to buy/download from today...


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Russia and Georgia go to war over the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

1. Conor Oberst-Conor Oberst
Conor's first solo album in 12 years (and first since the age of 16) was a continuation of the collection of brilliantness he has output over the years with Bright Eyes. Lyrically he is as strong as ever, and the Mystic Valley Band (play on the album, and tour with him) are awesome. This is such a strong album, every song is great with varied musical and lyrical content across the record. As usual, the lyrics are very much open to interpretation on many of the tracks, songmeanings is good for guidance if you want it! New Bright Eyes album next year?
Best track: Conor Oberst-Souled Out!!!
Bonus: Conor Oberst-Breezy (Live at 400 club)
Metacritic (76)
2. Bloc Party-Intimacy
I am torn between this:
While Okereke has described Intimacy as a break-up album, it feels like more of a document of a band disconnected from itself. Pitchfork
and this:
Brave, individual and heartfelt, Intimacy offers treasure for fans old and new. The Guardian
Much more towards the Guardian one though.
Read my initial thoughts on the album here
Still not made up my mind on it!! Goin to see them in January :D
Best track: Bloc Party-Halo
Metacritic (69)
3. Late of the Pier-Fantasy Black Channel
I was very late on the LOTP hype, which started late 2006 really. Finally got round to listening to this album (pretty apprehensively) in December but loved it instantly. The production on this is ridiculous (Erol Alkan) and 2/3rds of the songs are absolute bangers. They are similar to Klaxons, but actually a fair bit more talented. Hopefully goin to see these in Feb!
Best track: Late of the Pier-Space and the Woods

4. The Walkmen-You&Me
Not listened to this enough to make a real judgement, but after a couple of listens its sounding very promising. Only heard one of their previous efforts, Bows and Arrows, which was good. This sounds better. Donde Esta La Playa is an amazing song. Many have said this album marks a move for the Walkmen from a singles band to a great one. I think I may agree.
Best track: The Walkmen-Donde Esta La Playa
Metacritic (79)
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Woah woah woah, a week after it's release and this album has reignited my love for Bloc Party. As good as A Weekend In The City was, it was nowhere close to what Bloc Party are capable of. Intimacy reaches the highs of Silent Alarm, mixing classic Bloc Party lyrics with a more electronic sound (not quite Flux levels). Kele said this was his "break-up" album and this is evidenced throughout the album. Ares is pretty classic Kele lyrically, reminiscent of Helicopter in (surely?) anti-US/UK war attitudes. Mercury is alot better in the context of the album, although I am still pretty unsure what it's about lol. Halo and Biko are up there with Bloc Party's best, Biko potentially my favourite Bloc ever. If only the consistency of the first 4 songs had been maintained, then this would have been up there with Death Cab, Coldplay et all for album of the year. Trojan Horse and Zepherus are decent tunes, but nothing special. But the likes of Signs, One Month Off and Ion Square make up for it and it would be no surprise if this made my top 5/10 of the year.
Hopefully an Academy sized tour for the autumn! One Month Off sounded brilliant at Leeds, they were a big improvement on their 2007 performance.

Bloc Party-Biko
Bloc Party-One Month Off
Bloc Party-Ion Square
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hmmmmmmm. definately didnt have the same "ZOMFGZZZ" effect on me that flux did. It's a good song, but i am still unsure about the new Bloc Party single. It's great that they keep releasing new music though, flux was only 8 months ago, and a weekend in the city only feb 2007, hopefully album 3 will be early next year. Time will tell how good this is. see for yourself
Bloc Party-Mercury
out on august 11th-details
Heavyweight Mercury 12”:

A. Mercury (12” Version)
B. Mercury (12” Intrumental)

Mercury CD Maxi:
1. Mercury
2. Mercury (Hervé is in disarray Remix)
3. Mercury (CSS Remix)
4. Mercury (Flosstrodamus Remix)

Mercury Heavyweight 7”:
A. Mercury
B. Idea For A Story

css remix will be interesting
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