BLOC PARTY – Bloc Party (Wichita)
Another new band and another debut album. Once again, I had heard a lot about this band without actually hearing any of their music, and so this album was something of a blind purchase. Still, it was worth a chance, and as it happens has more than repaid the investment. More your regular indie guitar band than Kasabian, Bloc Party purvey a nice line in three or four minute rock songs, although to my jaded ears I keep hearing snatches of forgotten 80’s band Dance Society in the spikey guitar and heavy drum style. ‘Like Eating Glass’ is a catchy opener which sets out the band’s stall from the off, while ‘Price Of Gasoline’ blends the Dance Society drums with PIL yelps and early Ultravox synths to produce perhaps the perfect 80’s tribute song. Former single ‘So Here We Are’ still echoes with ringing U2 guitars, but its slightly slower pace is a diverting change from the onslaught of tracks like ‘Positive Tension’ and ‘Luno’. ‘Helicopter’ is a jagged little tune with more than a hint of XTC in its choppy rhythms, and slowie ‘Compliments’ rounds off a promising debut. Although Bloc Party have been lauded by the NME as one of the country’s best new bands, I cannot understand why no-one has noticed the obvious 80’s indie/punk influence which is present in nearly every song. I realise that most of the band would have been too young to actually hear these groups enough for them to really shape the band’s style, but as I do remember the classic days of indie punk I cannot help but compare them. I am not saying it is a bad album, as it is certainly much better than many others that I have heard, and is a perfectly enjoyable way to pass forty minutes, but considering the press that the band have garnered I must admit that I was expecting something just a little more out of the ordinary.