Record Label: Wichita
Genre: Indie Rock
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

I remember when I first heard Bloc Party, right around when their first album Silent Alarm came out. I was instantly hooked; songs like Banquet and Like Eating Glass were irresistably catchy and stuck in my head for days. But then something happened. After a couple months of Bloc Party overkill, I stopped listening to them altogether. Save for Final Fantasy playing This Modern Love live, I don’t think I heard them for over a year.

On their much anticipated follow up album, they expand their sound with better production, conciser songwriting and a really emotionally charged delivery. And at the same time, I feel like something’s missing. Part of me loves the darker turn the band has taken, but I think when it comes down to it, I want to dance around like an idiot to songs like Banquet, and there’s no real equivalent on this one. Most of the songs are nearly 5 minutes or more, and the flow of the album as a whole suffers.

The fact that it’s being released in early February will help its exposure, but I feel like if it had come out in a busy fall filled with releases, this album would get lost. It’s not bad by any means, but there’s nothing here that really makes me want to listen to it over and over, save a couple tracks. The song Waiting For The 7.18 is probably the highlight, with its Christmasy bells in the intro and the heavy drums before the whole band rocks it out. But after that track, the album doesn’t really have one of those mesmerizing hooks, and it just sort of goes on and on.

Bloc Party will definitely be around for a while, and I feel like their best work is yet to come. Check out A Weekend In The City if only because there’s not much else so far this year, but you may find that it’ll just sit on the shelf once the spring comes along.

Bottom Line: Well produced and a tighter sound, but lacking the catchy hooks and standout tracks of their first one.
Notable Tracks: Waiting for the 7.18, Song For Clay, Uniform, I Still Remember
Overall Rating: