bloc party
Welcome to the Year of Indie Sleaze
The indie sleaze era had it all. Sky Ferreira hanging out with Taylor Swift at Katy Perry’s birthday party. A maximalist approach to fashion (no one would bat an eye at pairing shutter shades with a bikini top indoors). Skins parties that recreated the debauchery from the hit British series. Fan-run Tumblr accounts dedicated to the relationship of Alexa Chung and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. Wild nights out captured with cameras instead of phones — with flash photography a must. It’s been a decade since this cultural phenomenon ended, but it’s left an enormous footprint on music and fashion. The initial spark came shortly after 9/11, with bands like the Strokes and Interpol releasing their debut albums. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that indie sleaze became a widespread craze — rea...
Bloc Party Relishes in Their Signature Sound on Alpha Games
When Bloc Party released their debut studio album, Silent Alarm, in 2005, it garnered the kind of praise that young, bright-eyed musicians fantasize about. Earnest comparisons to legendary acts like Blur, U2 and The Cure were just the beginning. They, alongside bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads, were considered an intricate part of indie rock’s revival in the aughts. Syncopated rhythms and feverish vocals — paired with a distinctive approach to quality craftsmanship — made for dancefloor gold. This momentum would continue with Bloc Party’s subsequent full-length albums, A Weekend in the City (2007) and Intimacy (2008). Both records were soaked in the same kind of urgency and passion as their wildly successful debut. It noticeably came to a halt on their fourth album, though, t...
Bloc Party Share New Song ‘The Girls Are Fighting’
Bloc Party revealed their latest single, “The Girls Are Fighting,” the second track from their upcoming album, Alpha Games. This will be their sixth studio album and their first full-length release since their 2016 album Hymns. In this single, frontman Keke Okereke sings of a night gone wrong, detailing disastrous events he witnesses. The song evokes the very physical nature of fighting as rhythmic chanting and pounding instrumentals create suspense in the track. Okereke states the track is inspired by ’70s glam rock and Adam Ant. This single continues a trend in Bloc Party’s discography as they attempt to return to their classic sound. [embedded content][embedded content] “There was no specific incident that inspired this song – it was more a composite of lots of things I’ve seen over the...
Bloc Party Announce Alpha Games, Share ‘Traps’
As their first record since 2016, Bloc Party just detailed their forthcoming Alpha Games, out April 29 via Infectious / BMG. The English rock band’s sixth studio record follows Hymns, and was produced by Nick Launay and Adam Greenspan (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES). Alpha Games is available for pre-order, and they just shared its first single “Traps.” [embedded content][embedded content] “From the moment we wrote ‘Traps’, we knew it had to be the first thing people heard from this album,” Bloc Party singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kele Okereke said, “playing it in soundchecks on our last tour before it was finished and hearing how it sounded in those big rooms and outdoors.” Infectious/BMG, 2022 Alpha Games Track List 1. Day Drinker2. Traps3. You Should Know the ...
The 50 Best Alt-Rock Love Songs
Not all love songs are romantic. Not all love songs are even happy. It all depends on your definition of the term. For every “My Girl” or “Your Song,” there’s at least one track with a nuanced take on the darker, more complicated sides of love — the drama of a long-term relationship, the fear of losing a partner, the void left in love’s wake. Many of those songs fall under the admittedly broad umbrella of “alt-rock.” So to mark Valentine’s Day, we decided to gather 50 of our favorite “love songs” in the genre — both conventional and otherwise. Throughout this list, you’ll find lines about blooming romance and marital bliss. You’ll also find nods to drug addiction and car crashes. There’s something for everyone. – Ryan Reed 50. that dog. – “I’m Gonna See You” You take the good, you tak...
