Bloc Party (A Weekend in the City)This is a featured page

Released: Feb. 06, 2007 – 14 Tracks – (58:20) – (Vice Music, Inc.)

Standout Tracks: "Hunting for Witches", "Song for Clay [Disappear Here]", "I Still Remember"

Listen to "Hunting for Witches" as you read:


Album Art Rating: 6 While it must be observed that nearly nothing could top Bloc Party’s first album, Silent Alarm, their recently released second album, A Weekend In the City fails to live up to the earlier efforts of the group. Whereas Silent Alarm was full of vivacity and creativity, Weekend struggles to maintain this tone, almost taking on a slow, unattractively whiny quality. Songs such as “I Still Remember” and “Song for Clay [Disappear Here]” retain the energetic zing of previous work, but slower songs like “Sunday” feature a new moody style that seems to be lacking in creativity. It’s not to necessarily say that this shift is bad, only that songs now have a tendency to blend together, and the music really doesn’t leave the lasting impression that something like Silent Alarm did. The album is noticeably aimed at a more sensitive and mellow audience, with multiple songs that possess a slower, soulful element. Weekend contains the same alternating guitar as before, but listeners will be interested by new techno influences scattered throughout various songs. Of course, the real thing that makes Bloc Party so recognizable is the voice of frontman Kele Okereke, and even here there is noticeable change in his singing style, which certainly helps to contribute to the softer nature of certain songs. Bloc Party’s popularity has exploded in recent months, with their songs being featured on everything from iPod commercials to the FIFA soundtrack, but I think that those who were blown away by Silent Alarm and were expecting an album full of fast-paced explosion won’t really find what they’re looking for with the new direction Bloc Party has taken. This album probably is worth buying, but if you’re repulsed by slower ballads, you’ll be more enticed by simply buying one or two tracks online. All in all, a decent sophomore effort, but with definite room for improvement.
~Trevor Nibbi


SCORE: 4

Justin: I come into this album not being familiar at all to Bloc Party's first album, Silent Alarm. Not knowing what to expect out of this album, I came in surprised how much attention Bloc Party receives for how dull and convoluted their songs are on the latter half of Weekend. However, through multiple listens, Bloc Party's vocal styles and minute detail to background sounds made me kept coming back to certain songs like "Hunting For Witches" and "The Prayer". All in all, this album is only good for its individual standout tracks, or for fans of the first album.



joe_pinsker
joe_pinsker 		Latest page update: made by joe_pinsker , Mar 29 2007, 3:38 PM EDT (about this update About This Update joe_pinsker Edited by joe_pinsker

8 words added
1 widget added

view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags: None
More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
aaronros nice 4 Feb 17 2007, 9:13 PM EST by joe_pinsker
Thread started: Feb 13 2007, 12:17 AM EST  Watch
nice review trevor... but whats ur score? or did joe not add it yet?




and joe, im onto ur contributions scheme. U just add everything in parts (like the score) so that ur contributions soar. It really isn't a contest joe. U could just add it all at once.
Do you find this valuable?    
Keyword tags: None
Show Last Reply
Showing 1 of 1 threads for this page