Albums Of The Year No. 2

Holy fuck only one more to go after this! The penultimate album in this long series of blogs is:

2. Bloc Party- Intimacy



I don't think i know of any other album this year that has been so polarizing to a bands fanbase. It really is a case of love it or hate it. And I fucking love it. the album came out of nowhere in mid August and as soon as I downloaded it I knew it was something special.

Bloc Party have managed to move their sound foward yet again. Intimacy has the raw edginess of Silent Alarm, the mature confident feel of A Weekend In The City, and see's them experimenting with their sound more than ever before. The opening salvo of 'Ares', 'Mercury' and 'Halo' are just superb to openan album with. 'Ares' is an upate of The Chemical Brothers' Setting Sun mixed with elements of Klaxxons (better than Klaxxons use them), 'Mercury' is a funky, bass heavy loop experiment thats addictive fun and 'Halo' is pure Bloc Party rocking out. All 3 songs are inventive, catchy and most all, just sheer fun.

For the rest of the album, Bloc Party jump between fast songs and slow songs, all incorporating some form of electronics to a degree. 'Signs' and 'Zephyrus' are the strongest examples of the slow songs mixed with electronics, the former a slow and gentle lullaby, the latter a weird synth driven angry number. 'Biko' is another slow song, featuring stop start drum machines and touching lyics about activist Steve Biko.

The fast paced songs have their place though. 'Trojan Horse' has a driving electronically distorted guitar line that sounds faster than light, whilst 'One Month Off' builds up and up to a might key change. The best is saved for last though. 'Better Than Heaven' and 'Ion Square' are stunning songs to close the album with. 'Better Than Heaven' has heavy bass notes and quiet guitar slides, until it explodes into a chaotic malmstrom. 'Ion Square' then closes the album with a not quite so chaotic build up, mixing guitars, synths, drum machines and live drums, blurring the lines between all of them. It's absolutely breathtaking.

It may have been quietly released and barely had any notice taken of it, but Intimacy may well be the best Bloc Party album yet. It's a move forward for the band, and shows thats absolutely no stopping them at all.

Tune in sometime soon for the revealment of my number one album of 2008!