(t5!) Heroes Of The Zeroes Albums: #16: Bloc Party – Silent Alarm (2005)

I apologize. This is the third so-called disco-punk/garage rock/post-punk band album that I’m going to talk about in a row. But to be fair, it’s really unfair to lump Bloc Party with the disco-punk/garage rock/post-punk scene that resurfaced earlier in the zeroes. First of all, they were obviously better than most of the bands in the genre, especially ones that came out of England like The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, hello!? They are, at least, two units better than Franz Ferdinand, and one unit better than The Rapture. Secondly, by the time their debut Silent Alarm was released in 2005, post-garage-art-punk-rock was already on the decline. Sure, there are similarities but you can’t generalize just because you hear muscular guitars and see hipster haircuts.

The significant skills of the members of the band are what makes Silent Alarm holler for attention: Russell Lissack’s guitars deviate from the razor-sharp trademark sound of post-punk of “Banquet” to the effects-loaded, emotional finger picking of “This Modern Love”. Drummer Matt Tong, in tandem with bassist Gordon Moakes create a concrete yet berserk rhythm section which pilots Bloc Party at a sonic boom-creating ride in every track. Listen to them put the brakes on with such precision in “Helicopter”, Listen to them using up every fill in the book in “So Here We Are”, listen to them practice restraint in “Blue Light”

And then there’s Kele Okereke, that lovable dreadlocked wailer. Sometimes he’s sensitive, other times he’s irate, other times he’s depressingly in love, crooning and then howling, looking over the horizon one instance and eyes closed to fight off tears the next. In the aforementioned “Helicopter”, he displays his exasperation for Bush (kept it nameless, but it’s pretty clear), asking, “are you hoping for a miracle?” over and over again to release his frustration. In “Price Of Gas”, he attempts to rally his audience for a revolt against gas hikes; “we’re going to win this,” he affirms. In “So Here We Are”, he’s filled with so much regret about a lost love, and the rush of euphoria that is brought by the layered, percusionally complex accompaniment probably doesn’t make things easier.

After Silent Alarm, it certainly looked like they have nothing to go but up. But sadly, they never followed it up effectively. A Weekend In The City didn’t have the same dynamic quality about it and I didn’t even bother to check out Intimacy due to unfavorable reviews. It would seem that this downfall is the encapsulation of Silent Alarm’s historical appeal—it shows a band that have the ability to cross over but never really did. For selfish reasons, I’m happy that they only released one good LP. If it’s the only album that we’ll remember Bloc Party by, I’d be totally satisfied with that.