The Jerkstore...: Music You Should Be Listening To

Current mood:

happy
Category: Music

In the past couple of months I've vented my frustration from Toby Keith to cats, now that I've spent that time complaining about things that I hate, I'm going to take some time to talk about something that I like quite a bit. And that is one of my favorite bands over the last two years, and that band is Bloc Party. If you go back a several months it was on my "Favorite Albums of All Time" to which it still is, however it will sit on the shelf for awhile because I did listen to it extensivly in 2005 and it sort of played itself out a bit. So, as you could imagine "A Weekend in the City" was high on my list of highly anticipated albums for 2007.

If you aren't familar with Bloc Party, they are a band if you are sort of into music you will compare to Franz Ferdinand. It's easy to make that sort of comparison considering the fact that the boys from Glasgow invited them on tour when they were supporting their own huge debut in the States and in Europe. If you are really a music fan you would have seen the ties to bands like Gang of Four and the Joy Division. However, this album you can see the band making obvious strides to change and push away comparisons to the two bands they drew alot from on "Silent Alarm."

Rather than opening for a band with semi-respectable tunes like Franz, they had to suffer with fans of Panic! At the Disco as they opened for them in 2006/07. Great exposure sure, but they are exposing themselves to thirteen year old girls. Sidebar: That last sentence if read out of context may get me banned from MySpace. Just another lesson to always read statements in the context they we intended to be in. Ahem, I digress.

I wrote a short review for this album on eMusic, since this is where I purchased "A Weekend..." from so I could get a bonus track that I'm glad I picked up. Of course, I probably will still by the physical CD because of the bonus DVD that is included. Back to what I wrote for eMusic. Here, I'll actually just copy and paste rather than write from memory.

"From opening track until the last song plays out on this album you have to do a good job of taking yourself away from what you would expect from a Bloc Party LP to be all about. This album is going to categorize fans into two areas. The individuals who will say it sounds nothing like "Silent Alarm" and think it doesn't stack up, therefore falls short of expectations. The second grouping will understand that a band that is as talented as Bloc Party is that you have to allow them to grow within their own style and realize they probably will never make the same album twice. Yes, I think the more you listen to this album the more it will grow on you, I also believe that this album will separate the people who listen to and are fans of Bloc Party for all the right reasons from those who only sort of pick up on what this band is trying to accomplish."

I gave the album 4 out of 5 stars because if I ever did this professionally I would only give out perfect ratings in probably 1 in every 1000 albums/books/movies/games/etc. It's sort of a choppy yet ramblie little blurb about it, and of course a little unedited, so don't think millions of people will be reading this, because they won't. Just the people that click on the album on eMusic and decide to buy it. If you don't know or subscribe, eMusic is sort of a neat little community of people that listen to music that you don't hear much on the radio, however, this could be a seperate entry all together.

To expound on what I wrote a tad, this album is much more multi-layered and complicated than "Slient..." ever was or could hope to be. It doesn't automatically make it a better album, it just makes it different. And if I had to sum up the experience that this album is, that would be the word I would use. Different. It challenges the listener to move beyond the sort of atmospheric build ups and pay offs that it's predecesor had, and the basic rock and roll verse/chorus/verse formula that most of the catchier numbers clung to. If you really jump into 'A Weekend..." it's really almost two albums in one, which is something "Silent..." almost accomplished, but never quite made it.

The weight of every vocal and instrumentation feels 10 times heavier than it did on their first album. Kele Okereke, the band's lead vocalist/guitar player/chief songwriter, has said that the album itself is inspired by the experience of living in a fast paced city, I.E. London. I've never been, or are ringing my travel agent to book a flight to, however you can almost feel some of the ups and downs of being trapped/in love with such a place. It reminds me of my recent transplant from submetro area to major metropolitan. You will love the accessability but you will also dread the crime, traffic, and people.

I am still falling into love with this album (just as I am still falling in love with being in Kansas City) because at first I was a little skeptical as most people should be. Just because I like your last album, doesn't automatically make me first in line to say your next one is a similar work of art. I'd like to think that, as a fan, I'm the type that challenges good artisits to make something worth my while, and others of the like will surely feel the same. It may be a little pretentious, but it gives me accessability into the workings of music that I feel close to. At least in my mind that's how it works.

I can't see who reads my entries, but I have a pretty good idea of who does. I would urge anyone who reads this, if you want a musical adventure, pick this album up. It's not going to be something you'll pop in your CD player and immediately love (maybe or maybe not, my fiance' liked it quite a bit right away) but it is something you can grow to really appreciate. Opening new doors and having them branch off into new realms of the musical landscape is what it's all about to really be into good music.

If you don't like it, hey, it was only $10.