Bloc party

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Bloc party
Bloc Party Logo.png

V. l.  No.  Okereke, Lissack, Moakes and Tong
V. l. No. Okereke, Lissack, Moakes and Tong
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) Indie rock
founding 2003
Website www.blocparty.com
Current occupation
Kele Okereke
Electric guitar
Russell Lissack
Justin Harris (since 2015)
Louise Bartle (since 2015)
former members
Drums, vocals
Matt Tong (2003-2013)
E-bass, synthesizer , glockenspiel , percussion , vocals
Gordon Moakes (2003-2014)

Bloc Party is an English indie rock band formed in London in 1998 under the name Angel Range by Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack. The name is an allusion to a " block party ", a name for a neighborhood festival in the USA , at which a local band plays.

Band history

Bloc Party during the 2005 Sasquatch Music Festival

The band had after the singer's breakthrough, Kele Okereke went to a Franz Ferdinand concert in 2003 and both the Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos and the BBC presenter Steve Lamacq a demo CD with She's Hearing Voices into the hand could. Lamacq then played him on his radio show and invited her to play live on his show.

Her album Silent Alarm came to number three on the British album charts, the single So Here We Are to number five on the single charts. The song Like Eating Glass was used in the Tony Hawks play American Wasteland . The song Banquet was used in the EA game SSX on Tour , Helicopter in FIFA 2006 and Colin Mc Rae Dirt 2 , Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure , Guitar Hero III and Burnout Revenge and the comedy Der Ja-Sager .

In late summer 2005, Silent Alarm Remixed, a remix version of the debut, was released . Artists from the electronic scene like Ladytron , M83 and Four Tet then try their hand at pieces from Bloc Party. In addition, Mogwai Plans and Death from Above cover 1979 edit Luno . There is also a deluxe edition of Silent Alarm , which contains two more songs ( Little Thoughts and Two More Years ) as well as a DVD with music videos, live performances and a kind of report about Bloc Party.

The second album A Weekend in the City , which was produced with Jacknife Lee, was released on February 2, 2007. According to Kele Okereke, the band definitely didn't want some kind of Silent Alarm Pt. 2 , in terms of sound, in their opinion, it is much more electronic and experimental than the debut. Bloc Party members cited the experimental releases by British band Radiohead as a major influence on A Weekend in the City . The reviews in the relevant magazines certify that Bloc Party is a clear further development with this album. In interviews, Okereke admitted that he dared to approach political issues to a greater extent in his lyrics, especially some racist incidents in Great Britain were the trigger. The first single was The Prayer (B-Side: We Were Lovers ) in Great Britain and I Still Remember in the USA . A mini tour of Europe followed the release of A Weekend In The City . The song Flux was presented in early October 2007 and released as a new single. What was curious was the fact that singer Kele Okereke also sang the song in German. This version was u. a. published on a CD accompanying the Visions magazine .

On August 11, 2008, the single Mercury was released . The third album, Intimacy, has been available in digital form on the band's website since August 21st . The album hit stores on October 27, 2008 with additional tracks. The sound on the album is much more electronic than its two predecessors. The band came to Germany in spring 2009 for five concerts. In June 2009, Bloc Party announced that a new single, One More Chance, would be released on August 10th. The song was not previously part of the album Intimacy and was produced by Jacknife Lee. However, Bloc Party announced to bring a re-release of their album Intimacy on the market, which should then also contain the single One More Chance .

Kele Okereke also announced that the band currently has no obligations on the part of their record company to release a fourth album in the near future. The band doesn't want to be put under pressure during the recordings in order to be able to release a high quality new album. In 2010 there was a longer break in which the four musicians went their separate ways. In June 2010, front man Kele Okereke released his first solo album entitled The Boxer . Lissack joined the Irish band Ash , Moakes became a father and founded the band Young Legionnaire . After Okereke said in an interview that he had met the band by chance in front of a studio without having been informed, rumors arose in the press that the band would be looking for a new singer or even split up completely. Okereke later explained that his statement was just a joke.

The fourth album, simply titled Four , was released in Germany on August 24, 2012. The single Octopus was released in advance . The album is again significantly more rock- heavy than its predecessor Intimacy , with some hard guitar riffs it still differs from the debut Silent Alarm . Tong left the band in the summer of 2013. Sarah Jones ( NYPC , Hot Chip ) has represented him in live performances since then .

In spring 2015, bassist Moakes announced as part of the news of the recordings for the fifth Bloc Party album that he was no longer part of the band. In August 2015 it was announced that Louise Bartle was the new drummer at Bloc Party and that Justin Harris will now play bass for the band. The latest studio album, Hymns , was released on January 29, 2016.

style

The band's style is similar to the music of The Smiths , Joy Division , Sonic Youth , The Cure , Mogwai , Siouxsie and the Banshees , Radiohead , Gang of Four , Pixies , The Police and XTC and is often compared to Franz Ferdinand by the press . However, members of the band state e.g. B. to have heard of Gang of Four only after it was mentioned in the press as an allegedly important influence. Nevertheless, one can rightly claim that Bloc Party incorporated at least some of the outstanding styles of the 1980s, which some of the bands mentioned above were or are representatives, into their music. In October 2013 the compilation Bloc Party Tapes was released , on which Kele put together pieces that he liked and influenced.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2005 Silent alarm DE22 (6 weeks)
DE
AT52 (2 weeks)
AT
CH80 (2 weeks)
CH
UK3
platinum
platinum

(61 weeks)UK
US114 (16 weeks)
US
First published: February 2, 2005
2007 A weekend in the city DE5 (10 weeks)
DE
AT12 (4 weeks)
AT
CH8 (6 weeks)
CH
UK2
platinum
platinum

(35 weeks)UK
US12 (8 weeks)
US
First published: January 24, 2007
2008 Intimacy DE18 (4 weeks)
DE
AT39 (2 weeks)
AT
CH37 (3 weeks)
CH
UK8th
gold
gold

(17 weeks)UK
US18 (3 weeks)
US
First published: August 21, 2008
2012 Four DE6 (4 weeks)
DE
AT10 (3 weeks)
AT
CH16 (3 weeks)
CH
UK3 (4 weeks)
UK
US36 (2 weeks)
US
First published: August 20, 2012
2016 Hymns DE30 (1 week)
DE
AT29 (1 week)
AT
CH38 (1 week)
CH
UK12 (2 weeks)
UK
US198 (1 week)
US
First published: January 29, 2016

EPs

year title Remarks
2004 Bloc party First published: May 24, 2004
Little Thoughts First published: December 15, 2004
2005 Hearing Voices Live First published: December 20, 2005
2012 Four more First published: August 9, 2012
2013 The Nextwave Sessions First published: August 12, 2013
2016 The Love Within First published: January 14, 2016

Singles

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2004 Banquet / Staying Fat
Bloc Party
- - - UK13
silver
silver

(7 weeks)UK
-
First published: May 3, 2004
Little Thoughts / Tulips
Little Thoughts
- - - UK38 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: July 12, 2004
Helicopter
Little Thoughts
- - - UK26th
silver
silver

(2 weeks)UK
-
First published: October 25, 2004
2005 So Here We Are / Positive Tension
Silent Alarm
- - - UK5 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: January 31, 2005
The Pioneers
Silent Alarm
- - - UK18 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: July 18, 2005
Two More Years
Silent Alarm
DE94 (3 weeks)
DE
- - UK7 (9 weeks)
UK
-
First published: October 3, 2005
2007 The Prayer
A Weekend in the City
DE81 (2 weeks)
DE
- - UK4 (7 weeks)
UK
-
First published: January 29, 2007
I Still Remember
A Weekend in the City
- - - UK20 (6 weeks)
UK
-
First published: April 9, 2007
Hunting for Witches
A Weekend in the City
- - - UK22 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: July 9, 2007
Flux
A Weekend in the City
DE84 (2 weeks)
DE
- - UK8th
silver
silver

(19 weeks)UK
-
First published: November 12, 2007
2008 Mercury
Intimacy
DE77 (2 weeks)
DE
- - UK16 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: August 11, 2008
Talons
Intimacy
- AT67 (1 week)
AT
- UK39 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: October 20, 2008
2009 One more chance - - - UK15 (5 weeks)
UK
-
First published: August 10, 2009

swell

  1. motor.de: Bloc Party publish completely new single ( Memento of the original from August 22nd, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed August 7, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.motor.de
  2. Yahoo News from July 31, 2009: Thoughts of separation at Bloc Party? ( Memento of the original from August 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed August 7, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / de.news.yahoo.com
  3. stern.de from August 24th, 2012: Bloc Party comes from emergency to white lie
  4. Marcello: Creative Spotlight: Episode # 306 - Matt Tong of Bloc Party. (No longer available online.) Japan Cinema on February 8, 2014, archived from the original on November 25, 2014 ; Retrieved September 5, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / japancinema.net
  5. http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/83765 on New Music Express
  6. http://www.getaddicted.org/bloc-party-neue-bandträger-louise-bartle-justin-harris/ on 'GETADDICTED.ORG'
  7. ^ McLean, Craig: 21st-century boy . The Observer. Sunday 7 January 2007. Retrieved on 14-3-2012.
  8. a b Chris G: Interview Bloc Party . Soundsxp. May 10, 2004. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  9. a b Phares, Heather: Bloc Party: Biography . Allmusic . Retrieved on 14-3-2012.
  10. O'Kane, Josh: Talking Bloc during Harvest Jazz - Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke talks life, love, music and Ultimate Fighting. . In: [Here] New Brunswick . September 18, 2008. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved on March 17, 2012: “With the new record, he said he was inspired by a song written years ago by Siouxsie and the Banshees called Peek-a-boo. "I heard it for the first time, and it sounded like nothing else on this planet. This is just a pop song that they put out in the middle of their career that nobody knows about, but to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard. I thought that'd be cool, to make music that people might not get at the time, but in ten years' time, people would revisit it. ""
  11. ^ Daniel Melia: Bloc Party Plan Experimental "Radiohead" Like Second Album . Gigwise. February 24, 2006. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 10, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gigwise.com
  12. Review of the compilation "Bloc Party Tapes" . Popshot. November 3, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  13. a b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  14. a b Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

Commons : Bloc Party  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files