BLOC PARTY - A Weekend in the City (2007)

Bloc Party, a post punk band they say, but the lyrics make reference to all the social diseases that made punk a social movement. Maybe it is not a punk record only because has a professional production.

But we have the same feeling against the mainstream and his new form of control over you after the USA 11/S and the UK 7/7 in the very powerful first tracks “Song For Clay” and “Hunting For Witches” or the old form of reject you in “Where is Home?”: “in every headline we are reminded that this is not home for us.” (A song that talks about the death of young black boy.) It’s so hard to raise up your self esteem in a city that is like a vampire in front of you (Song For Clay), the necessity of love and recognition appears like a lawful demand on “The Prayer”, “I still remember” and “Sunday”.

Although the disappointment appears in every chord of the LP you have some special songs about it "Waiting For The 7.18" ("If I could do it again / I'd make more mistakes / I'd not be so scared of falling"), "Uniform" ("There was a sense of disappointment as we sped away / All the young people looked the same") and "Kreuzberg" ("After sex / The bitter taste / Been fooled again / The search continues").

But the story of disillusion, racism, and homosexuality that ends badly appear in the last track “SRXT” ("Being a man made me coarse / When I wanted to be delicate"), where the suicide is the worse chance, but a chance at least ("Tell my mother I am sorry / And I loved her").

Talking about the music, of course this is not punk that we know, but is punk a kind of guitar riff? Call it Bloc Party post punk if you want it. Here we have a couple of good strong guitars, powerful drum and bass, a voice that communicates the feelings of the lyrics with a big quota of drama when it is necessary (There are a lot of happy tunes with sad lyrics), and some good melodies that need to improve a little to be unforgettable.

Returning to the post punk concept, you can recognize some typical musical clichés given by the new technologist (Protools) that lift the sound of the new rock bands, but it was the same at the times of the British Invasion or the keyboard attacks in the eighties.

A Weekend in the City is a very good CD but in second place behind Arctic Monkeys.

Published on Blogcritics.org 06-05-2007