Latest Release
- 21 JUL 2023
- 4 Songs
- Silent Alarm · 2005
- Silent Alarm · 2005
- The High Life EP · 2023
- A Weekend In the City · 2007
- Silent Alarm · 2005
- Silent Alarm · 2005
- Silent Alarm · 2004
- Intimacy · 2008
- Silent Alarm (Remixed) · 2005
- Silent Alarm · 2005
Essential Albums
- Bloc Party represents a collision of forces that might otherwise repel. London in 2005 was a city high on revival: Cool Britannia returned for a second swing, this time fortified by the emergence of Myspace, which invited a new kind of musical tribalism. Indie rock, in all its inflated, pint-sloshing bravado, conquered the spirit of the streets—and white men were all too willing to lead the cavalry. But Bloc Party’s arrival embodied a defiant contradiction. Their debut album Silent Alarm is a blitzkrieg of rhythmic friction, cold-sweat instrumentals and unforgettable melodies, of course—but what set the band apart was their unflinching vulnerability. The arrival of lead singer Kele Okereke, as a Black man, one who regularly faced intrusive speculation about his sexuality in interviews until he came out as gay in 2010, challenged the exclusionary indie rock scene and introduced a voice vital to the city’s chorus. His heart-in-throat yelps conveyed the looming paranoia in the early years of the Iraq War on “Price of Gasoline”; “Helicopter”, with riffs that would crash and careen as if shooting sparks off a guardrail, explores the conflict of self-identity. The personal is inseparable from the political. Though Silent Alarm is fraught with tension, it is also equally capable of incredible tenderness. “So Here We Are” is one of the great millennial love songs; the drums are no less intense but Okereke yields softness in simple poetry: “I made a vow/To carry you home”. That first flush of affection for someone and having to face untangling all of our contradictions is captured in “This Modern Love”, a dizzying head rush of momentum and catharsis. After its breathtaking crescendo, he softly ventures, “Do you wanna come over and kill some time?” before adding, in a final, quiet act of weakness, “Throw your arms around me”. Silent Alarm’s legacy stands as one of the strongest debuts of its era, a record that completely redefined what an indie rock band could be. More than that, it is also a love letter to the painful act of self-discovery, a suspension of innocence in a long-gone London hurtling towards a future that is on its way, ready or not.
Albums
- 2022
- 2009
- 2009
- 2008
Music Videos
- 2021
- 2016
- 2016
- 2016
- 2016
Artist Playlists
- UK post-punk revivalists whose success is no miracle.
- 2023
- 2016
- 2016
Live Albums
More To Hear
- Mark chats with Kele Okereke of Bloc Party.
- On Death Cab For Cutie, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Bloc Party.
- Okereke, Lissack, and St. Louis rap.
About Bloc Party
Bloc Party began in 1999, when Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack decided to form a band inspired by their love of Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Pixies, and DJ Shadow. ∙ They landed their big break when Okereke got the demo of “She’s Hearing Voices” to BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, who played it on his show. ∙ During the band’s formative years, Okereke studied English Literature at King’s College London but dropped out after Bloc Party signed with Wichita Recordings. ∙ Silent Alarm was nominated for Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize and was named Album of the Year by NME. ∙ Their sophomore album, A Weekend in the City, hit No. 12 on the US charts and made the Top 10 in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. ∙ Okereke has been a featured vocalist on numerous tracks by other artists, including “Believe” by The Chemical Brothers and “It’s Not the Things You Say” by Tiësto. ∙ Okereke has released four solo albums under the name Kele, including the UK Top 20 hit The Boxer.
- ORIGIN
- London, England
- FORMED
- August 1999
- GENRE
- Alternative