News came yesterday from the Bloc Party camp of a new single — news that would’ve excited us more a year or two ago, but still, Kele and Co.’s Silent ways have earned our ear for awhile to come. Didn’t take long for it to pop up online, so have a listen at Hypem to gauge their direction. Premature evaluation says it’s got a beat and we can dance to it. Except Kele sounds too much like Cher. Fair point: A lot of people like to dance to Cher.
Also, they flexed their new “Flux” on Conan last night, where it featured much less autotune on the vox, sounding more like the band we fell in love with on Alarm, even more new wave-y if that’s possible. Only, that “We need to talk!” is so “We’re gonna win this!” We’ll bring you the Conan clip when it’s YouTube’d.
[Pic from Bloc Party's set at ACL '07]
UPDATE: Conan video after the jump! (thanks, e)
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Excellent track
that track was super weak
Dear Bloc Party,
Please never use a vocoder again.
Sincerely,
Everyone
waiting for the taper-jeaned kids to backlash with some trite recycled criticisms, but i love it.
Terrible, just terrible. Is their first album going to be the only decent thing they ever do?
please. criticize fine. but criticizing with uber elementary crap like, “super weak?” We are typing in valley talk now? Like, totally whack. bloc party does what they like, unlike some other bands out there that simply do what will get play or cater to shimmering reviews. They are also a band that has grown since their first album, so can we please stop comparing every track put out since then to “helicopter” and “this modern love?” the seemingly only tracks that people know because they are easily accessible and give instant gratification?
youtube clip:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U3iKfIQILdc
Not all that bad, but is it just me or is that a Bravery single from my Sophomore year of college?
sheesh .. the song is NOT good .. bloc party is probably my favorite band that came out in the last couple of years but this song is just not good.. it sounds like The Bravery, they’re not going forward with their sound on this song ..
this is just another dance rock song that 5 years from now you’ll cringe at
are you guys kidding me? how could you think that silent alarm is their only good album? have you actually sat down and listened to A Weekend in the City? it is brilliant? and the bravery???? how can you even think this sounds like them? i just dont get people sometimes. if you are a true fan of the band you would enjoy this track. sorry that they experimented and strayed from the norm. god forbid that they have some originality.
are you guys kidding me? how could you think that silent alarm is their only good album? have you actually sat down and listened to A Weekend in the City? it is brilliant. and the bravery???? how can you even think this sounds like them? i just dont get people sometimes. if you are a true fan of the band you would enjoy this track. sorry that they experimented and strayed from the norm. god forbid that they have some originality.
If you think this song is original you definitely need to go out and buy some records
I’m going to go ahead and consider this song “an honest mistake.”
Vocoder? No. Just write good lyrics.
This song is an embarrasment. I am generally really sad about what happened to this band. I respected how ambitious they are, but it ended up backfiring into one of the worst falls in the history of music. Has anyone ever seen a worst sophomore slump? Best post-punk album of the decade to something unlistenable? They could of been the next Gang of Four, but now they are now worst than bands (sadly) like the Bravery and even more (sadly) My Chemical Romance. Apparently only self-absorbed teenagers who feel like their problems are the only ones that matter attend their shows, these days. I don’t really care what Kele is doing with his “weekend in the city.” He’s about as interesting as my 14 year old self. This band was best with a punk rock edge, they need to realize that they can’t play stadiums and stop trying to write songs that can. Kele’s voice is good for screaming and chanting, not emo singing/crooning.
P.S. Has anyone heard the new Sunset Rubdown album? May be the best thing all year.
sounds like a great bloc party song that got remixed into a mediocre bloc party song, at best
There is no vocoder in this song. Perhaps you are mistaking it for a normal synthesizer (microkorg, in this case).
that voice thing reminds me of that one chick with the big hair, oh yeah it’s Cher…how I hate that voice thing, “it like totally sucks” (valley voice). Why do bands feel the need to make everything sound like techno? Oh yeah, Kid rock used that voice thing too, awesome!
catchy
drd, Do you believe in thing called Kele? – His voice is clearly being altered Cher-tronically. Listen to the link, not the youtube clip.
Not the first time they have employed others’ vocal stylings. If you listen to the original “She Hearing Voices” from their EP, pre-Silent Alarm, around the 2:30 mark you’ll hear them borrowing similar vocals of Les Savy Fav’s “We’ll Make a Lover of You”. They re-recorded those vocals for Silent Alarm.
Bloc Party was an exceptionally mediocre band from the very beginning with a few relatively well executed radio friendly singles. They bring nothing new to the table and seemingly have no aspirations to do so. They traded in the “punk” edge for coldplay arena muzak. They lack artistic chops.
I enjoy Bloc Party’s work, but can’t help but feel that this song is just a cheap way to pump some new life into the disappointing A Weekend in the City. It just seems like someone around the band suggested they do another dance-y type song because they got big off their dance-post-punk sound and here they just use sort of a cheap electronic beat to capture what they did before, but it seems to fall on it’s face.
i like the track as a studioversion but this thing on conan is awful.
kele doesn´t seem very confident with this at all
safe to say this track is more embarrassing than anything new britney spears.
dear bloc party,
LEAVE US ALONE. britney and chris crocker can stay but take new rilo kiley with you out the universe’s door too.
sincerely,
Everyone
“There is no vocoder in this song. Perhaps you are mistaking it for a normal synthesizer (microkorg, in this case).”
there is no intelligence in drd’s comment. perhaps you are a moron. please leave stereogum immediately.
i like it….
I’m a big fan of bloc party and this song is merely okay. ‘Weekend in the City’ isn’t bad, it’s just different.
On the vocoder thing, this is not completely altering his voice ala Cher or think P-thugg in Chromeo. Thus drd’s comment in that context makes sense. Check the mic, no bells and whistles on it. It’s a normal f-ing microphone. Granted the synth isn’t the best, but it’s also not the worst.
Give Kele and co a damn break, it’s a new song that they’ve barely performed.
BLOC PARTY RULE!!
Flux is a new dimension to an ever growing diversity that bloc party’s music offers. Great beats, catchy chorus with elements of New Order thrown in for good measure. Please stop comparing the recent tunes with SA, they’ve matured so much as a band and it tells in the music. Can’t wait to hear it live in the winter arena tour. Keep up the good work guys!!
At least homeboy is rocking a crystal castles tee on conan…
Now, quit your whining bitches, just because you didn’t get the leaked track 6 months early and had to endure getting it with the rest of the masses.
I’m not particularly impressed with the track though.
Yeah. This song is not “Two More Years.”
I bet I’d enjoy it more if I could make out the vocals, but it just doesn’t have the hooks on the first few listens.
I hate that we’re not allowed to think this in inferior to bloc party’s other work, without being told that “we just don’t want to seem them develop and move into a newer sound.”
For the record, I dig a weekend in the city and like the more electronic stuff just as much as the more standard stuff off the first album. I just think *this* electronic bloc party song is a bit pants…
Um..this sounds like a Panic! at the Disco song, or a bad remix or something. I’m not impressed. It’s too trancey and basic-sounding for my tastes. I know a lot of kids who’ll like it though. :/
Flux is a decent song, but not their best work. Songs like “sunday”, “this modern love” and even “always new depths” are great examples of what they can do, but I didn’t see that kid of brilliance in this one. I did like how they are exploring new areas and way to expand their sound though. Keep it up and come to cleveland sometime soon!
It’s a very weak track, a weekend in the city had moments of grandeur but this just seems like a step in waters already trod and I don’t need to hear them play another back beat pattern with high hat sixteenths. I thought the afore mentioned album was a sign of even better things to come but now I’m worried it’ll be the best they had to offer.
word on the street is epworth is coming back in for the 3rd album, thank god.
this song is genious.
just a beautiful track…they keep getting better and better.
this is not a weak track at ALL..how can you say that??? listen to the emotion put into it…..you’re all terrible.
This is one of the few times I’ve double posted on one ‘gum topic, but I had to on this. No need for bashing Bloc Party, but at the same time everyone should agree this is nothing compared to the silent alarm era. City had some great ideas but poor execution, and as someone mentioned earlier its no “two more years” which I will say was their best song (and even better when mstrkrft remixed it).
Here’s to a great 3rd LP!
I don’t know, at first I was skeptical to whether or not Bloc Party wrote this song, and I found out that they did. I am a musician and I can personally relate to this song. Sometimes bands just over write material and use too much stuff, this is a classic taste of Bloc Party using simplistic drums, rhymes, and basic all around easy listening instrumental and vocal wise. This song will become their most mainstream song, as it has 80′s beat, and modern vocals with it. Nobody else sings like Kele. What I can appreciate from this track is Bloc Party’s consistency of trying anything new out. Oh, and Gordy sent me the version of him playing actual bass guitar to Flux. And it does sound cool, but you all just gotta go to clubs and bars to see that this song Flux, fits in perfectly to BLOC PARTY’s age group, unfortuneatly not for little kids who loves the guitar licks of “helicopter”
Lets not forget Bloc Party is signed to Vice Records, a predominately Electronic/Serious Tone Record Label, catching attention from anyone wearing American Apparel, DIY’s and ETC>
“self-absorbed teenagers who feel like their problems are the only ones that matter” – Yeah, clearly we have our priorities straight.
I personally like this song. It’s cool that they’re trying out new things.
Bloc Party has tried breaking the norm with their music since before they were even known as Bloc Party, which you kids probably didn’t even know, judging by your “super weak” or equally ignorant descriptions of this song, you probably flipped to MTV2 a few weeks ago and saw I Still Remember, liked what you saw and called yourselves fans.
This song is just an extension of Kele’s genius in making great, modern music that breaks the molds set by genres today, and it’s still got all the elements that made them a great band, just different. Like The Prayer before it or Kreuzberg or Compliments.. it’s just a different side of Bloc, which is one of the elements that makes them so great. You can listen to all their b-sides and albums and singles and never hear the same stuff over and over, which sets them apart from half the bands around.
To all you kids bashing Bloc Party, you’re just posers and know nothing about good music. Go back to listening to Disturbed please, and S T F U. Please and thanks
@Mike, and the comment “but now they are now worst than bands (sadly) like the Bravery and even more (sadly) My Chemical Romance.”, you sir are a fucking twit.
Lowering yourself to the level of comparing Bloc Party to My Chemical Romance? Graduate from middle school bud.
I’ve got a pre-release version which at a shitty bitrate fills my speakers. As usual their production is gonna be pretty hot…
So for all you sensitive boys who still haven’t cried to any new BP shit like you did to banquet, grow a pair
I like this more than anything on the new Radiohead album.
There. I said it.
Breaking new molds? How does rewriting “What is Love (Baby Don’t Hurt Me)” constitute breaking a new mold?
essentially the song doesn’t sound that bad. not that it would become one of my favourites but still. the sound they gave it, however, is insanely cheesy. i seriously explored the electronic music genre for at least eight years and collected tonnes of records during that time, and from what i have come across in that period, this song compares best to the shittiest most mainstream no-brainer club tracks out there. calling this ‘moving forward’ is the most ridiculous thing to say ever! in my opinion bloc have moved into the wrong direction with this. i don’t think it will be a sustainable strategy for them to produce an album that sounds like this, as the mainstream crowd will never go for a band with an image such as bloc’s (quasi-intellectual rebel type hipsters).
(Before this live track I heard the radio version.) And when I listened to the song I thought: ‘Wtf is this Bloc Party!?’
I like how they have many different styles in their songs, I like AWITC as much as SA.
I can’t wait till the next album, though!
I like it though, it’s a bit different, and like people say, nice danceable.
I’ve got all released Bloc Party songs and I think this one fits nicely with the rest
Although it’s a nice song, a whole album with this kinda stuff would be a bit too much
tbh greg is an idiot.
“There is no vocoder in this song. Perhaps you are mistaking it for a normal synthesizer (microkorg, in this case)” – the microkorg has a vocoder on it. His voice has been vocodered.
more importantly, it’s good. but it sounds like a really camp, gay disco track from about 5 years ago. that horrible trance arpeggio needs to go. why can’t they go back to using their pedals rather than korg factory presets.
they don’t really stand a chance when this track is previewed the week radiohead release ‘in rainbows’. i thought that was who the band admired (russell – johnny?) and were aiming at.
unless they’re trying to out-camp britney?
Brave, Fresh, Energetic, Fantastic step in the right direction again from Bloc Party. Love this track
Anyone ever take into consideration that bands CHANGE? I love this song, give the band a break. They might be just experimenting with a new genre and if you don’t like it, go listen to other bands. No one’s making you listen to Bloc Party.
I’ve just uploaded the “Flux” official video to YouTube!
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsIMTwVaGyw
I love this track!
If you go to their myspace you can actually listen to it too.
It sounds a bit better there.
I think its clear from what we’ve all seen happen in the past, that Bloc Party can do whatever they please. They’re pretty well set up now, so its not as if they are guna start listening to negative criticism from a couple of ‘fans’ who are obviously just generally angry at everything anyway.
If you dont like the song, then dont listen to it. The band arent asking you to like everything they do. Its as simple as that.
From what I can denote from this song, Kele and the guys are working upon the success of thier remixed Alarm and are using elements of it in thier newer stuff. This is exaclty why people love the band – becasue they are different.
This isnt the only Bloc song that is a little dance-y and innovative. ‘On’ is similair in this respect, and we must have all noticed the elements of R&B in ‘The Prayer’.
Give the guys a break. If your so scared of change then why were you ever listening to Bloc Party in the first place?
And as for you kids who are trying to show off your music knowledge, go join a band of something.
This track is another great new breath of fresh change that we all love Bloc Party for pioneering.
I quite liked it……………bastards
everyone here: “oh no they added a synth! everything’s gone to hell”
yeah so the synth is a bit more dominant than on other songs… still a BP song. although the Cher comment is frightening.
kele is a genius
i absolutely love this man and his incredible band
i <3 you kele!!!!
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You people who bash Bloc for this are idiots.I have been listening to this and A Weekend In This City for months non-stop.I feel a huge connection with every sound.As a musician, I see the time and talent going into the growth, everybody changes, that`s just how it is.So, you people need to learn music, then you`ll be a True Fan.