Bloc Party – Intimacy Remixed

Releasedate: 11-05-2009; Label: Wichita recordings / v2 records / Universal
By: Nina Mende

Bloc Party is a British band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Russell Lissack (lead guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass guitar, synths, backing vocals, glockenspiel), and Matt Tong (drums,backing vocals). Their brand of music is said to have been drawn from such bands as The Cure, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and in their more recent work, Radiohead. The band was formed at the 1999 Reading Festival by Okereke and Lissack. They went through a variety of names before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in NME magazine, while Tong was picked via an audition. Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand’s lead singer, Alex Kapranos, a copy of their demo “She’s Hearing Voices”. In February 2005, the band released their debut album “Silent Alarm”. It was critically acclaimed and was named ‘Album of the Year’ at the 2006 PLUG Awards, which honor indie music. That year, the record was also certified platinum in the UK. The band built on this success in 2007 with the release of their second studio album, “A Weekend in the City”, which reached a peak of number two in the UK Albums Chart and number twelve in the Billboard 200. In August 2008, Bloc Party released their third studio record, “Intimacy”.
Now they released a remixed version of their latest album “Intimacy”.

This album contains extremely danceable remixes. The catchy tunes definitely make you go along and have a good time. When you press play on this album you also press a “happiness button” in your soul. It makes you feel good even in the crappiest times and brings a smile on your face. And of course do you get into a party and club mood. Most of the songs are great club songs. Some are quite close to the original and some a little more different. The loud triangle at the end of “Halo” is ear piercing and quite strong, but the next song will make up for that and tender your ears again with the Mogwai remix. I think the most popular of all “remixers” is Armand Van Helden, although some others had the same idea of remixing the way he does, which doesn’t mean this album sounds the same all the way through, that it definitely doesn’t. Another thing I would like to mention here: Usually I don’t listen all the way through club remix albums, just skip through half of it after listening completely to the first couple songs. I listened straight through this album and even hit the replay button. So get out your dusty disco ball – or make one yourself real quick – and get your living room transformed to a house club, with this album you have the perfect music for it.

Links:
Bloc Party Official