It’s no Silent Alarm, but Bloc Party’s rush-released Intimacy is at least the best BP album since Silent Alarm. Meaning it was better than A Weekend In The City. It’s not an opinion I can get a lot of support for amongst the people I talk to because not a lot of the people I talk to still listen to them after Weekend. But don’t go by my ears, take the band’s decision to release a track-for-track remix recreation of this year’s LP, as they did for Silent Alarm but didn’t for AWITC, as probative. The album’s tracklist was announced today, and the cast of remixers features a mix of those right in our wheel house (No Age, Mogwai), blog-friendly up-and-comers (Banjo or Freakout, We Have Band), and the usual suspects (Phones). Armand Van Helden’s take on “Signs” is the first freebie MP3. And it’s already got a watch-worthy video. I couldn’t use the image I wanted to as a post thumbnail for NSFW-related reasons, mostly because a screengrab superimposing a pair of lipsticked lips into an upskirt shot is still probably enough to get one of you fired.
Here’s a version without the talented vagina:
Intimacy Remixed is out 5/11 in the UK, and one day in the US, too. Here’s the tracklist:
01 “Ares (Villains remix)”
02 “Mercury Herve is in Disarray remix)”
03 “Halo”(We Have Band Dub)”
04 “Biko (Mogwai remix)”
05 “Trojan Horse (John B remix)”
06 “Signs” (Armand Van Helden remix)”
07 “One Month Off (Filthy Dukes remix)”
08 “Zephyrus” (Phase One remix)”
09 “Talons” (Phones RIP remix)”
10 “Better Than Heaven (No Age remix)”
11 “Ion Square (Banjo or Freakout remix)”
12 “Letter To My Son” (Gold Panda remix)”
13 “Your Visits are Getting Shorter (Double D remix)”
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That was the best Britney Spears Video cameo I have seen in awhile.
AWITC wasn’t that bad.
I’m in full concurrence. I don’t know what people want. I do know that when I see them on saturday in a sold out show in Philly there are a few thousand others that agree as well.
A Weekend in the City was GREAT! All the little punks wanting another art punk Silent Alarm should have seen it coming because Bloc Party aren’t the kind of band that is going to do the same thing twice if there is something new to be done instead. “I Still Remember” “Song for Clay” “Sunday” “Hunting for Witches” and “The Prayer” are all brilliant and an important step in the evolution for this band.
I feel like most people panned it because it was an unexpected direction for an art band to go in.
Also, if you’re looking for remixing of AWITC, check out Burial’s remix of Where is Home?, it’s the most radically redefining remix i’ve ever heard. Kele sounds completely desolate and drenched in sorrow. Best remix of 2007.
what? intimacy is horrible
i think all three albums have been excellent. as far as consistency, intimacy is bitchin but with the prayer, hunting for witches, and song for clay, i would say awitc was a decent album as well.
its funny when people pan an album because it seems like the cool thing to do – no it isn’t, its a real downer
A Weekend in the City is a completely underrated follow-up to Silent Alarm and while it might not be their definitive work, it’s a great release nonetheless that is already standing up to the test of time. Don’t knock on it just because you think you’re cool. Emphasis on think.
See, the problem is that Silent Alarm set the bar SO damn high. That record was near perfection, and it came practically out of nowhere. And I hate to play the comparison game, but AWITC just didn’t hit that bar. Believe me, I wanted it to so badly, but instead of being the great ALBUM that SA was, it was a handful of great songs and an unfortunately more prominent handful of not-so-great songs. Intimacy, while admittedly much better, has the same issue.
I’m all for bands progressing and trying new things and not making the same album over and over again, but come on. Neither sophomore nor junior album really come close to what this band promised us in the beginning.
I don’t agree. A Weekend in the City and Intimacy attract entirely too much criticism for deviating from the sounds of Silent Alarm so much. Everyone was expecting a replica of their debut and when A Weekend in the City proved to be a different beast altogether, it was panned in a hurry. We should be praising Bloc Party’s evolution for they are consistently demonstrating themselves as fearless sonic explorers rather than trying to recreate the same hit album over and over. When a debut like Silent Alarm is so assuring, confident and such a hit with critics and fans alike, no matter what the band releases subsequently, it will always be subject to heavy criticism regardless of its quality. And that simply isn’t fair. Intimacy is another strong step forward the band and while it lacks the focus and uniformity of its immediate predecessor, it does a fine job of exploring the band’s range as far as sound. It’s an eclectic mix of tunes and is well-produced and immaculately recorded, the latter which was not one of A Weekend in the City’s strengths. Silent Alarm is a brilliant debut, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to undermine A Weekend in the City and Intimacy for not being just like it when they are excellent albums in their own right.
What people dont understand is that the new sounds are not completely evolving or selling out or even let downs from previous work. It’s that the new stuff is what actually INFLUENCED the band. If you read an interview or two you’ll find that the sound of Silent Alarm came from a quick recording time and low funds to produce a sound like Intimacy only using live instruments as oppossed to drum machines and other various recording tools. That’s what gave it the unique sound. Now they are simply using the tools at their disposal to create the sound they feel is new and interesting. Also so far each album has taken after the influences of each member personally. So dont be so quick to judge just because it’s not a mainstream cult classic….try and listen for the goodness.
Even though he eluded to it in the description, man, i was not ready for 1:35.
Although I was disappointed with both A Weekend and Intimacy, Silent Alarm is my favorite album (yes… ever), so I should have expected it. Both albums are really good in their own sense.
..oh and another thing, has anyone else noticed bloc party’s strangely similar situation to radiohead?
Silent Alarm – ok computer: everyone loved it
A Weekend in the City – Kid A: Different, but still good.
Intimacy – Amnesiac: “is this the same band?…”
… which means, only one more album until their in rainbows. (gooood lord)
uhhhhhhhhhh seriously?
Clearly, that’s an oversight.
The original track was really such a startling piece of work, very evocative of Kid-A era Radiohead and beautiful and such. So why did they let this guy murder it? did they just have the mouth-vag idea floating around and needed an appropriately smutty vehicle for it? Kele, you’re about as tasteful as Miley Cyrus right now..
Some BP remixes are very, very good. This one is pretty average.
I thought Intimacy was a good album but I rather hear new b-sides than a remix album tbh.
Go listen to “Kruezberg” and “On” on AWITC, then come back and rewrite what you feel about sophmore jinx. Also “The Prayer” is a hands down brilliant record, timeless. Support Yeah Yeah Yeahs album out now! peace.
bleh
I’m a fan of the original Signs, but this, not so much. Not sure what the point is of adding dance beats to a sweet, introspective song like this. If I want to dance to something, it won’t be this.
The question here is URGENCY. While Silent Alarm had a sense of urgency (and also realized to end songs when they should end) a Weekend in the City is packed with BLOATED songs. Five minutes with no energy and terrible choruses getting repeated. I love Bloc Party. They’re amazing live. But AWITC is overdone rubbish (besides a few tracks). I want the Bloc Party with a sense of urgency. I don’t want Silent Alarm II. They can change their sound as much as they want. Throw in a goddamned haro or cello or make a dance record, but Jesus, give me some urgency. Honestly, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2 felt angrier and more urgent that Bloc Party’s sophmore.
I feel like they could have preserved the chimes from the original Signs. Even for just a few seconds.
AWITC and Intimacy are both inferior to Silent Alarm, BUT they are both pretty good albums on their own. I think Silent Alarm will always stand out because it was our first impression. Its classic.
I don’t think that it’s fair to compare albums that clearly had different objectives. A Weekend in the City was intended to be a slow building, methodical record to match the contimplation going on by the singer. I think Bloc Party succeeded in meeting that goal. To get the punch of Sunday and SRXT, you needed to listen to the entire album straight through, which was tough, with songs going around 5 minutes a piece. But overall, I thought it was a special record. While most of us agree Silent Alarm is their defining work thus far, I don’t want bands to duplicate their sound again and again in their records. (Look at Snow Patrol, they’ve made a career at it) I loved A Weekend in the City for what it was.
An aside. Can we stop comparing A Weekend to Kid A please?
This treatment would work for maybe 75% of the songs on intimacy, the ‘evil’ ones like Trojan Horse and Ares, but to take a sad, beautiful song that seems to be basically about death and turn it into some sleazy, sub-standard electroclash sex-fest is just a pointless exercise. Should’ve got someone like Four Tet for this remix; I’m all for fucking up a track and making it more difficult with a remix, but this one just sounds cheap and nasty.
Silent Alarm was overrated, everything since has been underrated.
Uh, Robert, why do you say that Snow Patrol has made a career of not changing their sound?
They’ve released some brilliant material, with clear differences from album to album – it’s just that the differences are fairly subtle. And I love that. They make the music they make, and to hell with those who say “oh, it’s just the same. a new album must sound different’”.
Or do you also have an issue with , say, Cowboy Junkies, who released album after album using the tried and true solid basics to underpin thoughtful lyrics?
So, please, when judging a new Bloc Party album, judge it on its own merits. Just because it doesn’t in your mind match the promise of their original album does not make it rubbish. It might just be that if you take it on its own merits that you’ll like it better. Or have a better idea of why you don’t like it.