Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

After a bunch of flustering and head pounding, I think my favorite release of 2005 is, diasappointingly, Bloc Party's Silent Alarm. This record is typical, earnest, and on the surface, nothing new. An angsty 80's based guitar album from a bunch of fake vintage wearing Brits. Although one had dreads, I'll give them that. Honestly though, there was no other album that i listened to so much this year from start to finish.

There were a bunch of other really really great songs I drooled buckets over this year. A ton off Patrick Wolf's Wind in the Wires (Tristan, The Libertine) and Ellen Allien's supersonic Thrills (Your Body My Body, Brain is Lost). She also wins the award for coolest cover art.

I also loved Soulwax's remix album Nite Versions. Terrible name, but listen to Miserable Girl. Or Another Excuse.

I also liked the adorable Art Brut album Bang Bang Rock and Roll. Best line: "I hope this song finds you fame/I want school kids on buses singing your name". There was a whole crop of great debut albums this year. The Duke Spirit, M.I.A (does she count?), Wolf Parade, and my favorite, The Editors. Look at them! Too busy brooding to show their palid tortured faces to full sunlight! Knocking off Interpol must be draining.

Bloc Party wins by default though. Silent Alarm is unmistakably melodramatic, trendy, and teenage, sure, but fuck, it's gorgeous too. It's like lithium. What's another word for atmospheric? This album definately is almost... foggy. Beautiful in the way it is when it's pouring rain outside. Or maybe that's a more acurate desciption of the cover art than the album.

I'm not expecting anything stellar from them in the future, though. If they were really smart, Bloc Party would cash in and quit now. It does not get any better than Like Eating Glass, or, my favorite, Blue Light. My guess is that if they keep going, they're develop a (even more severe) case of megalomania and end up a big steaming Coldplay-esque mess. They're off to a running start. The band's website offers SEVEN different wallpapers of the band to download. Geez guys.

It could go the other way though. Look at Radiohead. Did anyone expect the band responsible for Pablo Honey and The Bends to birth Kid A?

Or more importantly, does anyone give a fuck?