Album Review: Bloc Party

Bloc Party
A Weekend In The City
@@@1/2

What makes Bloc Party good is also what makes them difficult. Rather than the catchy, guitar-driven Britpop I tend to favor, their music is angular and oblique, with random drumbeats, slow to develop melodies and a decided lack of instant accessibility. But with patience, you discover that there is a lot of quality to their music, which is infused with more melody than anything I've yet to latch onto from TV on the Radio, an increasingly popular yet somewhat similarly obtuse American band. Bloc Party's first album, Silent Alarm, had a number of eventually highly enjoyable songs, and only a few weeks into this one, it's continuing to grow on me. A @@@@ review wouldn't be inconceivable, especially over time, but @@@1/2 seems about right. This isn't music that's going to pump you up or make you want to dance, but it is certainly better than a lot of what passes for popular these days, and I even favor it over the more traditional but less inspired new Kaiser Chiefs album (see review below).