Disastrous Sophomore Record, case #1,157

If you follow Internet music sites or are from Britain, you should at least know who Bloc Party are. Aside from beating TV On The Radio for the title of Most Ethnically Diverse Rock Band of the 2000s, there really isn't a whole lot to say about them. They're another band that plays the sort of music that makes critics use words like "angular" and "channels the spirit of (insert 80's post-punk band here)." When they released their first album, Silent Alarm, some in the British press were ready to prop them up as "the next Franz Ferdinand." Naturally, this was another boneheaded oversight by the scribes at NME and their ilk; while the band clearly aped the 80's, they had neither the fey sexiness or biting wit of Franz Ferdinand. Instead, they had an earnestness and political motivation similar to U2, except nobody could really tell exactly what their political views are.

A Weekend In The City, Bloc Party's latest release, does very little to establish the band's political and musical identity. All that I've been able to find out about Kele Okekere's ideology is that he hates East London (as do-from what I've been told-a lot of East Londoners). Whatever his opinions are, he's running out of ways to express them; is rife with recycled metaphors and couplets. Thankfully, lyrical brilliance was never the focus of bands like Bloc Party. No, what makes A Weekend In The City frustratingly awful is that the band's musical creations have changed for the worse. The songs that were once choppy and consice are now meandering messes. I cannot personally believe that the men who made this record are the same men who wrote songs like "Banquet" and "Like Eating Glass", which were filled with tension and anxiety. I can't recall a single song after listening to the album twice. These songs are, for lack of a better word, boring.

Call it a sophomore slump if you will, but this is beyond a slump. A Weekend In The City is a disaster on par with The Strokes' First Impressions of Earth or (surprise!) Franz Ferdinand's You Could Have It So Much Better. Now that they've gotten the "difficult album" out of their system, they should be able to get back to writing real pop songs. That is, if they can pick themselves up from this quagmire.