Usually, instore gigs are quite fun, but a bit tame - the crowd are divided by stock and shelves, crammed in, and slightly peeved off by an incredibly short set. However, last night’s Bloc Party set at Regent Street’s Apple store was anything but tame. As part of the iTunes’ “Live from London”, Bloc Party played a full hour long set, blasting through 13 tracks and sharing banter with a crowd of competition winners and Apple employees.

“So, is everyone enjoying your black Friday?” smirked Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke after opener One Month Off, “We certainly are!” It was all the more relevant when you considered that one of Iceland’s largest banks have their offices just above Apple’s flagship store.

Amazingly small and cozy, somehow Apple managed to fit 600 people into the back of their store, which whilst tight was amazingly special to see a band who has sold out Olympia twice play to such a small crowd, and we knew it. Drummer Matt Tong joked about the “different” surroundings by commenting in perfect in-store tannoy voice: “And next week you can catch Bloc Party in your local BHS!” to much amusement.

Mostly playing their new material from third album ‘Intimacy’ (”We do have a new album to promote!” joked Kele), many songs hadn’t been played live before, as shown by their nervousness before tracks like ‘Ares’ and ‘Ion Square’, but made it all the more raw.

As “Mercury”’s chant swept around the gathered hordes, Kele took to the crowd, climbing over the theatre chairs, signing things as he went. Messy and sweaty, he joked “wow… sorry if I inappropriately exposed myself to anyone!”

Closing with old favourite “Helicopter”, I suddenly realised that the floor actually bounces - slightly scary, but at the same time worthwhile - any inhibitions were thrown out the window as everyone (even some security) started bouncing.

Enjoy a setlist and photos after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

You don’t need to be a genius to know that I love Bloc Party with a passion. They’re releasing brand new single Talons in about two weeks time, and frankly, it’s amazing. If you haven’t heard it yet, catch the video below.

I particularly love the moment at about 2:55… the video matches the song perfectly, and makes this one of the best songs Bloc Party have done - right up there with Positive Tension and Sunday for me - all different, all amazing in their own right.

Bloc Party’s Talons is the second single from their forthcoming new album, Intimacy, and is out on 20th October on Wichita Recordings ahead of Intimacy on 27th October.

My current favourite band, Bloc Party, have announced a string of dates for January and April around the UK.

Clearly not deciding to take up my suggestion of an on-the-fly tour, they’ve opted for a (rather boring) routine of just four different venues, for two nights each.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, 26th September at 9am, or from 9am tomorrow (24th September) for those of you who are members of their fan club, Pioneers.

Sunday 25th January - Glasgow Academy
Monday 26th January - Glasgow Academy
Wednesday 28th January  - Manchester Apollo
Thursday 29th January - Manchester Apollo
Saturday 31st January  - Wolverhampton Civic
Sunday 1st February  - Wolverhampton Civic
Saturday 11th April - London Olympia

So yesterday I went to see Batman: The Dark Knight at London’s IMAX cinema, and we were blown away at the quality and sound of it on such a big screen. I’d already seen it before on a normal cinema screen, but yesterday was definitely worth the three hour journey each way. Of course, with so much time on a bus and tube, I got through some serious listening on my iPod.

Having received Bloc Party’s Talons on Tuesday night, it’s been pretty much on repeat the whole time. Simply amazing, and is so far right up there with Ion Square as my favourite track of Intimacy. The video fits the song perfectly, and is suitably dark and brooding as Kele’s lyrics.

The press release comments:

Talking about Talons singer Kele said, “we wanted to keep things fresh and we thought the fans would be more excited to get a new song rather than something off the album. Talons is one of the last songs we recorded during the Intimacy sessions and I always had it in mind to be one of the extra tracks we promised for the CD if it turned out well. It turned out great so we decided to make it the next single. I’m enjoying this way of working, not over-thinking things, just make a decision and get on with it! It’s quite liberating in a way, I’m sure it’s going to be the way things happen more and more in the future”

Could this mean that they announce whole tours this way? I’d kinda like it if they just announced “oh, we’re playing London’s Astoria next Wednesday… and then Bristol’s Academy… and maybe some more venues too, we haven’t really decided yet!”. However I doubt they’d do that, for the logistical problems. But it’d be cool.

In my inbox this morning I found a link to a company that film live concerts in Europe, Fabchannel. I haven’t come across them before, but WOW. They have a great range of full gigs filmed on the continent, in amazing quality. I sound like I’ve been paid to gush this much, but I think it’ll be providing me with several evenings of entertainment. They sent me a link to Jack McManus who I haven’t come across before, and sounds pretty good at first listen, but I also came across full sets from Bloc Party, Delays, Los Campesinos (including the “most polite stage invasion ever”), The Courteeners, Pipettes… well, I could go on and on. You get the picture!

Finally, I found in my inbox an MP3 that I’d forgotten about. Sent to me about 4 weeks ago, Melbourne based Ancient Free Gardeners have a great sound - dreamy, a bit Shins-esque, with hints of The National and Radiohead shining through. Download the free MP3, and stop by their myspace to show some love - I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

MP3: Ancient Free Gardeners - Innards Out

Just a quick one tonight, as I’m plain and simply cream crackered at the moment - working 30-40 hours a week and then going to a gig or so a week and the usual pub evenings is pretty hard work… (boy, it’s a hard life, no?)

Bloc Party did another one of their suprises last night, announcing the release of Talons, their second single, and one that wasn’t on Intimacy, but will be on the physical release in October. In short, it’s pretty darned amazing, as with all of their Intimacy era stuff. A bit 80’s rock, a bit dark and murky, but ultimately good. I’m not posting the MP3 as I think it’s just asking for me to get (another) cease and desist, but I’m sure those of you in the know can get a copy for free.

Of course tonight is also the Mercury music prize, with my money firmly on Laura Marling to win, though I doubt the judges will choose her, probably sticking to a safer bet like Radiohead, Elbow or Last Shadow Puppets. If Adele or Estelle wins I won’t be a happy bunny though - they’re good, but not Mercury material.

There are still some reviews of Hydro Connect coming in, almost 10 days after the event, and just make me yearn for Scotland again. Only about 50 weeks now until Hydro 2009, eh? Rock Sellout have put up a guest blog from the festival, along with a better (and more indepth) interview with Rab from Glasvegas than we did.

Meanwhile, Mike over at Chromewaves caught this weekend’s Virgin Festival in Toronto, with Bloc Party, Kooks, Fratellis and more. I’ll be checking out some of the smaller (and larger) bands I haven’t heard of when I actually have a day off.

MTV’s Gonzo has announced it’s annual round of birthday shows for October as they stop off at a series of Barfly venues over two weekends.

Tickets for the below dates go on sale on Friday (12th September) at 9am.

Friday 10th October - The Automatic and Iglu And Hartly at Liverpool Barfly
Saturday 11th October - Mystery Jets, Noah And The Whale at Birmingham Barfly
Sunday 12th October - Kaiser Chiefs and Late Of The Pier at London ULU
Friday 17th October - Foals, Esser at York Fibbers
Saturday 18th October - Glasvegas, Friendly Fires at Aberdeen Moshulu
Sunday 19th October - Bloc Party, Magistrates at Glasgow Barfly

Hydro Connect Festival was my first proper music festival, and quite possibly one of the furthest away from home we could get. After a 9 hour drive leaving home at 5am on Friday morning, we arrived at one of the most beautiful festival settings I think you’ll find this side of Coachella.

After the horrible trek from car park to campsite (we were warned it was 20 minutes, but we’d suggest you double that if you’re carrying a tent), we set up our tent and went out to explore the main arena.

First up were Noah and the Whale and Ladytron on the Guitars and Other Machines Stage (otherwise known as the second stage for those of you who are Glastonbury / Reading / Leeds fans), before a wander around to see Amy MacDonald sporting a rather fetching kilt. I’ve never been a huge fan of her Radio 2 - lite tunes, but the Scottish crowd certainly loved the Glaswegian girl.

Manic Street Preachers were up next, and were on absolute fire as they did an amazing set. I’d heard people rave about them, but now I really can understand why - they were amazing. Kasabian headlined, but frankly were nothing on the Manics. Tom Meighan is an amazing frontman and certainly can whip everyone up some, but frankly they don’t have the tunes that the Manics do.

After an interesting night in the campsite, we slowly started our Saturday in the Speakeasy cafe on the sofas, listening to some amazing acoustic music. Quickly time rolled around and we had to amble back to the Media tent to catch a quick chat with Paul from Glasvegas and Kele and Matt from Bloc Party. After coming down from that little bit of excitement, we went to catch Friendly Fires on the Guitars and Other Machines Stage. We knew they were good having stumbled across them several times around the blogosphere, but weren’t expecting the amazingly high-energy set they provided us with. Black Lips disappointed, failing to energise the rather small crowd. Glasvegas had one of the biggest mid-afternoon crowds of the weekend, and provided the anthem of the weekend around the campsites.

A bit of food, and back to the main Oyster stage for the evening. We had high hopes for Grinderman, but simply didn’t appreciate Nick Cave’s new project, with it sounding largely inaccessible to us. Paolo Nutini I wasn’t holding out high hopes for, but he plain and simply blew me away, with his songs providing some great sing alongs. Oh, and his cover of Will Smith’s Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? AMAZING.

We’d been excited about Bloc Party since their confirmation as Saturday night headliners, and with the announcement of their new album, Intimacy, just 10 days before the festival we were all the more excited. Kele and co didn’t disappoint, blasting through everything we’d hoped for and a bit more.

Somehow getting almost 6 hours sleep on Saturday night, we were woken by the pouring rain on Sunday morning, and took the decision to put our tent back in the car to prevent it from floating away in the increasingly boggy waters around our tent. Making the way back to the main arena we couldn’t decide who to catch, so caught snippets of a few different bands. Santagold looked rather out of place in a metallic blue dance suit compared to the muddy audience, but none the less was amazingly good, with her indenti-kit backing singers coupled with her backing band providing some surprisingly good tunes.

I’d heard about the Levellers from friends, but never actually caught them live. They were a true festival band, getting everyone moving, and really warming things up a bit. Elbow I’ve never been a huge fan of, however they again surprised me. Lead singer Guy Garvey was decidedly chatty, commenting that “this is my sort of weather - I don’t like the hot weather ‘cos people take off their clothes and it isn’t pretty from here! In Manchester just about every beer garden looks like it has about 2 dozen red eggs in it anytime there’s a mildly warm day!”

Goldfrapp were so-so. I’ve never been a huge fan of their stuff, on the basis lots of it is a bit too arty-farty for my liking. Plus, I was simply excited for Sigur Ros, who were next up and closing Hydro Connect 2008 for us. They didn’t disappoint.

With that, we left leaving Franz Ferdinand to do probably much what they did last time I caught them, and to make an exit from the car park (with the help of some amazingly nice girls who pushed us out of the mud).

What was hot:

• Amazing setting
• Great food at good prices
• The lineup… simply amazing for a festival so young and small
• The speakeasy tent with its comfy sofas and free newspapers
• Friendly and helpful security

What was not:

• Mobile reception was always hampered by “network busy” responses… if Hyde Park can cope with having upwards of 40,000 people all with mobiles, why can’t Connect? This was also the reason for a big lack of live updates from Connect - we didn’t take a laptop, and had been planning on there not
• The hideously long trek to and from the carpark
• A massive lack of toilets and washing facilities on the campsites.

Overheard:

“I now know where they let the oldies out to: we were by far the youngest in that tent!” (joked two mid-20 somethings on the walk back to the campsite)
“When you fail to perform, it really knocks your confidence… then you just can’t perform next time!” (overheard one morning at the campsite… you can only guess what it’s regarding!)
“This is SO overrated!” said by a guy completely covered in mud after wrestling his mate

Want more coverage?
Why not check out these Flickr Streams:
jjbuchan’s flickr stream
Taburetka’s flickr stream
Foofango’s flickr stream
Aaron Bassett’s flickr stream

… or these other reviews:
NME.com’s review
Sunday Herald’s review
The Lancashire Herald
The Independent
The Times

Thanks go to:
Lee and all at Burt Greener Communications for looking after us so well and sorting out the tickets.
Dan for the photos and putting up with me for a weekend.

Roll on Hydro Connect 2009 is all we can say!

“We’d love it if more festivals were like this - all small and lively” commented Matt Tong of Bloc Party mid Saturday afternoon before their sensational headlining set at Hydro Connect 2008. It had been threatening to rain all afternoon, but thankfully it held off long enough for us to have a quick chat with Kele and Matt from the band.

Already pressed for time and running late, the lads didn’t stick around for long, but enough for us to get two quick questions in, which in hindsight weren’t exactly the most insightful we could have asked, but still. Kele was in a jokey mood - when we mentioned their set at Reading the previous weekend and asked if it was a homecoming for him and Russell (they met at Reading ‘99) Kele gave us a heart-in-the-mouth moment as he goes “Oh, I never went to Reading… it was just a joke I told people to like us more!”, before conceding that he actually did meet Russell at Reading. Matt on the other hand commented that it was a homecoming of sorts for him - whilst he didn’t meet Kele and Russell at Reading ‘99, he spent his summer shuffling paper around offices in Reading.

Having been exceptionally excited about their new album, Intimacy (reviewed here), we were hoping for a set heavy with the new songs. However, whilst we only got two new songs, their set didn’t fail to disappoint and they certainly silenced any critics who said that they weren’t ready to be headliners.

Playing 16 songs over 75 minutes, Kele seemed remarkably chatty compared to when I last saw them and other gigs I’ve seen on TV etc. From their opener Mercury’s chant of “My mercury’s in retrograde” to “Positive Tension”’s yell of “so f***ing useless”, we knew that both crowd and band were happy to work as one, and made for a magical closing to Saturday.

Still enjoying the gorgeous settings, Kele thanked “our favourite elephant polo playing duke” for asking them to play personally. Hydro Connect marked the last time Daniel Lindegren would be standing in for bassist Gordon Moakes, and Kele took the opportunity to dedicate “So Here We Are” to him “as long as you don’t cock it up!” he joked.

“One Month Off” was the only other new song they played all evening, the disco stomp fitting right in with all their older work perfectly.

“Ah, I meant to say, did you like my kilt?” Kele asked the crowd in reference to his tartan red kilt. “The question is: what am I wearing underneath?! It let’s more air in, if you know what I mean!” he joked shortly before the first song of the encore, “Blue Light”. “Flux” heated things back up again as their green laser was cracked out, making the Scottish rain look beautiful for once as the laser hit the castle and trees.

Coming back one last time, they burst into “She’s hearing Voices” as Kele dives into the crowd chanting “Red pill, blue pill / Red pill, blue pill/ Milk of amnesia”, leaving the security unsure of quite what to do and ensuring they went down as one of the best headliners of the festival.

After the jump: setlist and bigger photos

Read the rest of this entry »

This post originally appeared on MoreMunkeyBiz

Bloc Party have never been a band that you could pigeon-hole into a specific category, musically or personally. They further showed us this last Monday when completely out of the blue they announced that their third album, Intimacy, was to be released – on Thursday, just three days later. Not quite doing a Radiohead, they managed to stun and beat the pirates, and get people to buy it – some of my friends who don’t normally buy music actually paid money to hear if the new Bloc Party album was just as good as Silent Alarm – and it is.

Their sophomore album, “A Weekend in the City” was a bit marmite-esque for many people – you either loved it or hated it. Personally, I loved Kele’s story-telling and mystical meanings, the atmospherical sounds and bleeps and bits which showed a bit of a growing up compared to the lyrical vague-ness and punchiness of Silent Alarm. “Intimacy” seems to take the lyrical strength Kele and co found on last year’s album, mixed with the anthems of “Silent Alarm” and updated to 2008 – and it sounds good.

Co-produced by Paul Epworth (producer of “Silent Alarm”) and Jacknife Lee (producer of “A Weekend in the City”), Intimacy manages to combine the two albums to create one that is greater than the sum of its parts. Kele commented to Zane Lowe that they wanted the “rawness” of Silent Alarm, but the “experience” of A Weekend in the City.

Opening with the three-pronged attack of “Ares”, “Mercury” and “Halo”, they are all brutal yet anthemic, they’ll no doubt go down amazingly well next weekend when they headline Scotland’s Hydro Connect Festival – glow sticks at the ready! If you loved Mercury from first listen, then you’ll most likely love these three.

Electronic drum beats and a synth drone are big on “Biko” and the jangly “Signs” sees a return to “So Here We Are” era Bloc – they’re wearing their hearts on their sleeves, and are so much better for it.

“Trojan Horse” is my least favourite track – a bit chaotic, it sounds like they’re trying too many things at once, and it doesn’t exactly gel compared to some of the other stompers they have on the album.

Surely the next single will be the fast paced “One Month Off”, we see bitterness rear its ugly head in the shape of a dancefloor filler. “Translucent and sun-bleached skin / Yeah, when did you get so LA? / How can you desert me after what we’ve been through?” asks Kele over Helicopter style guitars.

It all comes together at the end of the album with “Ion Square”, which is possibly the greatest Bloc Party song done to date. Building slowly, you’re just waiting for it to explode, and when it does you just know it’d be an amazing set closer at the festivals. Kele commented that it was his favourite song on the album “because it evokes a really great time in a relationship when everything was going right”.

Kele commented ahead of the release that Intimacy was his “breakup” album, following on from the end of a relationship at the end of last year, and whilst some of the lyrics are a lot more personal and feels like he’s bearing his soul, they also haven’t forgotten to get us to move – you simply cannot stay still whilst listening to Intimacy. Go and download it now, or wait until October to buy the CD – it’s worth it.

Top banner image comes from Bloc Party’s official website’s photos archive and was taken by Emma Svensson. Bloc Party’s Intimacy is available now from their webshop, and in shops from Monday 27th October.

So, I’m trying a new thing this week: A “daily roundup” of everything that doesn’t merit a complete post of its own. It won’t be literally every day (I do go out sometimes you know), but will be a collection of new MP3s, Videos, music etc.

It’s scary how quickly this Reading and Leeds festivals have been and (almost) gone. I’ve not really caught much coverage on the BBC of the festivals, but have checked out some of the ace videos and pictures. Particuarly loving the fact that Red Light Company are getting so much coverage from Zane Lowe, following on from my live review and initial introduction. Bloc Party look to have been amazing too - check out their live set available here for 7 days.

MP3: Red Light Company - Fascination
MP3: Red Light Company - Scheme Eugene
MP3: Red Light Company - With Lights Out

This time next week I’ll be in Scotland at Hydro Connect Festival, getting mouth wettingly-excited for the closing nights combination of Sigur Ros and Franz Ferdinand. I’ve spent much of today sorting out some pretty mundane things about the festival, like driving and what sort of coverage we’ll be having. I’ve had a look at the brilliant Winston’s Zen, who was at last weekend’s V Festival and getting a few ideas about how to live-blog the festival, amount of coverage etc. It’s gonna be hard to judge just what’s best until we get there, so don’t be suprised if you get tonnes, or next to nothing coverage wise.

One thing we’ve been having to look at is how to camp - I originally requested camping tickets, but got non-camping tickets, so have been looking at other options for us, from Tangerine Fields‘ bespoke camping options, to the goregous wendy-house style Podpads via the eco-friendly myhab’s - I’d honestly never really considered anything other than a tent, or a hotel for the posho’s.

Traditionally, August is quite a quiet time for the music industry - bands are off playing the festivals, people are on holidays, and generally the live music biz is taking a well-earned break ahead of the onslught of year-end tours. However, this week we’ve had no end of new tour announcements, with The Fratellis, Kaiser Chiefs, The Whip, Laura Marling, Joan as a Policewoman, Slipknot and Martha Wainwright all announcing stints around the UK this winter. I’m not expecting this week to have quite as many new tour announcements, but fingers crossed - this winter’s shaping up to be a great live experience.