Bloc Party – Alpha Games (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:38 minutes | 480 MBGenre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Infectious Music

On their sixth album, Bloc Party sound as vital and vibrant as on 2005’s Silent Alarm, back during the “indie sleaze” era. Their latest is also as fun and high energy as that influential debut; if this were a person, you’d be suspicious they’d had cosmetic work done. The band continues to find inspiration in New Wave and art-school punk as singer Kele Okereke’s big personality—that London accent as distinct as ever—tries on different guises. You can feel the angst as he rushes the verses of “Day Drinker,” its sharp, crisp drums egging on the adrenaline release. Excellent single “Traps” layers edgy, nervous guitar and shotgun drums as the singer walks the line between louche and letch: “Cute like Bambi/ But you’re headed to a trap … I wanna be your education/ I wanna be your contact high.” Okereke gets playful on the otherwise ominous “Callum is a Snake,” decorated with hissing and a shout of “SNAKE!” at the end. Sometimes it means dipping into unexpected pockets. There’s an early ’80s giddiness, à la Fun Boy Three or Altered Images, to “You Should Know the Truth,” complete with sunny guitar, group backing vocals and exaggerated sighs. And the whole band leans into the high-drama theatricality of ABC on “Sex Magik”—remembering a teenage summer fling that made a deep impression, with Okereke intoning “Earth-earth, air-air, fire-fire, water-water” like a hypnotic mantra—and “Of Things Yet to Come.” That one drips with rococo flourishes from Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack (they remain the only original members). “The Girls are Fighting,” meanwhile, adopts a soccer-chant vibe and screeching metal guitar solo to tell the story of a bar brawl: “It’s a riot at Inferno’s/ The filth are on their way … The bouncer’s made a movie/ Upload it to WorldStar (Scrag fight!).” “By Any Means Necessary” is funky and slinky, and irresistible “If We Get Caught” sports confident show-off snare and an angelic chorus. For jazzy-bass closer “The Peace Offering,” Okereke goes deep—truly, he expands his vocal range—and dives into a spoken-word, beatnik hep-cat mood. – Shelly Ridenour
(more…)