Bloc Party

English indie rock band Bloc Party was conceived at the 1999 Reading Festival, when childhood friends Kele Okereke and Russel Lissack bumped into each other for the first time in years. The duo began jamming together, with Russell taking up lead guitar duties and Kele providing vocals and rhythm guitar. After going through a host of secondary members and an even greater number of names - among them Union, Diet,... More >

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English indie rock band Bloc Party was conceived at the 1999 Reading Festival, when childhood friends Kele Okereke and Russel Lissack bumped into each other for the first time in years. The duo began jamming together, with Russell taking up lead guitar duties and Kele providing vocals and rhythm guitar. After going through a host of secondary members and an even greater number of names - among them Union, Diet, and the Superheroes of BMX - the pair settled on current drummer Matt Tong and bassist Gordon Moakes`, both of whom had responded to classified ads posted by the band. The group adopted the name Bloc Party in 2003 for no particular reason other than the fact that it sounded edgy, invoking both the lively and fun idea of a party and the frigid Cold War imagery surrounding the Eastern Bloc.

The group independently recorded a number of EP's and singles soon after its conception, quickly rising to popularity after an early version of their single "Banquet" was publicly lauded by Franz Ferdinand lead singer Alex Kapranos. The publicity soon led Bloc Party to a record deal with indie megalabel Wichita Recordings (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes) in the UK, as well as a secondary distribution deal with V2 Records (Moby, The White Stripes) in the United States. After an explosive two month recording session in mid-2004, Bloc Party's first album Silent Alarm finally saw its worldwide release in February 2005.

Silent Alarm - produced by English production legend Paul Epworth, who has worked closely with such notable indie acts as Death From Above 1979 and The Futureheads - was very well received internationally, charting in the top 20 in five countries and winning the NME Magazine Album of the Year Award for 2005. Though primarily a guitar-driven album, Silent Alarm prominently incorporated a number of influences and styles in its thirteen tracks, striking a balance between the radio-friendly britrock sensibilities of bands like U2 and Manic Street Preachers whilst still dabbling in the acoustically chaotic aesthetics of acts like Sonic Youth and Joy Division. Silent Alarm spawned five singles, among them "Helicopter", "So Here We Are", and "Pioneers".

After touring aggressively over the next year and a half following the release of Silent Alarm, Bloc Party returned to the studio to begin working on their second album A Weekend in the City which hit store shelves in early 2007, debuting solidly at #2 in the UK and #12 in the USA. While Bloc Party's debut album was generally guitar-oriented faire, A Weekend in the City saw Bloc Party taking a more experimental approach, adding to the mix elements of R&B and electronic music. Standout tracks from A Weekend in the City include "I Still Remember", "Hunting for Witches", and "The Prayer".

Bloc Party is currently working on their third and yet-untitled third album, currently slated for release sometime in 2009. The band has hinted that their sound will continue to evolve on the next album, further distancing itself from their initial post-punk guitar sound. So far Bloc Party has released two songs off of their third album, "Flux" and "Mercury".

From Lastfm:

Bloc Party are an English band. In 2005, the band released their critically acclaimed debut album Silent Alarm. Their second studio album, A Weekend In The City was released on February 5, 2007 in the United Kingdom and February 6 in the United States. A third album, Intimacy, was released in August 2008 as a download and later as a CD release on October 27. The band's fourth album, Four, was released on 20 August 2012. The band consists of Kele Okereke (vocals, guitar), Russell Lissack (guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass, vocals) and Matt Tong (drums).

Read more about Bloc Party on Last.fm.

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From Wikipedia:

Bloc Party are a British indie rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Russell Lissack (lead guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass guitar, synths, backing vocals, glockenspiel), and Matt Tong (drums, backing vocals). Their brand of music is said to have been drawn from such bands as The Cure, Mogwai, Siouxsie and the Banshees and in their more recent work Radiohead.

The band was formed at the 1999 Reading Festival by Okereke and Lissack. They went through a variety of names before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in NME magazine, while Tong was picked via an audition. Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand's lead singer, Alex Kapranos, a copy of their demo "She's Hearing Voices".

In February 2005, the band released their debut album Silent Alarm. It was critically acclaimed and was named 'Indie Album of the Year' at the 2006 PLUG Awards and NME Album of the year which both honour indie music. That year, the record was also certified platinum in Britain. The band built on this success in 2007 with the release of their second studio album, A Weekend in the City, which reached a peak of number two in the UK Albums Chart and number twelve in the Billboard 200. In August 2008, Bloc Party released their third studio record, Intimacy. The band went on a hiatus in October 2009 to focus on side projects, and reunited in September 2011, releasing their fourth album, Four, in 2012. As of May 2012[update], Bloc Party have sold two million albums worldwide.

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