Bloc Party

The musical style of Bloc Party

Bloc Party is a band which offers a relatively unique sound. However, their style can be compared to that a few bands including The Smiths, The Cure and Blur. Kele Okereke, the lead singer says that he was mostly influenced by Mogwai and the record Dog Man Star. Many people compare Bloc Party’s style with that of the band called Gang of Four. However, if you pay more attention, you will notice that the compression is purely coincidental. In fact, even the members for Bloc Party stated on numerous occasions that they don’t like Gang of Four’s musical style.

Bloc Party usually experiment with their sound and this has led to some interesting results. They used various effect pedals especially on their “A weekend in the city” album, which was successful all over the world. This was somewhat of a change to them, but it worked out for the best.

Other significant influences for that particular album include U2, Depeche Mode and Radiohead. If you take a look at all of Bloc Party’s albums, you will notice that the quality of their songs gradually increases. This happened thanks to new equipment for song production and using more advanced techniques during the process.

"Flux" is often referenced because this is when Bloc Party's style changed dramatically. Electronic music started to appear more and more along with that album. Their following single, called "Mercury", only separated the band from their classical sound even more.

The album “Intimacy” was produced in the same matter, only adding to the style transition of the bad. It included some new and interesting songs, such as processed drum beats and loops and choral arrangements. Despite the fact that the album is clearly influenced by electronic music the band hasn’t not lost their feel for guitar music yet. In fact, lead singer Okereke has stated that he and his band are willing to go back to their traditional sound. This is what might happen with the next album, but we will have to wait and see.