Bloc Party

The London four-piece delivers tightly-wound pop songs beaten into shape by frantic, spastic guitars and singer Kele Okereke's yelp-speak. When the bassist and drummer aren't locking into jerky, funk-ified punk rhythms on tracks like "Positive Tension," they are knocking out bleak, emotionally resonant pop.

One of punk rock's greatest joys is when group members interlock to the point of
becoming a visceral, vibrating dance machine. London's Bloc Party achieve this manic bliss
on nearly every track of their superb long-playing debut. Drummer Matt Tong provides
enough speedy syncopation for several bands, guitarists Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack
lend nervous string interaction, and bassist Gordon Moakes adds suspenseful, pr... More >

Benetton boys adrift on Tony Blair's morass of neoliberal compromise ("Helicopter," "Pioneer"). (Grade - *)