Hats Off To The Bold Bands

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday November 1, 2008

Bernard Zuel

TV ON THE RADIO

Dear Science

(Touch And Go/Remote Control)

BLOC PARTY

Intimacy

(Wichita/Shock)

Boldness should always be rewarded. Not with sales necessarily but with respect. If you can mix courage and imagination with skill, then hats should be doffed to you.

And, no, that doesn't mean unlistenable. Frankly, making "difficult" music, shutting yourself off from potential listeners while you stroke your beard or pat your back is far easier than finding a way to bring those ears closer to the heart of your music. There are none so gutless as those too scared to be heard, danced to and enjoyed.

Brooklyn's TV on the Radio are nothing if not bold. London's Bloc Party are not far behind. Neither band can be easily categorised by people who stock record-store racks or write reviews. Both were ever so topical with their first albums (TV on the Radio as part of the Brooklyn art rock scene with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars; Bloc Party as part of the post-punk, jerky pop scene with Franz Ferdinand) and then were declared out of step with prevailing winds with their second. Naturally, the cool set lost interest.

However, with these third albums both bands have found a way to bring to the table some serious aspirations (political consciousness, social commentary, the desire to make art) and a nerd's attention to detail and deploy them alongside sounds capable of being played in arenas as much as in hot, sweaty rooms, rhythms built to dance and genuine tunes.

These are two big-sounding, propulsive records that abound in hooks, both rhythmic and melodic.

Although they began from a more pop-based style than the New Yorkers, Bloc Party are at first less accessible. Intimacy opens with what sounds like the Chemical Brothers cohabiting with Public Enemy's Bomb Squad production team and no one would call that quiet or thin. Punchy brass, snatches of treated background vocals (chopped up, bled through, worked over) and rolling drums are soon mixing fluids with the kind of razor-sharp guitars you can't leave near children and synthesisers on an attack setting. But as the album becomes familiar and opens itself, you feel the pleasure of the surprisingly pretty interludes, sometimes catch your breath at the harsh post-break-up lyrics and move furiously without ever losing that initial awe at the force behind all this.

With TV on the Radio's Dear Science, those responses almost happen in reverse. It's a pop album, you think at first, David Bowie returning with former collaborator Carlos Alomar, maybe. Then the darker shapes emerge, the squawking in the background sticks up its head and the blend becomes more complex, fascinating, lyrically potent as usual but with compassion, too.

Just so you know, two fine albums have arrived. Bold albums. Smart and challenging and asking you to play a part, yes. But at all times meant to be heard, danced to and enjoyed.

BZ

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home