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#1247: Bloc Party – Song for Clay (Disappear Here)

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Been a long while since I listened through Bloc Party’s A Weekend in the City in full. I’ve got a physical copy of it sitting on the shelf upstairs in my room, the special edition that included ‘Flux’ after that song was released as a single way after the album’s original copies that excluded it. And back in those days, that’s really all I got albums for. Just so I could have easy access to the singles. ‘Song for Clay (Disappear Here)’ wasn’t released as one of those. After knowing all these years, I’ve thought it had the potential to be one. Instead it has the important role of being the album opener, introducing the themes that are to be explored throughout the rest of the record.

Kele Okereke’s voice is the very first thing you hear when that CD/record starts spinning, and I think it’s meant to be a bit of a symbolic choice. Weekend marked a change in Okereke’s vocal style where he wasn’t melodically yelping like he did on Silent Alarm, but properly singing from the diaphragm and stuff. It sort of began with ‘Two More Years’. But it’s on full show throughout the album. Maybe he got some vocal lessons in between the two album cycles. And even though he goes a little sharp on the second “I am tryiiiiing” and the falsetto he introduces is a little shaky, the delivery gets much more confident and in the bag when the rest of the band eventually enter the frame.

Bloc Party had a new, heavier sound to them, aided by the production of Jacknife Lee who makes the guitars of Okereke and Russell Lissack sound like industrial machines, which is a perfect match for the ominous “times of today” lyrical content. The narrator of the song is a person living in the East London of 2007, getting their fair share of action on the weekend, and not really enjoying anything of what they see and experience before them. Talk of ordering foie gras and eating it with complete disdain. Trying to look cool on a dancefloor by showing no emotion whatsoever. These are things that get the narrator down. And the drama of the lyrics are heightened by sinister backing vocals from Gordon Moakes and the overarching minor key-ness of the music. The song comes to a close, a loud ringing leads into the next song and the album continues. I’ll go back to A Weekend… one of these days. It’s easy to fall into the “Silent Alarm was the best and everything else was never as good” crowd. And the statement may even be true. But I at least need to check again.

#1230: Bloc Party – So Here We Are

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I was around when Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm was the brand-new debut album released by the band….. 20 years ago. It creeps up on you, doesn’t it. It wasn’t like I was following the group’s every move, ’cause I was nine at the time and was probably thinking about cartoons and football more than anything else. But I knew of the band as I’d seen the video for ‘Helicopter’ on MTV2, months before the album was out. But as 2005 went on, it was difficult to go onto MTV again, or any other alternative music television channel for that matter, and not see Bloc Party in some sort of capacity.

Every site and streaming platform will tell you that the album was released on the 2nd February 2005, but at least in the UK it came out on Valentine’s Day. ‘So Here We Are’, released alongside ‘Positive Tension’ as a double A-side single, was the first track to be unveiled in the proper run up to Silent Alarm, two weeks before. And it’s a song that I completely missed initially. I remember seeing ‘Banquet’ and ‘The Pioneers’ on a much more frequent basis at that time. I’ve a feeling ‘Two More Years’ was even out as a single before I knew about ‘So Here We Are”s existence. But its video came on TV one day, I was thinking if it was a new song. It definitely wasn’t. But I ended up liking it all the same.

Even if this song were to be an instrumental piece, its effect would be just as strong. The twinkling arpeggiated guitar intro, which extends into the verses and beyond, between Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack is enough to put anyone into a kind of meditative trance. But what I’ve always found to be the highlight of it, along with many other Silent Alarm numbers, is drummer Matt Tong’s performance. Among the serene guitars comes this bustling source of rhythm that adds a huge rush of energy to the track. The drums sound like a loop of a sample or something, they’re done that well. The song has no chorus – made up more of one long verse and the coda – all of which concern how people feel after taking ectasy. And it’s during the coda that Okereke sings about having that MDMA-induced epiphany over a glorious solo. It’s beautiful stuff.

#1139: Anderson .Paak ft. The Game & Sonyae Elise – Room in Here

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Well, here’s another artist you won’t see any more of from this point. Quite a shame, to be honest. Ever since I heard Anderson .Paak’s Malibu in early 2016, I’ve been a follower of the work he’s done ever since. It’s been a good few years since his last solo projects of Oxnard and Ventura, both of which I thought were merely okay. They just didn’t match the brilliance of Malibu in my view. There would be a lot more songs to talk about on here had that album came out earlier. I have a run-through of those contenders in the other post I did for a song from the LP. As it is though, you get two tracks from there and two tracks only. But I’d implore you to listen to that record in any spare time you possess.

Unbeknownst to me, by the time I was listening to Malibu the first time, its tenth song ‘Room in Here’ had been out as a single and available to the public for a couple months or so. And just listening through it, you can probably tell why it was chosen to be a representative to get people excited for the album that was to come. The jazzy piano loop lures you in, the chorus begins it all with a call-and-response dynamic going between Paak and singer Sonyae Elise who provides the harmonising responses. Paak gets all soulful during the verses, singing the first halves of them before sort of sing-talking for the other. It’s an interesting method of delivery. Very engaging though as his words bounce off the charging kick drum patterns. And capping it off comes a strong verse from The Game to give his streetwise take on the subject matter. To sum things up, it’s got something for everyone in regards to the choice as a single.

Like a lot of other songs in any genre, this song’s about wanting to get close to a lady. Paak makes it clear that he intends to go the gentlemanly route, wants to know what’s on their mind rather than fantasizing about her body and to make things as comfortable for them as possible in the large amount of space available in the room they’re occupying. The Game follows suit, recognising that the lady in his respective situation is clearly in a higher class than those he’s usually used to being with. He states he has to put in the work if there’s any chance at anything more, starting with a simple walk to her Uber cab. Yeah, this song’s a jam. It’s those like this that were missing on the albums that followed. With Oxnard he went in a more hip-hop direction, with Ventura leaning to R&B. They never caught that good balance of Malibu. Plus, the songs didn’t hit me as hard. But whatever .Paak does I’ll be there for it. That magic will come back one day.

My iPod #519: The Beatles – Here, There and Everywhere

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Speaking of The Beach Boys and Pet Sounds, “Here, There and Everywhere” was a track by The Beatles that was very much influenced by the sound the former were able to achieve on that album. Left in amazement by the song “God Only Knows“, Paul McCartney was inspired to write something that was able to match the emotional impact and lightness in execution, resulting in a song that would be placed fifth in the tracklisting of Revolver, released in the summer of 1966.

In contrast to the rich and plentiful instrumentation that is present throughout Pet Sounds, “Here, There and Everywhere” incorporates a more minimalistic approach. Apart from the usual band setup are only percussive finger-clicks and smooth ‘oohing’ backing vocals that add to the song’s close and intimate feel.

Paul sings about wanting his partner to be wherever he is, appreciating the small things she does that seem to make his life that bit much better. He promises that he will always stand by her side in return. The track is a tender love song, able to depict that perfect moment one feels when they have found their perfect match.

My iPod #518: The Beach Boys – Here Today

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“Here Today” comes from the wonderful album Pet Sounds, released by The Beach Boys in 1966. Regarded as a timeless classic, the album was seen as a prime example of just how far pop music could be taken during the 60s in terms of its lyrical content and musical arrangement. It was the one where everybody realised that Brian Wilson was practically a compositional genius if they hadn’t done so already, and also influenced many albums to come in the future.

The last song started during the album’s recording, “Here Today” is something of a warning about the unpredictability of love; being in a new relationship may be all fine and dandy initially, but there’s always the chance that it can quickly end in heartbreak and sorrow. Mike Love takes duty of  lead vocal on the track, and does a fine job of it.

Like the rest of the songs on the album “Here Today” utilises a range of instruments to build a lush and ornate sonic landscape, with a piano, Hammond organ, and a variety of horns thrown into the track’s lavish mix. Of course the iconic backing harmonic vocals of the boys play a huge part too, I particularly like those that occur during the choruses. The ascending melodic scales provided by them played simultaneously with the downward melody on the horns makes for an enjoyable listen, but those make up only a few seconds of three minutes of beautifully constructed music.