Silent Alarm

Magnificent! One of the albums that I thought for sure it was going to be on the original list. A giant miss; so, Rober Dimery if you are reading this, pull up your socks and add it to the list, no one is going to miss one of the many Elvis Costello albums if you switch places with Silent Alarm

I had never heard of the band before. The songs were ok. Nothing great or memorable about them. I will not revisit

Rating: 10/10

YES!! love banquet and this modern love, but the whole album actually blew me away. Great choice! 5 Still remember playing SSX on Tour on ps2 and loving when Banquet would come on.

I’ve heard of this group but couldn’t tell you much about them except I had the impression it was one of those early-2000s groups with the guitars and unique drum patterns. Do we need another of these? The opening track was good. Good, but do I need this? But Positive Tension caught my attention. I realized that I was really liking the music - and Banquet sealed the deal. From then on I was all in on this album. I listened a second time and really enjoyed it. There are plenty of things I could imagine booting from the list the make room for this.

Easy 5 stars one of my favourite 00’s indie albums and bands. Probably one of my favourite live performances when I seen bloc party back in 2006. I still think they are such an underrated band, probably not helped by the fact they never surpassed this debut album, and the UK indie scene at the time became so bloated with rubbish music.

Liked it whilst I was listening, after completion I realised I couldn't recall a single song. 2.8

I didn't rate them at the time, and I was wrong. Great drummer. Bags of charm. The singles are good, the more maudlin album tracks are better. While the idiots were distracted by sh!t like the Libertines and Razorlight, these guys were making quietly brilliant music in spite of the scene...

The sound of the end of student life for me - I've got a couple of the 7" singles from this album in my collection, and a lot of fond memories of most of the songs. For this reason, more than strictly on artistic merit, I have to give this full marks. A wonderful album

The nostalgia factor is obviously very strong with this one, but looking back two decades ago, and realizing how this record still holds its own after all this time, I'm adamant it's not the only reason this debut album SHOULD be in this users' list. A few bullet points to explain why (I'm myself tired of my overlong reviews, so let's *try* to make this short, for once): a) The formula here is -- basically -- to take Gang Of Four's propulsive post-punk grammar (already from 25 years ago in 2005) and infuse a melodic earworms feast into it to round up some of its angles. And it's an unmitigated success in my book. To such a point that *Silent Alarm* just instantly crushed the (landfill) indie competition at the time. Honestly, it's one of the top 5 albums of 2005 for me, period. b) That drummer is a goddamn powerhouse. Matt Tong injects so much energy to the already bouncing guitar instrumentation that the whole shebang just quickly becomes irresistible. I remember dancing like a maniac to this LP in night parties with friends during the noughts. Not just to a couple of songs (opener "Like Eating Glass", "Helicopter", "Banquet" and "She's Hearing Voices" are the most obvious candidates for that). Once or twice, I have danced to the whole goddamn album! Rarely have drum'n'bass / jungle patterns over rock music sounded so good. c) Even with that bouncing instrumentation behind him -- which could have diverted too much attention towards it -- Kele Okereke still manages to offer something distinctive and soulful as a vocal performer and lyric writer. Many choruses are stellar. Some political undertones -- a bit wide-eyed and naive maybe, but never heavy-handed -- give welcome new dimensions to some of the songs ("The Pioneers", "Price of Gasoline"). And on many others, especially on the second side ("This Modern Love", "So Here We Are"), the romantic overtones are thrilling and cinematic. d) It's a bit of a shame that Kele never managed to fulfill the very high expectations this album triggered in its wake, and that it remains the high mark of the project to this day. Honestly, I have a feeling that some ego issues got in the way at some point -- especially when Kele sort of suggested that Tong shouldn't attract all the spotlights. Which was unfair, because the balance between the guitars, the vocals and the drums was actually perfect in this debut. Tong's input was consequently sort of reined in or toned down starting with the second album (admittedly harboring decent songs-- yet also lesser ones to an extent, which means that making them sound less hectic wasn't that justified). As a consequence, I wasn't too surprised when the band's personnel changed a few times in the following years. At the start, those (quite young) boys looked like such chummy and mischievous pals together. Including onstage, where I had the luck to see them give an incredible performance. Guess that reality is always a little more complicated than that. Especially when you have to factor in individual wishes or specific artistic ambitions. But this doesn't matter too much now. We still have this incredible record at least. Pretty sure that Kele and the rest of the original line-up of Bloc Party are still very proud of it 20 years later. They should be. 4.8/5 (or something) for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.8) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 3 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 6 Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 4

At times sounds like The Architecture in Helsinki. Enjoyable, if not extremely similar to a ton of albums on the user submitted list (I guess we're all a similar demographic, eh?)

I just love this album. Listened to it so many times when it came out and it still hasn't lost any of its drive and urgency. Just the right blend of rocky-hooky songs with a slik production. Not a bad song on this album. These guys were on fire when they made this!

Good mix of rock and electronics.

Pretty interesting. A bit much of that British post-punk vocal affect that I just don't dig, but at least quite a bit of variety in the vocals.

Enjoyable album, maybe a hair close to a 3 for not being unique enough compared to the rest of the entries, but still good enough to hold the 4.

Reminds me of early Cure. Impressive drumming. Enjoyable indie rock that was a deserved hit in the UK when released. Proof that creative arty types (Kele) will always get heard and continue prolifically.

Really solid British alternative. It wasn’t doing anything new or groundbreaking, but the production, musicianship, and sequencing were among the best of its genre.

Bobbed along nicely. I prefer their more energetic tracks. Nice selection, I enjoyed the time listening to this.

very very good album

High energy punkpop

Great indie rock debut with a lot of terrific songs (Helicopter, Banquet, The Pioneers)

Lively and energetic. Has a good energy to it, with nice melodic hooks. Very 2000s.

This was a fine 00s alt rock album that was simply outshone by its contemporaries. Like this is what you listen to when you’re tired of the strokes and lcd soundsystem. Forever destined to have helicopter be the song people hear on Spotify playlists and think “that was pretty good” then not save it.

I was surprised to find this submitted, since I only ever really knew "Helicopter", which is a fine song but never made me want to check out more. I'm pleasantly surprised. I love the tones on this thing and, despite being 20 years old, the production on it is great and still holds up. Think the songwriting is bold while still being very accessible. Has that post-punk feel with some more danceability. Think the record hits a lull around "This Modern Love" but it somehow manages to recover near the end. Favorite tracks: "Luno", "She's Hearing Voices", "Positive Tension"

CD

This was pretty good. It rocked hard and I was especially impressed by the drumming. It was maybe a bit much though, too overwhelming, not enough space between the notes, if you know what I mean. 3 stars.

These guys sound like the link between Blur and more modern groups like Squid, except they have this tendency to keep lapsing into this almost Coldplay like emotional stuff that prevents me from fully embracing it. Quite enjoy the more propulsive rhythm driven tracks though.

The dance-rock goodness clearly goes back right to the early 2000s. It's all here: accented vocals, bit of irony, hooks piled on crunchy hooks. At fifty minutes, the LP starts to fold over itself entirely uncalculated. Lyrics are functional in very much the same way.

An amazing early-aughts fusion of dance, hard rock, and indie that hasn’t been replicated since. The Strokes-like angular guitar licks, harder focus, and urgent lyricism make this LP feel immediate and fresh even today, and it still occupies a unique niche in indie culture untouched by other contemporaries like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There is some unnecessary padding here and there within the shorter runtime, but for the most part this LP firmly believes in burning twice as bright for half as long and is all the better for it.

Objectively quite good, but not a record or band I have been able to feel a connection with. Rating: 3 Playlist track: Helicopter Date listened: 06/08/24

This was a pretty average alt rock album. Some of the songs sounded vaguely familiar but it was hard to say where I heard them before. This wasn’t anything amazing from the alt rock standards and it blends nicely with other 00s music. This gets the job done but it’s not something I’d be rushing back to listen to. 6.3/10

A solid listen, if a fairly forgettable one. I really dig the energy of this band and the drum-forward sound, but I wasn't a fan of the vocals. Fave Songs: So Here We Are, This Modern Love, Helicopter, Luno, Blue Light

Wish this did a bit more for me. It has a Damon Albarn/Blur vibe and Like Eating Glass and Helicopter are great kick off tracks. Unfortunately the rest of the album starts to fall off pretty quickly, and there's only occassional tracks that are still interesting/engaging for me... The Pioneers is decent. Nothing bad here, but also not much to really want to come back for.

Fairly melodic stuff, but the singer has such a yowly-splatty voice that it's definitely not something I'd revisit often, if ever.

All the pretty ballady stuff probably a four, all the super repetitive, shouty stuff probably a two so three stars.

About damn time

I thought this was okay. Reading the comments, others love it but I don't see it. I guess I had to be there because this just sounds like tons of other stuff I've heard. Nothing super amazing for me. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Nope. Already have enough meh British rock.

I know I just said in the review before this that I was here for the post-BritPop stuff but this one leans into the indie world far enough where it went on a little long for me..and I had to check time left. 3 -> 2

Indie Britpop, not my favourite style. This was unremarkable by its own standards. 2/5.

I like the style of vocal proposal, excellent instruments, however as it progressed it seemed inconsequential.

Indie rock, post-punk revival, dance punk, art punk. Rollo. Un 2.

Not for me

Crazy this wasn't on the list, since this is exactly the type of British nothing-alt rock that music journalists go crazy for. Wish I understood what makes this special.