This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Silent Alarm is the debut studio album by English rock band Bloc Party. Recorded in Copenhagen and London in mid-2004 with Paul Epworth as producer, it was released on 2 February 2005, by Wichita Recordings. The album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 114 and the Billboard Independent Albums at number seven. The double A-side "So Here We Are/Positive Tension", "Banquet" and "The Pioneers" were released as singles. Silent Alarm went on to achieve worldwide sales of over one million copies. Bloc Party aimed to create an album that appealed to followers of different musical genres. Building on the arrangements in their demo songs recorded in 2004, the band members moulded tracks largely through live takes during the Silent Alarm studio sessions. The compositional focus was on rhythm and the drum and bass parts, while lyricist Kele Okereke's writing examined the feelings and hopes of young adults, including views on global politics. Following the album's completion, Bloc Party embarked on promotional tours before its release. Silent Alarm garnered widespread critical acclaim upon release, with praise often centered on its fast tempo and passionate delivery. Later in 2005, it was remixed as Silent Alarm Remixed and was re-released with bonus tracks to coincide with Bloc Party's worldwide touring schedule. The album has received accolades throughout the music industry since its release.
I had never heard of the band before. The songs were ok. Nothing great or memorable about them. I will not revisit
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
Liked it whilst I was listening, after completion I realised I couldn't recall a single song. 2.8
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.
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
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.
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.
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.