Bloc Party, A Weekend in the City

The second album from Bloc Party takes all the angst and the anguish and the energy of the first one and builds on it. It is singer Kele Okereke's pointed observation on the day-to-day of living in the UK and he sings about everything from the fear and latent racism caused by the "War on Terror" and the media portrayal of Muslims, to corporate rebellion - that is kids going down to the local shopping mall to buy the right brands of clothing to be labelled "alternative," to the repetitiveness of night after night on the tiles to his own mixed thoughts on fame. He refers to the city as a "vampire" sucking his soul out repeatedly and the music, much of it played in a minor chord, oozes dread and frustration. While the songs are not as loud and many of them will not be as indie-disco-friendly as the likes of "Helicopter" or "She's Hearing Voices," this is a band that have come into their musical own and are refining their unique musical sound. I always hate to use the term "mature" to define a record but where the first album could be traced from newer tracks to older tracks and you could hear the rough edges as the band learned their trade, this album sounds like a much more coherent whole, the tracks gelling together and making a much clearer statement of intent.

Bloc Party have always managed to take their retro, post-punk, Joy Division influences and turn them into something special. Now they're doing it with a whole lot more confidence.