Chip Off The Old Bloc

While Russell Lissack's been putting the final touches to Pin Me Down's debut album, his Bloc Party bandmate Kele Okereke has been busying himself with his own side-project.

Kele is due to release his solo album 'The Boxer' in June and Shane has kindly pointed me in the direction of the first cut from the record, 'Tenderoni'.

A slow-burning but eventually sprightly dance-pop gem with a deliciously intricate structure, the track takes the elements of electropop that have gradually infiltrated Bloc Party's to new extremes:


I'm sold.

P.S. Is it just me, or does the track remind anybody else of this?

[audio via Sheena Beaston]

Pin Ups

One of my favourite tunes of 2008 was 'Cryptic' by Pin Me Down, a collaboration between Bloc Party's Russell Lissack and New York-based vocalist Milena Mepris.

Teaming Lissack's trademark monster basslines with 80's guitar riffs and Milena's snarling vocal, 'Cryptic' was a pop-rock gem and subsequent tracks 'Ticking' and 'Pretty in Pink' proved just as infectious.

But then.... nothing.

There was nary a peep out of the band for over twelve months and, honestly, I presumed the project had been scrapped altogether. Then, a couple of days ago, the pair returned, all guns blazing, with a snazzy new website and a new track, 'Time Crisis'.

The track is in a similar enough vein to its predecessors but, to my ears, it's a winning formula and I hope Pin Me Down stick around a bit longer this time. Download the MP3 for free here.

Solitary Brothers

Bloc Party are a great example of a band who don't rest on their laurels. After they struck a winning formula with début album 'Silent Alarm', they could have easily 'pulled a Coldplay' by continuing to churn very similar stuff and sell albums by the bucketload. Instead, they continue to toy around with their sound and, although the resulting material has sometimes fallen short of expectations, their sonic evolution always makes for interesting listening.

In my opinion, their new track 'Talons' is the best thing they've produced since 'The Prayer'. I especially love this keyboard-driven Phones R.I.P. mix, which sounds like the long lost cousin of early-90's pop anthem 'Killer' by Adamski.



Russell's side-project Pin Me Down are worth checking out too. Their song 'Cryptic' is one of my favoruites of the year.